Sichuan has a wide variety of beautiful landscapes including plateaus, mountains, ravines, basins, hills, plains, rivers, lakes, hot springs, waterfalls, limestone caves, and not forgetting the spicy hot Sichuan cuisine. Sichuan cuisine is famous all over the world for its richness and variety. Characterized by spicy and pungent flavors, Sichuan cuisine, with a myriad of tastes, emphasizes the use of chili, red hot peppers and garlic.
ITINERARY:
Day 1: Kunming - Chengdu
Day 2: Chengdu
Day 3: Chengdu - Leshan - Emei Shan
Day 4: Emei Shan - Chengdu
Day 5: Chengdu - Huang Long - Jiu Zhai Gou
Day 6: Jiu Zhai Gou
Day 7: Jiu Zhai Gou - Chengdu
Day 8: Chengdu - Panda - San Xing Dui - Chengdu
Day 9: Chengdu - Luo Dai - Kuan Zhai Alley - Chengdu
Day 10: Chengdu - Singapore
DAY 1 (19 August 2009, Wednesday)
Arriving in Chengdu from Kunming sees a huge difference. Chengdu is a modern city where you see lots of high rise commercial buildings, big shopping malls and people around you puts on trendy attires. There are no tribe minorities, no old towns, and the toilets are generally very clean!!!
On arrival at the airport, I hopped on Bus 303 for RMB12 where the express bus sends passengers right into Chengdu City. There, I got a motor taxi to send me to Dreams Travel International Youth Hostel. I got a 4 bed dormitary for RMB40 per night.
锦里 Jin Li is just across the street from where I stayed
Puppet show
It's a food heaven here! The stalls features bite size items so that you can try almost all the various cuisines of Sichuan.
DAY 2 (20 August 2009, Thursday)
Across the street from the Hostel is 武侯祠 Wuhou Temple. Wuhou Temple is dedicated to Zhuge Liang, the Martial Marquis of Shu in the Three Kingdoms. Zhuge Liang was the personification of noble character and intelligence. Memorial temples erected in many places after his death including this.
Another visit to Jin Li for more delicacies, which is just next to Wuhou Temple.
Blown candy
A textile shop at Tibetan Street
人民公园 Renmin Park
What is a visit to Sichaun without trying spicy hotpot? The hotpot consist of a pot of chilli oil, and spices such as chili, hot pepper, garlic and more. You then pick up your own skewers at the food station, which the variety consists of pork, beef, mutton, vegetable, seafood, etc. at a cost RMB0.20 each. The skwers are then cooked by dipping into the chilli oil. Oh my.... it's so unhealthy!!
DAY 3 (21 August 2009, Friday)
Through Dreams Hostel, I booked a 2 day tour 乐山 Leshan and 峨眉山 Emei Shan tour for RMB430. The journey from Chengdu takes about 2 hours.
The 乐山大佛 Leshan Giant Buddha was built during the Tang Dynasty where it was carved out of a cliff face that lies at the confluence of the Minjiang, Dadu and Qingyi rivers. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below his feet. At 71 metres tall, 26 storeys high, it is the largest carved stone Buddha in the world.
Next to the Leshan Giant Buddha is the 东方佛都 Oriental Buddhist Park, an attraction to gain visitorship after tourist exits from the Leshan Giant Buddha Park.
Thousand hand Guanyin
World's longest reclining buddda
In the evening, we arrived at Emei, had our dinner and checked-in to San Cai Ceng Hotel.
Dinner provided by the tour package is usually not good. So some of us from the tour group had decided to go out for supper. We went to this place known as 好吃街, literally 'good food street'.
There were plenty of food along the entire street
We went to a restaurant that is most popular and ordered some fresh seafood. Here's some very spicy chilli yabbies. So spicy that I finished a large bottle of beer having eaten just 2 yabbies!
Shelled meat cooked in chilli oil
The few who came out for late night supper
DAY 4 (22 August 2009, Saturday)
The morning call was 0430hrs in the morning so that we have enough time to tour Emei Shan and return to Chengdu on the same day! The journey from the entrance of Emei Shan to Lei Dong Ping takes more than an hour, on the winding uphill road. Some in the bus could not take it and have vomitted.
At Lei Dong Ping, the cable car sends us up to the Golden Summit. It was one of the worst ride I've ever been. Not that the cable car is not safe or dirty, but its the local culture that turns you off. The moment the gate opens, the Chinese Nationals will just push and squeeze their way into the cable car, as if there won't be another cable car coming shortly!!
