We spent a total of four nights on the MS Yangtze II ship.

The next day we sailed through the second of the three gorges, the Wu, a little shorter than the Xilling at 45 kilometres in length but no less dramatic. The limestone peaks almost seemed sculpted by some gigantic monster in the country’s primeval past. Perhaps they were, indeed, petrified daemons.

We took a delightful detour up the Daning river tributary to the three small gorges. Their names are Dragon gate, Misty and Emerald. Although smaller in scale than the main gorges the ‘little’ ones have a wonderfully intimate feel as their sides truly hugged our vessel.

I wish I could have spent more time here among the forests which are filled with wild animals including monkeys and red pandas. Life is just too short for what there is to see on this wonderful planet.

In the evening entertainment was laid on in the opulent ballroom on the top deck. It was a sweet Chinese version of something reminisicent of the shows held in that immortal sitcom ‘Hi de Hi’.

Although we were in such mythical places, where earth, sky and water played with each other, in this same month of November, looking back at our photographs it all already seems a dream. Were we really there or was it just a passing vision?

A high-rise orient:
rock peaks instead of concrete;
kissed by green waters.