5th May 2011
Trial Point 1 – A hit on my head.
GPS: 28.48”400’N, 104.52”322’E. Altitude：869ft.
We drove for over 4 hours from Chongqing upstream along the Yangtze, and located the Trial Point 0 without much trouble. From Google Earth there is a big island in the middle of the river, and the Point is right next to the island. When we were getting close the landscape along the river seemed reasonably tranquil, Perhaps I can get something ‘pictorial’? However things changed very quickly when the Point location came into view: the island is being dug out by over twenty diggers and trucks. The stones forming the island are dug away to a nearby outdoor factory and turned into sand to build the road from Yibin to Shanghai. A bit further from bank, the land was covered by many small factories, and the dark red water from the factories was flowing to the river.
I am deeply saddened by this view. The concept of a river in my mind is so different from reality, and this has been proven again and again during my journey along 1000 kilometres of this river. I fear that all my points will fall on locations like this. I am not even sure if it’s worth going on.
