Jiuzhaigou

Well the name is hard to spell and even harder to say, Juizhaigou. Something like ‘gee’ ‘zha’ ‘goo’. From a beauty viewpoint, Juizhaigou is the highlight of our trip. From a height viewpoint, it takes your breath away. The airport is at 4200 meters (2.6 mile high), over twice as high as Denver. When you get off the plane you have to stop to get your equilibrium back, the world is spinning a bit. If it hits you to much you can get oxygen at the airport! Near the airport we stopped for a photo opportunity at Snow Ridge. Marsha is with our guide, Henry. Henry is Tibetan. He has four names, one each in: Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese and English. His language skills are self taught.


The majority ethnic group in Juizhaigou is Tibetan. We knew the world changed when we had pigeon and yak meat for lunch. Yak meat tastes like a mixture between beef and mutton. Pigeon tastes like a small duck. Both are good. In this area of China they eat much more potato (grown locally) than rice. Yak and mutton are their main meat proteins. The locals consider it an insult to the ancestors to eat fish.
But we are here for beauty. We were happy when we were told we would go to the five-colored pond. Never did we guess we would have to walk over 3800 meters (2.4 miles) with around a mile increase in altitude to reach it. Our guide, Henry, thought it should take us around 2 hours to reach the top, I don’t know what he was smoking.

We walked and walked and rested and rested. A hundred meters at a time.

The climate is so cold that the rhododendrons are blooming in late May!



Finally the half way mark. Marsha had slightly more trouble with the altitude than I did. Around half way up, we gave in and bought a bottle of oxygen. A couple of whiffs every hundred or two hundred meters made the going easier.



Two thirds of the way up we passed some blue streams. We asked Henry if the top was any better. He said yes, we kept walking.




We had many opportunities to stop and sit with other Chinese tourists on our way to the top. [So many wanted to get a picture with me, I joked with Henry that he should ask for 5 Yuan a picture.]

Three and half-hours later, we reached the top! [Henry told us that only thirty percent of Chinese tourists make it to the top to see the five-colored pond.]


We did reach the top and the scene is as beautiful as we were told. The main attraction is five-color pond over calcium hills. I have only seen similar situations in Pamukkale Turkey and in Yellowstone National Park near the Roosevelt Hotel. In Pamukkale the area is maybe 50 meters wide, here it was hundreds of meters wide. In Yellowstone it is in a hot spring; here it is over cold snow fed waters. Hopefully the pictures show you the beauty. The pictures do not overstate the vividness of the colors. I could not bend down to take pictures because each time I did, I got dizzy. There is not much oxygen at over 3 miles high.






Coming down was much easier; we did it in under an hour.

The next morning we went to Juizhaigou Scenic Park. It is a Chinese national treasure. There is a long paved road in the park, which takes you past several major lake chains, a couple of major waterfalls and another five-color lake. No private vehicles are allowed in the park. For 280 Yuan (35 USD) you get to enter the park and take buses between destinations. This is by far the most expensive park we have visited in China, yet most of the tourists are Chinese nationals. There are a lot of visitors.

We thought this would be an easy day, just get on and off the buses and take beautiful pictures. Well the beautiful picture part was correct. The bus dropped you off, then you walked up or down a lot of stairs and across a significant number of meters to reach the desired site. The park cannot be seen in one day, so we just had a sampling. The five-color lake was not as spectacular as the five-color pond we saw the previous day. It is not in a calcium field. However, the waterfalls are spectacular. The largest one is over a football field high and at least twice as wide. Yes, we took the steps to see it from all levels. The walking was not as hard in this park, no one needed oxygen.






The last morning in Jiuzhaigou we visited a Tibetan monastery. The Buddha’s are made of wood without gold covering. In Tibet, a monk is a student; a llama is a teacher.

Henry’s brother is a monk at the monastery.


The bad part about leaving Juizhaigou is leaving the beauty and 50 degree F temperature. The good part is being able to breathe normally again.

Chengdu - Panda Breeding Center

After a delayed flight from Guilin we arrived in Chengdu. Our guide for the next three days is Bond. He likes American movies. Bond is younger than Clive and is not interested in the news or regime. We will learn less from him.

Our first stop was a late lunch and our first introduction to authentic Schezwan food. The mild dishes were hot enough for me. Rice and pumpkin are our favorite foods to reduce the burning on the tongue and lips. We then visited the travel agency that arranged our tour. After getting settled into our hotel we had a two-hour walking tour and dinner.

The following day, Saturday, we went to the Panda Breeding Center outside of Chengdu. This is the reason we stopped at Chengdu. This Center has raised the most giant pandas in the world. The adults are kept in very large enclosures. They have a space with maybe 50 to 100 trees in each area. Giant pandas are solitary animals in the wild, so they are kept in separate areas except when breeding is being encouraged.



