Un-Lost Memories - The Magnificent 3 Gorges Dam

More pictures from the harddrive that I lost but was lucky enough to have recovered (at the price of $1000).  Excerpts from Wikipedia about the 3 Gorges Dam:

The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River located in YichangHubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW) but is second to Itaipu Dam with regard to the generation of electricity annually.[3]  It was completed and fully functional as of July 4, 2012, the dam body was completed in 2006. As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space. The Chinese government regards the project as a historic engineering, social and economic success,[9] with the design of state-of-the-art large turbines,[10] and a move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions.[11] However, the dam flooded archaeological and cultural sites and displaced some 1.3 million people, and is causing significant ecological changes, including an increased risk of landslides.[12] The dam has been a controversial topic both domestically and abroad.[13]

on that bus from the last photo in the last post.  chinese construction.

the good earth.

we had to go through this security check to get onto the facility.  On the bus they told us no knives and other stuff that i didn't understand and people started pulling out all this stuff from their person to leave on the bus.

it's pretty immense.  Oh and did i add pretty ugly?

we would later cross that bridge back there on yet another bus ride and see an import sports car that was crashed around the bend.  Those silly Chinese and their new money.

if you're into this kind of thing you can see the macro setup of it all.  Looks like the hydroelectric dam part up there and the cargo ship locks on the bottom.

actually i'm sad that our tour group didn't make us wear matching hats.  I would be rockin' it from time to time and rockin' hearts.

so happy.  i would be too if i was wearing such a beautiful hat and my sunday best whilst strolling with my parasol and touring the grounds of my nation's grandiose waterworks project and surrounding gardens

is this what happens when the chain of bootlegging by non english speakers gets too long and one little spelling error gets bootlegged ontop of a previous spelling error and you go from bootlegging "Louis Vuitton" to making bags that say "Louie Catton"?

that mystery tea i bought

the dam part that we had to take another bus to get to.

this dude successfully prevented me from getting a photo of their awesome photo service....for now

but i got it later anyway.  dude had good right to not want photos taken of their amazing novelty photo operation.  because i might want to steal their technology for making people look like they really are there in front of the dam with very realistic lighting and a classy looking column.  He also probs didn't want me to photograph the awesome archival quality of their authentic archival durabrite Epson inks that don't fade for up to 75 years (and that definitly wouldn't turn green).  this photo booth is like 10 feet from the actual location of the photo!!! why don't they just take a real photo instead of using their advanced technology to superimpose people onto the scene like they were there, when they really were there!  F U dude.  I even said that too him.  I know, I am a badass saying insulting things to people in english that don't speak english and probs don't know i'm insulting them.  

There goes ships full of your Dre Beats headphones, Blackberries, Nikes, and Disney products.  I hope you're happy

this girl/woman on the bus was p!ssed the whole day.  When we went to places, she stayed on the bus.  I'm guessing since it was balls hot outside it eventually got super gorilla balls hot on the bus so she probs spent most of the day looking p!ssed and smoking lots of cigarettes somewhere in the vicinity of the bus.  she sat across from me on the back of the bus.  who or what and why was she so peeved?

the biggest dump i've ever seen.  Interpret that how you want with everything that's happening in this photo.

yes!  i love when i capture these beauties.  this guy later would later walk up to me and say "how much"? in chinese.  I was like huh?  he was talking about my camera.  I told him and he turned around to his friend and was like see that's a good camera but I want the new one (the mark III).  That's how things work in China.  if i was chinese i would know right away when he walked up to me and said "how much" what he was talking about and wouldn't think it was rude or anything.  You know, it's kind of refreshing when i'm in china because you can dispense with all pleasantries and just get down to what you want to know, or want, or want to go.  and you can just sh!t right there if you wanted to.  Also in the background I can see this youngish woman and her mother who had the cabin across from me on the boat.  Later on they saw me and were calling me "shuai ge", which means hottie or handsome guy.  hahahaha.  i swear its the hair you guys, cuz if you've seen my face its def not that....

more beautes.  and for people that think i'm being racist or too mean in this post, i would do and say the same if i was on an organized tour in america, because i'm sure there would be tons of beautes on that tour too.

these lotus filled cake things were sweetballs.

more on the subject of Chinese people disposing of the pleasantries, if they find something curious, they will walk right up to it (closer than what americans would think was their bubble) and stare until they are uninterested.  Which was the case with this guy and every person on our tour bus and all the others.

F U dude, I wish a mother lover would.  

I had already eaten so many little things along the way that by the time i got to this delicious looking gauntlet of food i couldn't eat any more.  

I was up there by the locks taking a photo of this bridge remember?

I'm sorry that you have to see this but you don't believe me about the disgusting woman's foot styles that exist in China (i've just totally disregarded the men's shoes cuz that's just too lost of a cause to even mention).  say what you will about the shoes, but here are the ubiquitous semi flesh colored hosiery calf socks (flesh colored if you were 90 and about to die and or really dirty).  oh sh!t as i was writing this i inspected further and noticed that they are stirrups!!! (like 80's aerobics tights at the bottom where your heel and toes are sticking out for those that don't know stirrups).  semi flesh colored hosiery stirrup calf socks!  oh man they keep inventing the wheel of grossness!  amazeballs.  Ok so apart from my badmouthing this and that it was an ok second half of a day.  For those that do this, if you have the option to, you can skip the 3 gorges dam unless you are really into this kind of stuff.  It's a lot of concrete and tourist trap stuff and a waste of half a day in my opinion.  Chances are your tour will take you here, especially cuz they get a kickback or something, or some system that i can't even comprehend.  So overall the Yangtze river cruise was awesome.  I travelled solo and it was a rewarding experience.  I recommend this cruise if you are spending a more than normal amount of time in china and have done beijing, shanghai, hong kong, and all the bigger attractions.  Well now its time to take another bus to Yichang where i will then take the most awesome bus ride of my life to Wuhan.  See you on the bus in the next post!