Blogs from Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China, Asia - page 4

Sichuan province is the land of spicy food and home of the Panda. Chengdu is the capital, geographically akin to St. Louis - the final post of the eastern part of the country before the vast and much less populated western frontier. We flew into the capital, Chengdu, and then flew north to JiuZhaiGou (Valley of Nine Villages) about 4,000 meters above sea level (13,000 feet) and at the southern end of the Minshan mountain range. JiuZhaiGou takes its name from the nine Tibetan villages that line the valley. The valley is famous for its lakes and waterfalls - crystal clear and incredibly blue in color due to the high calcium carbonate content. This is a poor part of the province, with farming the main source of income. The people are peaceful, laid back and friendly ... read more

There is not a whole lot we could say about Songpan. The drive up from Chengdu was rather pleasant and scenic, winding along a muddy river for miles. The driver didn't smoke in the bus which was a good thing considering that we had had our fill of the dangerous, annoying, inconsiderate habit. But he was decidedly flatulent forcing us to debate which habit we detested more. Songpan, the old city anyway, was contained within new city walls built on ancient gates. It was a mini city with a decent collection of souvenir shops, restaurants and budget accommodation. We heard that trekking or horseriding to its pristine backlands was quite the adventure but Songpan's first snow had already fallen leaving the overpasses slippery white and the air deathly cold. And so, from atop the city walls, ... read more

I spent two days exploring Jiuzhaigou park. One day solo, one day with my friend M. The first morning, the taxi driver who drove me to the hotel I stayed at showed up at the hotel at 7:00 am to take me to the park entrance. I had casually mentioned that I planned to go to the park at 7:00 am, but didn't ask for him to take me. As I got out of the cab that morning, he asked when I was going to go back to the hotel. I thought this was a bit odd of a question, considering that he has better things to do than especially take me back to my hotel. Then he said, "don't forget to pay the balance of your hotel bill." Umm? The day before, I only paid ... read more

Geo: 32.9578, 103.752Heaven on earth... read more

Pictures for Chengdu http://picasaweb.google.com/ourgmb/ChengDu?authkey=ECRIrC3eDAM Pictures for Jiuzhaigou http://picasaweb.google.com/ourgmb/JiuJhaiGou?authkey=Sz6gP2SDQyI Pictures for Huanglong http://picasaweb.google.com/ourgmb/HuangLong?authkey=wUY8EWYf09c Our China trip is unplanned. Anyways, we flew from Canada to Hong Kong on May 23, 2007 and arrived on May 24. On May 25, we went from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, China. On May 26, we flew from Shenzhen to Chengdu 成都, Sichuan, China. For those who are interested in China domestic flights, there are two good web sites: www.qunar.com, www.elong.com. Also, www.hnair.com (Hainan Airline -- up to 81% off, if you book early) We arrived in Chengdu late at night (around 11:00 pm) as our flight was delayed for 5 hours. We checked into the "apartment-hotel" that we found on the web. http://www.cdhsj.com. The buildin... read more