Here I am, on the other side of the world.

I am back in the city of Lijiang after a 10 day trip down the Great Bend of the Yangtze, a stretch of river with its days numbered. In fact, we might have been the last group of people to enjoy the river for its massive waves, crashing holes and erupting whirpools, rather than its hyropower potential.

But let's rewind...

After traveling for nearly 48 hours we arrived in this small city, Lijiang. Made up of both an old and new town, this city appears to be a pretty popular vacation spot. Stages were being built in preparation for the coming New Years festivities, a holiday that falls on the new moon and begins celebrations that seem to go on for the entire month. We are back in Lijiang now, after our trip down the river, and the streets are full of performers, tourists and festivities even though the new years has already passed. The small streets of old town weave in circles and loops causing for much confusion and thus more shopping, an interesting trick. Shops tend to repeat themselves, but restraunts with live entertainment booming from within and aromatic tea shops make walking the same streets not so dissapointing.

From here we begin to stage for our multi-day exploration of the Great Bend with Last Desents, a rafting company founded by Travis Winn, an American who has made Chinese River Conservation and Access his life-long passion. Determined to demonstrate the beauty and value of the waterways to the people of China, Travis and his guides do whatever it takes to get the right people out on the river. Although the days are numbered for many stretches of amazing whitewater here due to the government's ambitious hydropower goals (over 1200 new dams will be built in the next 10 years), many sections of river have yet to even be explored. I am truly inspired by thier work here, I find myself wishing I could stay and be a part of it all.

Before putting on the river, as the rafts prepared for the week, our group stopped to hike down inthe the Tiger Leaping Gorge, another valley soon to be filled. The scenery was epic only to be matched by the raging rapid down below.

Here on the banks of the river we began our first week of classes. Where is class today? On the tallest sand dune overlooking the last rapid? Nestled amongst the boulders where shade can be found? So hard to decide. For Biology and our Humans in the Biosphere chapter, we looked into the environmental impacts of the hydropower, interviewing the experts who traveled with us down river and reading various articles. At certain moments we found ourselves sitting on a beach that will soon be hundreds of meters under water once the dams are completed, a hard concept to grasp unless you can see it.



The food was great, the sleep even better and the sand, well it was everywhere. I am still brushing off notebooks, emptying out my pack. After morning classes we set out to run another stretch of river with some of the most powerful currents I've ever seen. One afternoon found us parked at the Kim Jong Ill wave, where I got at least 4 feet of air while bouncing down the face of the wave. Nothing could have made that smile leave my face.

Our last day we dropped off our gear and kayaks (too much equipment to carry out further downsteam) and proceded down the river in rafts to our official take-out. The walk to the small village, Baushan, was steep, but beautiful. We climed nearly 1000 ft past terraced slopes and diverged waterways. It was easy to see why these people settled here, with water flowing from the steep peaks even in the dry season. The village mostly composed of stone houses, narrow and steep walkways was built right into the mountainside. They are lucky in that the reservoir will not reach town limits. Instead they will only flood the majority of thier arable land. Not sure which is worse. Classes resumed here while slowly the group became sick one by one. Now, several days later back in Lijiang, most everyone has had a night dealing with the typical foreign travel bug. Hopefully we're getting it out of the way now and the rest of the trip will go smoothly.
As much as I would love to go on forever about every overpowering moment of wonder, excitement and discovery, this new job keeps me incredibly busy. Entering grades, contacting parents and class prep are only a few on my list right now. If you are interested in more info (and a pic of me teaching) check out the student's blog site: World Class Kayak Academy Spring 09. I also didn't take nearly as many photos as I do typically as there was a professional photographer riding along with us and who will be sharing his photos with the group. I'll be sure to post some of his best shots (hopefully lots of good whitewater ones) and mention his name.

My love to all!