Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 3

Day 4 - 20th Dec 2012

Western Gemstone and Jade Outlet

Today, we woke up early too..ahh..didn't manage to sleep well too. We checked out of New JiuZhai Hotel and went off to start our day...(Breakfast not nice anyway....). The tour guide let us get off by a road to experience the coldness...wah...it is really really cold...and there were snow on the ground....Later we drove off to Western Gemstone and Jade Outlet, during the ride, the tour guide told us how Tian Zhu come about and how to identify a real tian zhu and what to look out for. It was believed to be one of the expensive beads for Zhan Zu people. The tour guide also told us that he had bought one about 16 years old and had been wearing since. He told us to look out the bead's transparency, lines (hua wen), and how it glows (don't really remember the last one..hohoho...). Anyway, we arrived at around 10 am. The tour guide passed on to the guide in the factory and the guide started to introduce us to how the gemstones come about, and introduced on the different gemstones..like tian zhu （天珠）, mao yan (猫眼) and Amber. The guide also told us how to identify the real and the fake for all these gems...For tian zhu, there are the 3 points to identify which is the transparency and the lines. For tian zhu, there was so called '新天珠‘ and '老天珠‘. As for the lao tian zhu ('老天珠‘), they are normally kept for a long time and its transparency is much more, compared to xin tian zhu ('新天珠). So they are normally much much more expensive. And there are many patterns printed on every tian zhu, there are called 1 eye to 10 eyes, plus there are still other patterns which there are different meaning to every pattern. To identify the real mao yan, the guide told us to let it reflect with the light, there will be a line that will open and close like a cat's eye. As for the Amber, the real thing will need to identify by using its weight, it will float in water if it is the real thing. After the demo, the guide brought us to use a microscope to identify the tian zhu. After that, he brought to their main shop to do shopping for their tian zhu and there was a 50% discount now as they are closing for holidays. So we walked around and see. My friend and me bought a RMB$3400 (which is sgd$692) for a 9 eyes tian zhu...and we each also bought another 'turtle shell' pattern for RMB$300 (which is sgd$60 plus). Xiong....After shopping for some time here, we left for the next shopping shop....Zhan Zu Tea Outlet

茶马古道

Next, we arrived at a outlet (茶马古道） which is selling their tea. We were introduced to how their tea was being carried out for exports/imports by using the silk road. Then later we were introduced to the creator of tea and the super big and old tea tree. After that, We were brought to a small room, where everyone was seated. There was a lady who started to introduce their tea to us, there were 3 other ladies at the back preparing the tea. Then they let us to try on their 1st tea - 七叶胆...it smelled nice and sweet, quite refreshing..and the lady also told us how to hold the teacup when drinking...Later she later us try on the 2nd tea (don't know what is being called)...She also showed us how to drink the tea...it was funny..(somehow you will need to hold the tea in your mouth and suck it in instead of swallowing down..and you need to make sucking sound as loud as possible when drinking...lol). For the 3rd tea, it is called Zhan Cha - 藏茶. And during each tea testing, the lady told us that the benefits of the 3 types of tea. The lady told us that it was after the 2008 earthquake that they were selling this tea now, and half of the $ will be donated to charity for those children who had lost their homes/families during the earthquakes. And these tea are donated by their living buddha...And she also said that if you get their 10 pieces of zhan cha, you can actually send back the last 2 pieces to them and they will send a new box of 10 pieces to you. So in a way, you are paying 1 time and getting endless tea. And she said it is up to us whether to get the tea anot and it is still limited edition (but if you are getting endless tea when send back, how will it be limited edition leh??? Haiz....) Me and my friend actually bought 1 packet of the 1st tea we tried..and already went out of the place..Suay suay, the lady came out and got us another offer to get another packet of the 1st tea and she will give us 1 more packet for free...Once we went in again...that's it sia....she started to persuade us to get that zhan cha. Gosh....even the tour guide was also persuading us to buy the tea for charity... -_-"...In the end, i just agreed to buy them...(3 pieces for RMB$1000 instead of RMB$1800). My credit card even bounced when i went to do the payment..hahaha...(Should have run off when it bounced..lol). In the end, my friend helped mi to pay for it first...Haiz....Lesson learnt..if really want to buy, always get the 1st offer..don't take their 2nd offer...hohohoho...

