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It has been 22 months since my last confession, er, blog. Sorry - work, life, laziness. I’m still in Shanghai. The World Expo has come and gone, metro lines have run riot under the city, shopping malls are on every street corner, new skyscrapers have been thrown up, bars and restaurants have opened and closed and opened again.Yes, the pace of this city is still dizzying.
Arriving at Jiuzhaigou May Day Holiday, time to escape for a slower pace, nature and clean air - Jiuzhaigou National Park, famed for its spectacular valleys and clear blue lakes and Chengdu, home to spicy food, lazy days and pandas. A delayed three hour flight from Shanghai and we eventually arrived at Jiuzhaigou airport, some 3,500 metres above sea level. An altitude headache immediately started to creep up, one which would come and go during our stay. A two hour drive through beautiful countryside and we arrived with time for a quick aperitif before heading out to find some tasty Sichuan dinner. We made a beeline towards the sides of “lamb” hanging on display by a bunch of street restaurants. Not entirely sure if it was lamb, could’ve been goat, yak? But very
tasty, served with bread and veggies and covered in spices and most probably lashings of msg, washed down with Tibetan barley beer.
The Park The next morning operation “beat the holiday crowds at Jiuzhaigou National Park” got underway. The strategy was simple: a) get to the ticket office when it opens at 8am, b) get the shuttle bus to the top of the park, c) walk back down the valley. We wanted to walk, take in the surroundings, breath the fresh air. Not follow the pack on the buses shuttling noisy crowds from one photopoint to the next. However, the walkway starting at the top of the park was closed for repairs (on a national holiday, go figure). Ahah, but by ignoring/avoiding the officials telling everyone to get back on the bus and making a break for it, we snagged a peaceful 10km walk, no people!!
Signs of having been in China too long – maybe they put blue dye in the lakes…. – just a very fleeting thought but there it was. Actually, it was a Tibetan goddess who, centuries ago, dropped her mirror in the valley; it smashed into pieces and formed beautiful blue lakes.
Jiuzhaigou is very beautiful, valleys surrounded by snowy peaks with crystal clear blue lakes, waterfalls and thick forests. “The closest thing to a fairytale world to be found anywhere on the planet” – Best of China. Most definitely worth the expensive flight, travel time and headaches.
Roadtrip The next day, our quick 40 minute flight to Chengdu turned into an 8 hour roadtrip. The airport staff insisted that the flight was only delayed and tried to get us on a bus to wait at a nearby hotel. After confirming with Ctrip that it was actually cancelled (and that they will refund the flights – which they did, no hassle), we hired a minibus and set off for Chengdu. It turned out to be a fascinating journey. We travelled along the route of the Sichuan earthquake which hit almost 4 years ago to the day, 12 May. The earthquake, measuring 7.9, killed almost 70,000 with a further 18,000 missing and left 5 million without housing. As we travelled along the new roads we could still see the old destroyed ones further down the side of the valley. We passed a huge “quake lake”, a lake formed by landslides blocking
the river. At one point we seemed to be driving along the dry riverbed of a deep valley. The river had been rerouted, and later we saw it pouring from a sluice cut into the side of a valley. After the earthquake sluices were put in place to drain quake lakes that risked flooding downstream cities. We drove through Wenchuan, the epicentre of the earthquake, which was reduced to rubble. Less than 4 years on and it’s almost totally rebuilt – a modern Chinese city, complete with bridges and public buildings lit up like Christmas trees! As we got closer to Chengdu and night fell the weather closed in, torrential rain and thunderstorms. Perfect for a landslide-prone area… and we did drive over a landslide and a rock hit the van. But we got to Chengdu safe and sound at 1am!
More photos on
Flickr .
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