Up the 3 Little Gorges. The small boat you see here is just like the one that we rode in. The boat shown is another group of people from our cruise ship.

We had to pass under this bridge to go into the little gorges. Though it was built within the last 10 years, this bridge will have to be destroyed for the dam project. If it isn't destroyed, it will be a hazard to ships passing above it.

Looking out the front of our small boat.

Our boat stopped on the area below to allow people to pick up some of the beautiful rocks and pebbles which lay there. The boat on the far right was being filled with the rocks by men with shovels, presumably to transport elsewhere and sell them. I enjoyed clambering around on the cliff behind the rocky area, from where I took this picture.

Paths like the one you see here along the side of the cliff were used by slaves in ancient times to pull boats up the river. They would walk along the paths along the river, pulling long ropes attached to the boats. These paths could be lowered or raised depending on how high the water level was; it was possible to see many square holes in the rock faces as we went up the river, which had been used to hold such scaffholds. I don't think the slaves had the benefits of fences in their time.

Back in these little gorges, the hills had much more farming going on.

Below you can see one of those ancient coffins of princes or kings found resting high in the cliffs.

In the small boat we passed much closer to buildings along the side of the river. Here we needed to register at a check point (the building you can't see much of on the right) before we could continue up the little gorges.

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