18-Sep-2005 -- 32 N – 120 E Jiangsu (江苏), China

Visit Date: September 18, 2005

Majority of the line-hunters for this trip were from Beijing and attending a conference in Nanjing. We have an afternoon off, and decided to go for a hunt located on the most famous river of China - Yangtze.

Based on the best map we have, and the report from the first visit by Jammie Zelazny and Corrado Filipponi we knew that we have a substantial chance of swimming the last few hundred meters to reach the point.

The confluence point is over 150 km from Nanjing, to save time; we took off from the conference site directly without returning to our hotel to pick up all the proper gears (SLR camera and swim suit).

The expressway toward Shanghai we took crossed Yangtze River twice, and by the time we got off at the exit for Tai Xing city, we were 15 km from the confluence point. The first order of business was to stop by a couple shops by the road side and bought some shorts and sneakers to prepare for the struggle with mud and water.

We took the road to Qi Wei Township and reached the nearest point to the confluence at shore of Yangtze. This location is at an outlet of a waterway, and the confluence point is near the very end of the outlet near the main channel of the Yangtze River. The water appears to be muddy and dirty.

As we were walking alone the dike to get a bit closer to the point, we spotted a small boat coming toward the main land. After a few yells, we got the attention of the boat man, and he came toward us, and agreed to take us for a little ride, but he was prohibited to go into the main channel of the Yangtze river.

The boat man was collecting crabs from his crab cages alone the waterway. It took about 15 minutes against the wind to reach the junction of this waterway with Yangtze River, and put us about 90 meters from the confluence point. The fisherman agreed to go out a bit further alone the weedy coast of the Yangtze.

The nearest location alone the shore we were able to reach from the confluence point was about 55 meters from the all zeros point. To get to the zero point the boat has to venture into the body of Yangtze which was not legal for the little crab boat. We did not feel right to push the nice fisherman to do so.

We learned from the fisherman was that, during the winter when the water level dropped, the area near the confluence point became a mud flat and can be reached by foot. Water level usually reached the highest level during August and September.

In contrast with the previous hunting trip to this point which was a true adventure, our trip was a joy ride - a car to our disposal, and managed to hitch a ride with a crab boat. Even though we had every intention to swim the final stretch, but very glad we did not – the recent rain made the drainage from the waterway rather dirty and muddy.

The only misadventure of the trip was not able to bring alone Ray’s camera. The GPS shot using Button’s camera did not focus, and all the photos taken by Ding’s camera got erased accidentally.

We made it back to Nanjing by 6.30 pm which was a good thing because this was the mid-autumn festival day in China, a day for family reunion. All of us were able to make to dinner with families or friends in Nanjing.

We will find another confluence point where we truly have to swim to it.

Rating of this hunt:

Degree of Challenge: 1 – We had it easy by finding a boat, otherwise it would be a struggle for the last 400 meters (Scale: 1= very easy - drive to the point; to 5= a death march – glad it is over)

Scenery: 2– Shore of lower Yangtze River not the most inspiring view (Scale: 1= not interesting at all; 5= take your breath away)

Culture-social factors: 2 – rural central Jiangsu community (Scale: 1=dull; 5= most stimulating)