Chengdu & Jiuzhiagou National Park
A smooth short flight from Guilin had us landing in Chengdu’s tropical and humid weather and wanting to reach for summer shorts from our packs. Our Guilin hotel had kindly phoned ahead and booked our choice of hostel for us, so a driver from the hostel was waiting for us at the airport.
I must mention this hostel by name. We’ve stayed at many hostels during our travels in the past, but the Loft Hostel in Chengdu has probably the coolest-designed hang out lounge area we’ve come across, with artworks adorning the wall spaces. This place is a converted 1970’s printing factory. Upstairs a bunch of young local artists and designers work out of their studio. Staff here speak English well and are very friendly and helpful. They have a really well-organised set up where they can arrange small group tours, rail and air tickets, theatre tickets, book your ongoing accommodation, you name it…. as well as a great little café/bar and book exchange.
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| After a hard day's work recycling on the streets of Chengdu |
The sole priority for coming to Chengdu was to see the pandas, and early next morning, with breakfast in hand, we headed out in the hostel’s minivan to the Chengdu Panda Research Base for a half-day excursion. This place protects and breeds endangered giant pandas in as natural a habitat as possible. Max and I took it in turns to go snap-happy photographing all the these cuddly beasts in their myriad of poses – feeding, lounging, sleeping, sitting upright, reaching over each other for more bamboo. At this time of day, the adult pandas were feeding out of large buckets of bamboo shoots that keepers fill, whilst cute sleeping baby pandas hung limply from tree branches in a different area of the park. It took me a while to comprehend that they were real animals as the image in my head had me waiting for someone to unzip and emerge from a black and white costume. The Research Centre also houses red pandas which up close look like russet and black coloured stripy-tailed racoons rather than any resemblance to a bear.
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| Happy bear pose! |
The remainder of our 2 days in Chengdu was spent catching local buses and walking around some of the neighbourhoods which included serene and beautifully landscaped Buddhist and Taoist temples and parks, a Tibetan migrants’ neighbourhood and an interesting but very crowded touristy recreation of a traditional little settlement with cafes, souvenir stands, crafts, etc. We gave up on entering one of Chengdu’s largest temple parks next door to this as the queue of Chinese people waiting patiently in line stretched for nearly 400 metres in a straight line before snaking its way back around itself. Phew, not worth it in this warm weather. Our hostel let us know belatedly that the reason for the huge crowds was that it was a free museum day.
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| Sichuan Opera |
One of our evenings was spent enjoying a Sichuan opera show, quite a colourful display of various performances ranging from traditional opera singing, fire breathing, puppetry and “face changing” where performers change face masks with split-second timing – hands-free. Don’t know how it’s done but it was amazing to see!
From Chengdu’s steamy temperatures in the low 30’s we were now in the snow-capped mountainous Jiuzhaigou (meaning Nine Villages Valley) on the Tibetan plateau where we experienced cold rainy weather in single digit temperatures. Come rain, hail or shine, though, we were here to see the stunning scenery of Jiuzhaigou National Park.
The day after our arrival we were admiring beautiful lush green forests stretching out across mountain peaks, pretty turquoise lakes and numerous waterfalls. We followed walking trails around scenic pools and cascades and, at the higher altitudes of around 300m, we traipsed through snowy forest trails as soft feathery snowflakes fell around us. Jiuzhaigou reminded us of a miniature version of the Canadian Rockies all squished into one big nature reserve. A big difference, though, is the Tibetan settlements and the Tibetan culture which is very evident in the surrounding villages and peoples here. However, we were sharing this park with what felt like thousands of Chinese package tourists. We hadn’t anticipated seeing such big crowds nor snow at this time of the year.
Well, it drizzled with rain for most of the day but this didn’t deter the masses upon masses of tour groups who pushed past with umbrellas, cameras and elbows. As numerous National park buses pulled up to take us from one lake or viewpoint to another the rugby scrum was on to get onto each bus. Quite comical, actually! That’s one thing we’ve come to accept in China is that there is no such thing as manners or ladies first – it’s everyone for himself.
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| Snow in Jiuzhaigou National Park |
We were 2 of only a small handful of Western tourists in the nature reserve that day and it amused us watching Chinese tourists blatantly stare at us or ask if they could take our photo. At one stage one family had 3 cameras pointed at us whilst different family members took it in turns to pose with us. Celebrities for a day!
I must share with you a brief moment of shock followed by hilarity. Picture this……ladies’ toilets decked out in slippery granite tiles, masses of women with wet raincoats and soggy umbrellas queuing to use the squat toilets (bring your own toilet paper is one of the best tips I can give travellers to China), my turn to place wet boots on each side of the squat. To my horror my legs slip out from underneath me on the wet floor as I do a sideways split whilst pissing and wildly trying to clutch onto something to keep my balance. You don’t know how many times I’ve been thankful for all my bootcamp and Pilates training I put in before starting this trip. I imagine a pulled groin may have been the result had I not.
In the township Max sampled cured yak meat at a local store that was touting it to passers-by. You see these horned hairy creatures grazing on the mountainsides as you drive through the country. The yak meat comes in all different forms – cryovac, fresh, dried, powdered, chilli hot, pepper hot, sausages. It did not have the expected gamey taste that you get with venison or other game animal. We bought packets of dried yak from the airport that tasted like soft beef jerky. A very handy snack to carry in the pack for emergencies.
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| What a cutie! |
In the township Max sampled cured yak meat at a local store that was touting it to passers-by. You see these horned hairy creatures grazing on the mountainsides as you drive through the country. The yak meat comes in all different forms – cryovac, fresh, dried, powdered, chilli hot, pepper hot, sausages. It did not have the expected gamey taste that you get with venison or other game animal. We bought packets of dried yak from the airport that tasted like soft beef jerky. A very handy snack to carry in the pack for emergencies.
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| Stunning scenery, Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve |
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| Tibetan hostel bed, Jiuzhaigou |
Whilst we were initially thrilled to be staying near Jiuzhaigou park at a Tibetan-styled youth hostel in a room that included a traditional colourful canopied wooden bed, our enthusiasm was to be short lived. Within hours we discovered that the toilet wouldn’t flush properly, the cold water pipe burst from under the basin when turning the tap on or off, the shower’s hot water took forever to come through, we needed a demonstration on how to latch the door closed, the bed was too rock hard to sleep on and breakfast was served with mouldy butter. It became a comedy of errors that all we could do was laugh and wish our stay here would end quickly. Regardless of the weather, the hordes of tourists (the likes of which we’ve never seen in our lives!), the delays flying in and out due to bad weather, the distances we needed to cover to get here and all the other little shortcomings we endured, to see the natural wonders of the Park made it all worthwhile.
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| Jinli Guijie district, Chengdu |
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| The serene Green Ram Buddhist Temple |
An early morning transfer by the hostel back to the airport the following day had us leaving Sichuan province and boarding a flight for Xian in Shanxi province. So many flights in such a short period of time, however, China Eastern and China Southern domestic airlines have been great.
Hi, I'm Eva - world traveller, cultural explorer and experience seeker. Together with my husband Max, we've been globetrotting for over 20 years.
Those Pandas are so cute. They always look as though they have a smile on their face...
ReplyDeleteTerry