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a safety standpoint.

On the second day, the ship tied up and we went on small boats
up a side canyon containing a stream. Soon the hillsides were red like
those in Southern Utah. There were round holes that had been drilled
into the hillside adjoining this river. We were told that in ancient times
wooden poles had been inserted in these holes and coolies had pulled
barges up the river stepping from pole to pole well above the water. The
work required to build such pole platforms staggers the imagination.
And the labor of a human pulling barges upstream – horrendous! The
river was at a low level stage and our little boats were barely able to
ascend the river.

The following day we arrived at a reservoir, leaving the boat. At
Chengdu we had a 26-hour train ride. The railroad bed had been created
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the number of tunnels we went through was unbelievable. I noted the
date of construction of many of the tunnels, shown near their entrances.
I realized that the railroad had been constructed to enable the Chinese
to expedite supplies to the North Vietnamese during our war with them.
The railroad car conditions were pretty primitive. Richard, for
example, had to sleep on a small pad in a car where the bunks were
stacked three high. The Chinese riders ate chicken wings as they sat
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in the night, I found that the toilet was simply a hole in the wooden
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never-ending and we were delighted when we disembarked.

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er in tiny boats only a few inches above the water level. All around us
were the mountains so famous in Chinese art. The mountains very much
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day on the river.
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