Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 1

Uhoo!! Finally a long trip..this time i went Si Chuan with my friend. We had booked a tour package for 8 days with Chan Brothers. It was a 1 for 1 deal and we had also extended our trip for another 3 days. The 8 days package plus our extension costs around $1134. I went for a briefing too, given by Chan Brothers as what to expect when we are in China. Our total group is 48 people, and there is a group lead who is going with us. His name is Steve Soh and there are 2 tour guides coming with us when we reach Chengdu. So as planned, our journey started from 17th Dec 2012 to 28th Dec 2012.

Day 1 - 17th Dec 2012
Our flight was 5.45 pm, so the tour leader had told us to meet at Terminal 2 at 3.30 pm. When we reached, we waited for awhile for the tour leader. He came and passed us some documents and informed us that there will be 2 buses allocated for us. Based on the envelope given, we are allocated to the bus and dining table. We were also given instructions where to meet once we pass the China customs. After that, we went to check-in our luggage and went in for some light shopping while waiting for our flight. I was abit hungry, so i went to buy egg tarts. While queuing, there was 2 foreigners standing in front of me, thinking what to get. Then finally when they wanted to order, one of the guy said his order to the staff in quite rude manner. Then they tried to pay in US currency, but was rejected by the staff. I waited for at least 10 mins just to get my egg tarts...arghhh...
Finally we boarded our plane, sadly there is no entertainment on plane (by Silkair)....the plane was not able take off due to heavy traffic..so the plane was late in taking off. But we still landed Chengdu at 11 plus (which is the original landing time). After we passed the customs, we went to collect our luggage and waited for the tour lead to come meet us. He told us that we need to walk a short distance to the buses outside. With everyone ready, we walked to our buses. Mi and my friend, we are on bus A. Once we all got onto the bus, our tour guide introduced himself. His name is He Zhou Xian and he welcomed us and told us what to do be done for the next day. The first hotel we went is Wyndham Grand Hotel. The room was super big and the toilet...wahhhh!!...we got really excited...there was a glass separating the bathtub and the beds...there is even tv volume control in the toilet...and there  was 2 pillows for us but we were only staying in this hotel for 1 nite..sad.....we ended up sleeping at 2 plus...but i was unable to sleep well.

Day 2 - 18th Dec 2012

Statue of Zhu Geng Liang

We woke at 6 am and prepared for the 1 day of our package tour. After we got ready, we put our luggage and placed them outside our room. So sad..have to leave the nice hotel...then we went down for our breakfast. After that, we went on board the bus. As there was still empty seats, we went to sit at the last row of the bus. I sat on the right side and my friend sat on the left side....In our bus, there are 5 families and 1 made up of 2 friends (same like us...). In bus B, there was a family of 14 people and they had another tour guide with them.We set off at 8am, for the start, our tour guide told us that we are going to Dujiangyan Irrigation System (都江堰）for a visit and he gave us a short description on the system. When we arrived, the tour guide let us go for toilet break. Then the tour guide from Bus B was giving us a brief introduction on the irrigation system (but he wasn't using any mic, so those at back, was not able to catch what he was saying). Forget to mention his name, his name is Fan Fan. Then the guides gave us our admission tickets and went in to have a look. Fan Fan was shouting to us as to give us introduction, when other tour groups are around (and he was only using his voice without mic and was fighting with other tour guides who are using mic). After awhile, i gave up listening..cannot hear too. My friend was walking very front, luckily our tour guide saw that our group was too big and some of the people can't even hear what was said..he told Fan Fan that to split the group back in Bus A and Bus B. So i was able to listen to what the guide was trying to intro us to and i was able to walk and enjoyed the walk too. There was a path from the entrance in, where there were some status of famous people like Zhu Geng Liang and Ding Bao Zhen. Then we walked to
Baopingkou or Bottle-Neck Channel of the system. After that, the guide brought to Fulonguan or Dragon-Taming Temple to have a look. After the visit to Du Jiang Yan, it was a long ride up to Jiu Zhai Gou. During the ride, our tour guide was telling us some stories to help pass the time and he also gave us 2 boxes of Hong Jing Tian for each person. He told us to drink 2 bottles after every meal so that we won't faint or get sick when we are at Jiu Zhai Gou or Er Mei due to high altitude. Each box costs RMB$100, anyway everyone on bus bought. The road up was passing through tunnels in between mountains, the guide told us the new roads are built due to the earthquake in 2008. So now the journey will be slightly shorter. By noon, we reached a 'restaurant' in the middle of our ride and had our lunch. There were at least 10 dishes, all except the rice was cold and there was no heater in the restaurant. So everyone was wearing their cold wear to have lunch. And the toilet....best...it was just outside the restaurant, and there was a guy collecting $ to 'visit' the toilet. It costs RMB$1 to go in, but we are only having $100 bill. Luckily, the guy was able to find change for us. Ok..so we went in. There was no door for the 1st 2 cubicles...hahaha....everyone was like 'ok,don't look at others' and the smell was stinky too (Better to hold your breath when inside and get out quickly..lol). After lunch, we continued our ride again. 

We rode for about 2 hours, we stopped a stop-point where the bus was getting a bath. There were some aunties selling fruits and nuts, opposite the road, there was a fluffy cow (Yak). It was having a nice scenery view too. We went down for a walk, took some photos of the cow and scenery view. We also bought some nuts back, the auntie gave us some oranges to try. It was sweet....we decided to buy the oranges when we are coming down the mountain 2 days later.
After that, was a 3 hrs ride again to our hotel - New JiuZhai Hotel. In between, we made a stop at Songpan Village for toilet break. Again we need to pay to go in and the cubicles are without no doors. It was just a drain at the bottom, hahaha..So everyone just went in down do their own business and went out. We reached around 5 plus and we went for our dinner (provided by the hotel). It was cold in the restaurant itself when we were having our dinner. It was a 10 course dinner, at least the food was not so cold, as compared to our lunch. After dinner, we went to our hotel room to rest. It was alot smaller, compared to the 1st hotel we went. Kind of sad...but still ok....ohh...the hotel here was a bit funny too. The tour guide told us that by 12 midnight, the hotel will turn off all their power, as to save electricity, which means after 12 midnight, the heater will also be off, so it might be cold after the power trip unless we wake up ourselves to on the heater. Hohohoo...anyway we just went to bed for the next day....but i still cannot sleep well.... :(

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

Hotel Stayed:
Wyndham Grand Hotel
New JiuZhai Hotel

Places visited:
Dujiangyan Irrigation System