金鼎 Golden Peak is the highest peak of Mt. Emei Shan, with an altitude of 3,099 meters.
The Golden Peak Temple is a very popular place for pilgrims to worship.
万年寺 Life Long Monastry is one of the oldest temples on Emei Shan.
An Emei Shan native
Too lazy to walk
清音阁 Pure Sound Pavilion
On a 2 hours bus journey, it was almost 9pm by the time we got back to our hostel in Chengdu.
DAY 5 (23 August 2009, Sunday)
This is the day I am looking forward to, before I even arrive in China. I'm heading to 九寨沟 Jiuzhaigou and 黃龙 Huang Long on a 3 day tour!!!! Yipeeeee!!!!
The bus picked me up at 0530hrs in the morning to send me to the airport for a 1hr domestic flight to JiuHuang airport. Upon arrival, the local tour guide is there to pick us up and transferred us over to Huang Long town for early lunch at 10am, and then over to Huang Long.
In the highlands of Northern Sichuan at over 3000m altitute
Huanglong is well known for its colorful lakes, snow clad mountains, valleys and virgin forest. Due to its layered calcium carbonated deposit patterns, the valley resembles a golden dragon winding its way through the virgin forest, stone mountains and glaciers. Along the valley are scattering numerous colorful ponds of different sizes and shapes, which are strewn with gold colored limestone deposit giving a shimmering golden hue to water, so in sunlight, a golden dragon seems to surge forth from the forest.
Most of us in the tour bus had initially wanted to take the cable car to the top of Huang Long, and make our way down via the steps to visit each of the ponds, however, we were unlucky that there was a power failure at the attraction that very day! We had no choice but to trek up the 4km route.
迎宾池 YingBin Pond
飞瀑流辉 Marvellous Flying Waterfall
莲台飞瀑 Flying waterfall on Lotus Platform
金沙鋪地 Golden Sand on Earth
盆景池 Bonsai Pond
明镜倒影池 Mirror Pond
娑罗映彩池 Rhododendron Pond
Finally, after a exhausting 1hr45min 4km uphill trek at 3500m altitute where oxygen is difficult to breath, and with 10kg of photography equipments, I made it to the peak, and was rewarded with the most beautiful view of Huang Long - The 五彩池 multi-coloured Pond.
Waterfall cascade
爭艷池 Beauty-competing pond
On the way down, few of these people are carrying goods to the cafe at the peak of Huang Long . Can't imagine that they are carring well over 50kg of goods up the tiring/exhausting trek!
It was another 1.5hrs from Huang Long to get to Jiu Zhai town by bus. We arrived just in time for dinner, and had some free time to do our own exploration around the small town. However, the limited shops next to the Ju Feng Hotel on the street are pretty quiet after dark.
DAY 6 (24 August 2009, Monday)
It's just another day of waking up early to get into JiuZhaiGou Valley early to avoid the crowd. After breakfast, we headed straight into JiuZhaiGou Valley and were among the earliest. Here, we were given our own time to visit the different ponds within the nature reserve.
It is said that if there should be wonderlands on the earth, Jiuzhaigou Valley must be one of them. It is a great masterpiece of nature having dreamlike scenery and abundant natural resources, combining blue lakes, waterfalls, verdant forests, snow-covered mountains during winter, and the folk customs of the Tibetan and Qiang peoples.
The entire JiuZhaiGou Natural Reserve covers more than 600 square kilometers, the size of the entire Singapore island!!
剑石 Sword Rock
原始森林 YuanShi Forest
Stream near 天鹅海 Swan Lake
天鹅海 Swan Lake
箭竹海 Arrow Bamboo Lake
熊猫海 Panda Lake
熊猫海瀑布Panda Lake Waterfall
五花海 Five-coloured Lake
珍珠滩 Pearl Shoal
珍珠滩瀑布 Pearl Shoal Waterfall
长海 Long Sea
五彩池 Five-coloured Lake
诺日朗瀑布 Nuorilang Waterfall
老虎海 Tiger Lake
树正瀑布 ShuZheng Waterfall
树正群海 ShuZheng Lake
火花海 Fire Flower Lake
Very friendly friends from the same tour group. They are generally the modern generation of educated Chinese nationals.
That concludes the full day in JiuZhaiGou Valley although I don't have enough time to visit to some of the other lakes and falls. We got back to hotel for a quick shower and then proceeded to meet our tour guide for our next program - Tibetan home visit cum dinner. This wasn't part of the itinerary, it's optional at RMB150.
