Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 2

Day 3 - 19th Dec 2012

Jiu Zhai Gou

Today is a day tour to Jiu Zhai Gou (九寨沟),so we all wake up early to have our breakfast at the hotel. It was buffet style, but the food served are meat and vegetables,like having lunch/dinner. It was oily too,it really turned off our appetite.So we just get some light food and went to board the bus to set off to Jiu Zhai Gou.We reached the car park and we needed to walk a distance to the main gate.We reached around 9 am,and the tour guide went to help to get us our tickets.Our group had also booked a private bus but as the bus can only accommodate 21 people but our group consists of 27 people.So 6 of us needs to volunteer out to take the public buses.And so,i volunteered out, together with 5 others and my friend went with the private bus.Luckily it was our tour leader, Steve to bring us around instead of bus B tour guide.Anyway the group in bus B didn't book a private bus.There was wi-fi there too.Ahh..It started to snow too..First time see snow fall down from the sky...After getting the tixs,the tour guide leaded us to the entrance and we queued to get in.From there no, we went separate ways with the main group. They went on to get on the private bus and Steve took us to catch the public bus.Once on the bus,there was a tour member who was also alone. So i sat with her,and she said since we both are alone,can walk together. Her name is Annie.Another who had volunteered out was a family of 4, Christina and Jason and their 2 sons.Steve first brought us to Chang Hai (长海),the scenery was very beautiful.We took some photos and there are some vendors selling stuffs around there. After that, we went on to take the public bus again for our next stop.The bus was clean and there was not many people, actually the ride was quite ok (not like the tour guide had told us that it was super packed with people and we had to squeeze our way in. But again,it was during Spring time. Since it is winter period,there were not so many people visiting).

五彩池

Our next stop is Wu Cai Chi (五彩池). The water was very clear and beautiful (There supposed to have 5 colours in the lake). We spent some time there and had some photos taken. After that, we made our way down to the bus stop and saw bus B group too at the bus.We went for a short toilet break and walked down to bus stop.When we boarded the bus,Steve asked the lady guide on bus where the bus is heading. She told us that it was going to a Zhan Zu (藏族) village instead of the lunch place we are going.So we went ahead and got off at the village.It was a small village, there was shop selling their local stuffs.There were alot of colourful flags around the village and the local had written their scriptures on the flags. It was said that when the wind blows the flags,it will be counted as 1 time that the scriptures are being read (It was done cos the locals are getting more busier now).After that,we walked our way slowly to our lunch place.We reached earlier than the other group and our lunch vouchers are with the tour guide, so we had to wait for them to arrive before we can have our lunch.So Steve let us to walk around the place first while waiting. There was a performance at the stage too. Finally the other group arrived,and we finally can have our lunch.I met up with my friend and had lunch together. The lunch was buffet style..but...everyone had to take a tray (like those in campus/camp) then we had to queue to take our food. There wasn't much selection and the rice was out when i went to take. Actually some of the food was already gone and the staffs were slow in bringing out the refills.And i had to finished my lunch 15 mins earlier than the other group..sad...

珍珠滩瀑布

After lunch,my group went off first and we went to take the bus down to our next stop. Our next stop was Panda Lake (熊猫海),there was a small part of the lake got frozen.There was a small waterfall at the opposite side which got really frozen...white white...After spending some time here, we made our way to the next stop.Next Stop: 五花海.....it was very big lake with mountains surrounding it...All the water in the lakes are super clear, you can see what is underneath the water and it can show the reflections of the mountains clearly. After that, we went down to Pear Shoal (珍珠滩). It was a huge waterfall, we walked from the top down to the below of the waterfall by the stairs...We caught up with Bus B group too. So we just walked slowly down to our next stop after taking photos here. Our next stop is another waterfall, Nuorilang Falls (诺日朗瀑布). It was super huge too...and all the water were gushing down...After this, Steve took us to take the bus to the next stop..Tiger Lake (老虎海). And from here (after taking photos here), we walked down to another waterfall called SuZheng Waterfall (树正瀑布). Then we walked slowly down back to bus stop..to get back to the entrance. At the entrance, the tour guide took us to a fast food restaurant, called Dico's. So we had some food there, and i tabao back for my friend, who was already back to the hotel. Hohoho...we even took cab back to our hotel. Later i got to know that my friend had befriend with Annie's partner during the tour too. Hohoho..new friends made...and we too got to know who are in our bus, had got to know them during mealtimes too. Hahaha..everyone was asking us on SingTel mobile plans and whether there are any Christmas promotions coming out once they got to know where we are working. We all rested in our hotel room before dinner, tonight we are going for a show by 藏族 after dinner...(Skipped dinner part).It was a few mins ride from our hotel to the theatre. During the ride to the theatre,the tour guide was telling us that how 藏族人 will greet us when we arrive and what we need to say when they greet us (扎西德勒....). When we arrived, there was a group of people lining up to welcome us and gave us a white scarf (I lost mine after the show...sad). Anyway the show started with a marriage of the King and Queen and later followed by a few dances performance and there were 2 singers singing their 藏族 songs. There was a flute performance from Qiang Zu (羌族),the performer was blowing a whole melody without changing his breath (Quite amazing..). Then the host was asking for 4 males volunteers from the audience and to go up stage to perform a small tug of war match, and the winner can 'win' himself a wife back (provided the lady agreed). It was quite a funny scene, after that, the show ended with a performance by their boys band group. (You can purchase their CD with their autographs outside too). Bad about during the performance was people smoking in the theatre and there is no heater (We got super cold during midst of the show...lol). After the show, the tour guide gave us instructions for the next day during the ride back to the hotel and we went back to our hotel,which ended our day.

To be cont'd..........

Hotel Stayed:
New JiuZhai Hotel

Places Visited:
Jiu Zhai Gou