After shopping at these 2 places, we went for our lunch. Nothing fantastic too, one of our tour group member even got ice in her rice...hohoho...the food area was cold too, no heater...and the food was also not hot...the 2nd round of rice is also half-cooked, hard hard one... After lunch, it was a super long ride down from JiuZhaiGou to Mao Xian. So the tour guide entertained us by telling us some information of how the 2008 earthquake had affected him...After that, he let us to take a nap on the bus. We arrived at the same pitstop where the bus got its bath and i went down to buy fruits. The stall owners were trying very hard to get business for their own...After the bus had its bath, we continued our journey down the mountain. By 4 pm, we arrived at a Qiang Zu Village. It was built for them after the 2008 earthquake. All the houses are newly built, some are even quite modern and all are at least 2 storeys high. The tour guide even went in one of the locals' houses and asked for permission whether we can go in the house to take a look. It was a 3 storeys high house and up on the 3rd floor, it had a super nice view of the mountains....After we came down, the tour guide tried to talk to the house owner, who has 3 daughters. After that, we took a walk around the village and the wind was blowing....very cold there...After spending about 1 and half hour there, we all went back to the bus as it was really getting cold. Then we made our way to the hotel - Maoxian International Hotel and our dinner was prepared by the hotel too. The restaurant was on another building beside the hotel and their wifi wasn't working when we were there...the hotel staffs said their router was having some issues, so it is unable to work (what to expect when staying on mountain areas?? lol). So we had our dinner there, again there was no heater in the restaurant...and food was so so too..During dinnertime, our tour guide told us that breakfast will be served as ala-carte dishes and on time too. So everyone needs to be punctual to have breakfast the next day. After dinner, we went back to our hotel room to rest. I called back to Citibank as my card was bounced earlier today...and the call lasted 18 mins, including a 3 mins call i made earlier, which got cut off. $72...heart pain sia...The hotel room is small and the only heater available is the heater blanket...and mine doesn't even get heat up...I was shivering the whole night during my stay there (luckily it is only 1 night...can't take it...was even wearing my fleece jacket and pocket warmer to sleep sia...i just quickly did everything i needed to do and crawled into my bed and don't want to come out..hohoho...). And still the hotel stopped their whole power at midnight to save electricity...Again, i was unable to sleep well due to the coldness.... 

For these few days, the tour guide had also told us information about Zhan Zu - how they come about, their culture and even their burial methods. They are actually people from Tibet,who have chose to stay on in China after their wars. They also put up colored flags around their houses, and on the flags, scriptures are printed on the flags. The flags are called '经幡'. One thing i find interesting is their ways of burial, there are actually 5 burial ways according to their customs:
1. 火葬 -  Fire burial (Is to cremate by fire)
2. 水葬 - Water burial (Is to buried in the sea and let the fishes to eat the corpse. Normally this is done for young infants/children who died. This is the reason too why Zhan Zu folks don't eat fishes.)
3. 土葬 - Earth burial (Is to buried underneath the ground)
4. 天葬 - Sky burial (For this burial, the zhan people actually chop up their loved ones' corpse into many small pieces and let the vultures to feast on it. Even after the bones are left, they will still chop the bones into smaller pieces and let the vultures to feed on them. By this burial, they believed that all the sins committed in this life by the dead person is being cleansed. Therefore, nothing is to be left behind.)
5. 塔葬 - Pagoda burial (This burial is normally for Dala Lama, or high monks. They are to be buried in pagoda and expensive items will also be buried together with it.)

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

Hotel Stayed:
MaoXian International Hotel

Places visited:
Western Gemstone and Jade Outlet
Zhan Cha Outlet