Tibetan Khor prayer wheel
Home decor of a 牦牛 Yak cow
Colourful decor inside their house
Had a great time watching them perform while dinner is served
With only an hour and a half at the Tibetan home visit, we had to adjourn for the musical drama 藏迷 "Tibetan Enigma".
藏迷 Tibetan Enigma is a painstaking works of Liping Yang and Rongzhong Erjia. It is an epic showing different styles of pure Tibetan colorful music and dance in different regions.
The story of Tibetan Enigma is about an old Tibetan woman’s experience along her pilgrim journey. Tibetan lives, culture, customs, and religion are all exhibited to the audience by the song, dance and music instruments.
DAY 7 (25 August 2009, Tueday)
It was yet another early morning departure from the hotel to catch the early domestic flight back to Chengdu, where I had a whole day of free and easy time.
I started with some great snacks around Wuhou Temple area, and then learnt to use the public transport system. From there, I manage to get to 春熙路 Chunxi Road, located in the heart of the shopping district in Chengdu. It boost hundred of shops ranging from large shopping malls, department stores, supermarkets to street stalls, boutiques, modern cafes, and a spacious square. I spent the entire day there do do some shopping and food exploration till my feet started aching, I bought a movie ticket and went into the movie theatre to get some rest!
DAY 8 (26 August 2009, Wednesday)
A visit to Sichuan without seeing Pandas is not complete. I went for a half day tour to visit the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. Visiting the Panda Base is free if you have a Panda Card. Chengdu began its promotion to attract tourists by floating the "Panda Card". Card holders enjoy free entrance to the most of the scenc spots in Chengdu. I got mine at the Chengdu Airport for only RMB 1.
The giant pandas are found only in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. In total there are fewer than 1000 in the world, of which 80% are distributed within Sichuan province. The base holds around 80 pandas, and it cost RMB1200 to hold a baby panda!!
So cute!!!!!
The Sanxingdui Museum is near an archaeological site that dates to the Neolithic, Shang and Zhou periods. In 1988 this site was declared a National Key Cultural Relics Protected Unit, due to its scope, the wealth of its contents, and the rarity and precious nature of its excavated objects. 5000yrs old Exhibits at the 三星堆博物馆 San Xing Dui Museum.
DAY 9 (27 August 2009, Thursday)
Today, i took a day trip to Luo Dai, on a one hour public bus ride about 40km outside Chengdu town. The town itself was kind of disappointing compared to Lijiang old town. The architecture was cool, but the old town is filled with lots of costume rental shops, a number of kid's haunted houses, and some exotic deep fried insect stalls.
臭豆腐 Fermented beancurd aka "smelly tofu"
Giant waterbugs?
Deep fried silkworms
Back in Chengdu, 宽窄巷子 Broad and Narrow Alley comprises of a broad alley, a narrow alley and few across alleys, among which, there are a lot of traditional courtyards. After its reconstruction, the Broad and Narrow Alley has been reopened to pubic and is now, one of the hottest tourist destination in Chengdu. It is now a trendy pedestrain alley that fuses beautifully restored traditional architecture with modern and well-appointed restaurants, teahouses, cafes, restaurants and shops.
DAY 10 (28 August 2009, Friday)
After 3 weeks in China, and 10 days in Sichuan, its time to say goodbye. Nevertheless, I pampered myself to a fantastic steamboat porridge lunch before I left Chengdu.
The nicely designed 成都双流国际机场 Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. It's impressive isn't it?
MORE PHOTOS
Photos Part I
Photos Part II
VIDEO
四川风味 Flavours of Sichuan 2009
FAST FACTS
Travel Insurance: S$34
VISA Extension: S$17
Flight: $609
Transport: $77
Accomodation: $84
Tour & entrance fees: S$328
Food & beverage: S$185
Shopping: S$70
Prepaid phone card: S$22
Miscellaneous: S$138
TOTAL EXPENDITURE: S$1564
EXCHANGE RATE
S$1.00 = RMB4.69
TRAVEL GUIDES / NEWS / MAGAZINES
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan
Travel China Guide
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/sichuan/
Emei Shan
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/china/emei-shan
http://www.chinatravel.net/china-destinations/Emei-Shan/cityintroduction-48.html
Le Shan
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/china/leshan-giant-buddha
Huang Long
http://www.huanglong.com/main_en.html
Jiuzhai Valley National Park
http://www.jiuzhai.com/language/english/index.html
Chengdu
http://www.chengdu.gov.cn/echengdu/
Chengdu Panda Base
http://www.panda.org.cn/english/index.htm
San Xing Dui Museum
http://www.chinamuseums.com/sanxingduim.htm
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