Thoughts on Jiuzhaigou Trip- Environment

The most frequently asked questions from my friends are
1. How much did I spend?
2, What is the best time for going to Jiuzhaigou?

How much I spent: very expensive for a China trip, it's enough for going to Japan!

Best time: Everybody knows the best time for Jiuzhaigou is when the red leaves appear. However, it's usually also the most crowded time as well! I chose to go this year because I thought there might be less people after the earthquake.



According to my research prior to the trip, the best time should be mid October to late Oct for the red leaves. (Remember the worst time is early Oct, coz there're way too many people because of the National Day holidays.) HOWEVER, this year the leaves did not turn more red/yellow until after 22th. And I asked the local people while I was there (27-28 Oct), the colour of the leaves would be even beautiful when there was frost.

The best time is NOT mid-late Oct, it should be early Nov, this year at least.

November is NOT high season, so everything is like half priced!! I should have gone in November... =P

Why was the appearance of red leaves delayed? Global warming again?

I was watching the TV program on Iceland yesterday, how the scenic national parks in Iceland stayed pretty much like its original state, all the pavements were made with natural materials which can blend with the environment, and there are no cable cars, tourists have to walk to see everything. Which reminds me of what I see in the Jiuzhaigou trip.

Cable car at Huanglong


Pavement at Jiuzhaigou


We need to work hard to protect our environment and try to keep it the way God created it.

Thoughts on Jiuzhaigou trip - Tibetan Family Visit & Tibetan Culture Show

Surprisingly, it didn’t turn out to be as commercialized as I had expected. Probably because we spent so much time in Jiuzhaigou (we left at 6pm on the second day of our visit), so we were the last two guests to arrive, and we were still eating when the other tourists had to leave.

We were served some Tibetan food, I forgot the names of most of the food. Because I don’t like lamb, they served us roasted chicken instead of lamb. The surprise came when the host told us he hunted that chicken that morning. (!)

Until then, I didn’t REALLY appreciate how much their life differ from ours, sure there is cultural difference, of course language barrier as well, but if we want a chicken, we will go to the market and buy one, but he HUNTED one for us.

It was delicious, by the way.





See the chicken on the lower part around centre of the table- that's what he hunted!


After some outrageous =P performances with really modern pop song-like pseudo-Tibetan singing, plus some teasing and games between the host family and some of the guests (which was really funny and entertaining, despite the spontaneity =P), the others left leaving the two of us.

The host family chatted with us while we were eating, they seemed really curious about city dwellers like us. None of them had education more than primary two level, the guy (younger brother in the family, aged 21) has never attended school before. However, they knew some basic English (!) from the guests they received. And the younger brother said he was the one who had traveled farthest among the family members, he had been to Chengdu, and he loved it, his comment was “such a big city and tall buildings!”

He was raised on horses, and so his first comment upon knowing where we came from was “Oh Hong Kong, that’s where the Olympic equestrian event was held!” (I was thinking if he thought Chengdu was so marvelous, what would he think if he had the chance to come to HK?)

The guy in front is the younger brother and the other two girls are his sisters.






It is really weird/unbelievable/maybe kind of sad when you think about it. When you look at the smog-filled sky of Chengdu (Really it’s a LOT worse than that in HK, just SMOG SMOG and SMOG), and these people (who is practically living in a fairytale land for us) actually want to move to Chengdu.

SMOG at Chengdu




No matter how much they try to preserve their own culture, it is going to disappear. And soon.

Which reminds me of the Tibetan show on the day before, the Tibetan “F5” (what my friend and I called them =P) who has got their own 主打歌 (not sure of the proper English translation, main promotional song?). The scenery may be preserved if they can generate money from it, but their culture once lost will be gone forever.

This is the guy who claimed he has a 主打歌 (main promotional song?).


This is "F5"!

Thoughts on Jiuzhaigou trip

Really kind of unexpected, in my 3 days in Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong, I only saw one piece of rubbish lying on the ground. (This is CHINA! Don't forget. A lot cleaner than ANY country park in Hong Kong.) And I don't recall seeing anyone smoking. Even in Chengdu, the amount of rubbish is no more than that compared to Hong Kong.

One factor may be the number of rubbish bins available, you can find rubbish bins within short distances.(They have two bins joined together, one for recyclable materials and one for non-recyclable, even though I don't see much difference in the stuff being dumped in the two bins. =P)

However, I think Chinese people do realise these areas ought to be treasured.

As for Chengdu, is that an post-Olympic effect? I am not sure...

China is improving, I still remember when I got back from Yunnan, I was saddened by the way people act in these scenic areas.

I guess this is evidence that China is changing for the better.

Obama Speech 4 Nov

If you haven't heard it yet (I watched this live), you have to watch this. The guy is so charismatic. It is so moving, makes you feel like he's really gonna change America. I am not sure if he can. I guess the first step of doing anything is to have a dream.

Jiuzhaigou in 2 days

I think one should do Jiuzhaigou 九寨溝 in 2 days at least, if you have time you should do a 3 day tour.

If you don't like photography or nature, you can probably do it in one day, getting on and off the bus at the scenic spots, take a look and leave on the next bus.

