Blogs from Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China, Asia

The time had come to move on to another uncharted territory, but I was a bit nervous about China. Firstly, there was the language factor which isn't something that I haven't dealt with before, but it was signage in particular that was going to be difficult - I just cannot read any Chinese characters apart from "people", "1", "2" and "3". The closest challenge I've had is having to read Cyrillic but at least it is sort of close to the Roman alphabet. Chinese characters are just mumbo-jumbo to me. Also, I will have to cover a lot of distance - this will be the biggest country I will travel on the whole trip - in a fairly short amount of time so a lot of long and possibly complicated journeys await me. It didn't help ... read more

Moving on from Chengdu, I made the northwesterly detour to Jiuzhaigou (Nine Villages Valley), a Chinese National Park Reserve and Unesco World Heritage site. It was yet another long bus ride, almost 11h, but thankfully in a surprisingly comfortable bus. What I had to contend with though was the unexpected increase in altitude en route (apparently we almost hit 3000m above sea level at one point) and the onset of some minor symptoms of sickness, though eventually it was a slight descent back to the more manageable 2000m+ that Jiuzhaigou resides on. So what exactly is Jiuzhaigou? I have to say it wasn't a place I'd heard of until I did more research prior to this trip, and then I realised it was where they take some of those incredible pictures of multi-coloured lakes, frozen waterfalls, ... read more

Trip on tube : China trip (中国) Episode 12 - Jiuzhaigou & Huanglong (九寨沟 & 黄龙) Hi, the Chinese have always said " If u have seen the Jiuzhaigou's water, It's no need to see another water on the Earth. and the best time to come to Jiuzhaigou is on October (especially on date 15-25 Oct). This clip i recoarded on 5-6 October (The Chinese National day) so let's enjoy and u should come to Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) too locate near the Jiuzhaigou Village is so beautiful... read more

We get a sleep in and sample another great buffet breakfast. This one has “Baked Bean Curd with Tomato Sauce”, which is of course baked beans. You have to be flexible in your acceptance of what things are. Idira collects us at 10am, and we visit a shop immediately down-valley of the Sheraton to get some bananas and snacks for lunch. The hotel offers a packed lunch, but we think it’s a bit steep at ¥98 (A$17.80). There are also restaurants in the Tourist Centre in the valley, but we didn’t want to line up with hundreds of others. Anyway the snacks work well. Of the nine villages in the valley, only three are available to visit by tourists, but the main objective is to view the 118 beautiful lakes and the many spectacular waterfalls. Crystal ... read more

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 ... read more