The following day we set off for the Three Gorges Museum.
For those not familiar with the three gorges dam, which is officially known as Yangtze River Three Gorges Water Conservancy Project, this is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River near Sandouping in central China, downstream of the Three Gorges.
The dam is 2.3km wide and 185m high. It is the world’s largest power station by installed capacity (22,500 MW) and became fully operational in 2012 and construction was fully completed in 2015.
On completion, the reservoir behind the dam flooded a total area of 632 km2 (156,000 acres) of land and over 1million people had to be relocated
Costing approximately $22.5billion the entire cost of the Three Gorges Dam was recovered by December 2020, only 8 years after starting electrical generation, a remarkable achievement.
The museum, free to enter for those over 60, as are most public sites in China, tells the story of the area that was flooded to form the reservoir and it’s construction and contains many interesting exhibits.
As we left the museum we were once again asked for photos with locals as we were pretty much the only non-Chinese people there.
On the opposite side of the square outside the museum stands the “Great Hall of the People”, properly called the “Chongqing People’s Auditorium”. This is a large hall used for meetings of the local communist party and other major public events and resembles the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.
Not sure wht these 2 were up to!
Returning to our hotel on the monorail we came across a local scenic street and decided to take a wander through it as it was downhill.
Plenty of cafes, souvenir shops and food stalls.
Anfd of course more photos with the locals.
Get your icecream in a souvenir mug to take home.
It was quite a warm day so we stopped for some refreshment on the way.
Later that evening back in our apartment I remembered our robot friend on the ground floor, charging himself up by the vending machine.
As you may remember I had installed an app called “WeChat” which is used for making payments and hailing taxis. There is also a facility for scanning QR codes and so I scanned the code on the small sign on our coffee table.
A few clicks later and I had ordered some Pringles and we waited with interest!
Five minutes later the doorbell rang and there was “Robbie the Robot” with my delivery, brought by him from the ground floor to our 43rd floor apartment, he can operate the lifts and is very polite when asking you to make room for him in the lift.
This was actually Robbie’s mate, “Miss Robbie”
On the way to deliver my Pringles
So ended our time in Chongqing which was an extremely interesting and memorable few days. At times we were very tired after walking around so much but it was totally worth it, if you get a chance to visit there then all 3 of us would totally recommend it.
Another day of travel tomorrow by high speed train to Guilin, I hope to see you all there.
TTFN
Bibbley
Uncle Bob's Scenic Tours 