Tuesday 21st May 2013
After the first two gorges we had to transfer to a smaller boat and follow a small tributary of the Yangtze upstream. It was spectacular. We saw a hanging coffin Pic to follow. These are as you will see coffins suspended by two logs in a crack in the rock. No one really knows why or how they were put there but they occur here and in other parts of China and we have seen them in the Canary Islands.
This stream is remote and because there are not many people on the boat and not all the guests from the ship have come it is really peaceful. Even the usually noisy Chinese guests are quietened by it.
After some time we transferred again to small peapod boats much further up the stream. There were only 10 to a boat and five boatmen. Four to row and one to steer.
These men come from the Tujian Zhou minority group in China and the men traditionally hauled the cargo boats up the river using ropes made of bamboo! Since the dam was built and the waters rose the current is less strong but back before the dam they pulled the boats all the year round whatever the weather.
Now with the current slower they can row but they showed us how they towed the boats in the past!
Our Guide Catherine was also a member of the Tujian Zhou tribe and she sang to us with one of the boatmen a local folksong. Quite wonderful and in such a beautiful place.
The downside of this is that there are no jobs for the men except rowing tourists now so they rely on us for a living. I felt very mixed emotions about going on the trip and being taken by these boatmen because somehow it did not seem right
Needless to say they were well rewarded for the pleasure they gave us and we returned to the boat rather more subdued than we had left.
Minority groups in China are very interesting. There are 56 groups and some, living in more remote area, still carry on their traditions for themselves and not for tourists. They wear fabulous costumes and when I get home I think I will research these groups more closely.
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