10th February, 2001
Barges On Canal: Concrete Hulls With Living Quarters For Families: Windowed Cruise Boat Cabin With Soft Seats And Polished Tables
August, 1987
Barges on the Canal passed our cruise boat during our journey. The barges on the canal and the passing scenes could be viewed in comfort from our cruise boat which was much smaller than our Li River boat but there was ample room for our 1987 group of 30 in the windowed cabin below deck, with its soft seats and polished tables. We spent very little time in the cabin, standing on deck for most of the journey, so that we could better observe the activities on the canal bank and on the canal itself, and we were well rewarded. One can only imagine the splendour of the boats as they carried the tributes to the Emperor in Peking, but today�s traffic was commercial, with the occasional tour boat to attract the attention of the
 local people. There were the individual motorised carriers; others propelled by rear oarsmen; boats with small sails; then came the trains pulled along by powerful tug boats, their klaxons blaring out a warning to the traffic ahead particularly on approaching a narrower stretch of canal, or where the arch of a road bridge had to be entered. Most of the load carriers had concrete hulls, some having the luxury of decks and small open cabins ,
 which were the living quarters of the barge-men and sometimes of their families.
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