However, if you enjoy taking a good walk (not really strenuous, the level is like those Family Walks in Hong Kong country parks), and taking pictures, two days' of time is a minimum for you to enjoy Jiuzhaigou.

There are basically three valleys (溝) in Jiuzhaigou- Rize Valley 日則溝, Zechawa Valley 則查洼溝, Shuzheng Valley 樹正溝. They formed a Y shape.





The best valley in terms of scenery is Rize Valley 日則溝. 1 day should be allocated to Rize Valley and another day to the other 2 valleys.

Basically once you get into Jiuzhaigou, the bus travel onwards up to the highest point on either side of the Y, and then you can travel downwards with bus which stop at different scenic spots.

You won't know which way the bus is going until it gets to the middle- Nuorilang 諾日朗, because the bus driver will be told by the director which way to go only when they get there, if you want to go to the other side, you need to get off the bus and wait for the next bus.

I did Zechawa Valley 則查洼溝, Shuzheng Valley 樹正溝 on the first day because the bus I got on happened to go that way.

I started early the first day, got to the entrance at about 8:30am, but it was so crowded with lots of tour groups, but I finished early that day. On the second day, I started at 9:30am, with a lot less people around, but finished late at 6pm, because there is so much to see in Rize Valley 日則溝.

This is a picture I took at the entrance on the second day. Almost no people!


I didn't take any pics on the crowds on the first day simply because all my energy was used to get on the bus, here's a photo at the last stop of the bus, imagine these crowds times 10 for the crowds at the entrance!


Either get there VERY early like 7am (this is what some travel books recommend), or a little bit later to avoid those doing 1 day tour.

If I were to plan it again, I'll probably start later on the day I'm doing Zechawa Valley 則查洼溝 and Shuzheng Valley 樹正溝 to avoid the crowds, or you can do it on the second day if you think you might want to revisit some of the more beautiful spots after going through the two valleys.

Some people do it in 3 days, one valley each day, I think if you do it in 3 days, you can walk a lot more, which is good. Because the bus does NOT stop at EVERY scenic spots, so in order to visit all, you need to walk. Due to our limited time, we chose to walk if the bus stops were nearby (within 1-2km) or if the spots could not be reached by bus but are really beautiful according to travel books.

You are going to miss a lot of things if you just get on and off the buses, that is why I recommend TWO days minimum.

One very important thing- when you get on the bus, sit at the FRONT! otherwise you won't be able to hear whatever the tour guide on the bus are saying, because those people in the bus will be talking VERY LOUDLY!



I can't hear a thing on my first day. The tour guide tells you important information like where the next bus stop is, what you can walk to from a certain bus stop. Therefore, sit in the front! (Unfortunately only Putonghua tour guide is available, I am not sure if the guides can speak English, but good English guidebooks can be bought, and lots of people who don't speak Putonghua are doing the trip on their own, so it should be ok.)

How to do a Jiuzhaigou Huanglong trip on your own?

It's actually pretty easy to go to Jiuzhaigou 九寨溝 on your own.

First buy plane tickets from Chengdu or Chongqing to Jiuzhai-Huanglong Airport, of course, you can always choose to go by bus if you want to save $$, but it's a long bus trip. =P





After you leave the airport, you will see lots of taxis, with price preset already.



You can go to Huanglong from airport and then to Jiuzhaigou, OR go to Jiuzhaigou first from airport and then go to Huanglong on your way back to the airport.

If you go to Huanglong first, the good thing is that Huanglong is much less beautiful, so you'll have a better time in both places (compared to going to the really beautiful Jiuzhaigou and then get disappointed by Huanglong =P), but the downside is that on the way to Huanglong from the airport, you need to pass through really high altitude, so you can get mountain sickness on your way.

It's over 4000m on the way.



For me, my choice was limited by flight availability, so I didn't get to choose. I had to go to Huanglong first.

You can store your luggage on the taxi/car while you tour around Huanglong.

I highly recommend you take the cable car. Just look at the height from ground, if you don't take the cable car, you need to walk up this far! And at a high altitude, don't forget!



Be prepared to feel breathless when you're there, especially if you go there directly from airport. See my fingers got all bluish here, I think I was hypoxic.



Then you can walk towards the scenic spots on level ground (for 2.75km), and then after touring around the ones on the top, you can walk downwards, it took me 4 hours to tour around the whole area (including cable car), if you choose to walk all the way up and down, you have to have more time than that.

From the top to bottom, it's more than 4km!





As for Jiuzhaigou, no outside vehicles are allowed, so you need to take the buses inside anyway, the only problem is how to get to the entrance. The best way is taxi!

The price is also all set. And there are LOTS of taxis around.





After getting in, you can take the buses inside, they're really frequent, like once every 2-5 mins, so you practically don't have to wait, but I was there during high season, if you go in low season, be prepared to wait longer.



Easy? Go to Jiuzhaigou on yourself next time!

Jiuzhaigou '08

More photos uploaded here than my Facebook albums

Jiuzhaigou '08

Huanglong

Intercontinental Jiuzhai Paradise and Others

Chengdu