The juveniles are kept in a smaller area with approximately a dozen trees. They also have a series of man made jungle gym type devises and plastic toys. The juveniles range from 1-½ years to three years old. They are cute.

The youngest giant panda we saw was around three months old. It is kept in a smaller enclosure with its mother. This was the only enclosure in the Center, which is comparable in size to the best enclosures in a zoo.

We next visited the red pandas. They also had significant space in which to roam. The red pandas are more active than the giant pandas and are much smaller.

Our final stop in the Center is Swan Lake. White and black swans as well as other birds visit the lake. They are not captive animals.

And here is Marsha waiting for me to finish following the swans.


On the way back to town we stopped at a beautiful outdoor restaurant. We had a nice rest and a good meal.

In the afternoon we visited the Remini Park (the People’s Park) near the center of Chengdu. A large park smaller than New York’s Central Park but close to the size of Chicago’s Grant Park. The park has existed under different names for a couple of hundred years. The Japanese bombed the park a couple of times during WWII. The Chinese view the Japanese War, late 1930’s to1945 the way we view the Nazi regime. Senseless atrocities with much mass murder and forced labor. What can be the military value of bombing a public park on a Sunday afternoon? [Below is a memorial for the people killed in the park.]

The Park is very well utilized. People visit the two tea houses for more than tea. For the price of a pot of tea, you can sit and play cards or mahjong for hours. In a couple of different areas musicians are jamming. These are pick-up groups, whomever comes with an instrument plays.

Some groups play Western music and some groups play traditional Eastern music.

The youngsters have a giant sandbox and several streams in which they try to catch very small fish with nets.

Another plaza had a commercial group with music and games. Except for the food serving places there is no charge for using the park.

LongJi of Longsheng

On Thursday we took a long ride to LongJi. LongJi means "Dragon Back Bone". LongJi is a rural area with lots of terrace rice farms. It is high in the mountains at a maximum height of 1600 meters. The road up to LongJi is very interesting for the last 30 kilometers. One knows when the driving becomes serious, the driver rubs his Tai (a red decorative item that hangs from the rear view mirror in the car). Another way to know is there are road signs showing zigzags (the Chinese are not free with road signs).
Two thirds of the way up the road ends. Then we and our luggage needed to hike over 1,000 steps to the lodge. The beginning steps are easy and well formed, the latter steps are made of stones, some big and some small. I only know from the walk down the next day, I was sensible and accepted a sedan ride to the top, Marsha walked.





The lodge was more primitive than our other housing, but was very nice. The room was made of wood and had a beautiful cedar smell. The walls were thin, the guy next door snored a lot. For a while it looked like our visit would be a wash out. Around 5 PM the rain lessened, we were able to walk to the most photogenic sights. Around 6 PM the fog came in hard, we had to rush down the several hundred steps to our lodge.

The next morning we climbed down to the car at 6 AM. Let the pictures speak.

Guilin - Start of Tour

On Monday we flew from Guangzhou to GuiLin where our guide (Clive) for the next four days met us. Clive has completed his bachelor degree in business and is taking a year off before going to law school. To go to law school he has to pass a national exam, a la the British system and the Chinese system under the Emperors. BTW, Clive is a member of the Communist Party.

Membership in the Communist Party is limited to 10% of the college class. To join via college you must:
 Apply
 Have superior grades
 Have superior recommendations from the faculty
 Pass a background and morals review
If you are accepted, the first year is probationary. If you grades fall, you get in trouble or a faculty member/ party member says you are unworthy, you are out.





Monday afternoon we were on our own. We visited the downtown area and a park around a series of ponds and lakes. There was a twin pagoda about 10 stories high on an inlet and there were many sculptures of animals along the path. It was very pretty and peaceful. We also saw some Cormorant fishermen.


Tuesday we started early. Approximately an hour out of GuiLin we boarded a three-deck boat for a 4-½ hour cruise down the Li River. The scenery is magnificent. A long time ago, the whole area was underwater. Only the strongest rock, limestone, has survived. Spires of rock, which has been the inspiration of Chinese artists for centuries appear on both sides of the river.






Wednesday we visited four scenic areas. Fortunately only three were above ground as the temperature was in the mid-30’s Celsius (90-95 F) and the sun was burning brightly most of the day. In the morning we visited a large park, Seven Star Park. The highlights are the spot where Clinton gave a speech while he was President; some brown pandas; a panorama of Chinese history and a Buddhist temple.

Next we saw Fubo Hill Park. We were so hot we rushed through this park. For lunch we were taken to a fancy restaurant where we were whisked to a private room. Our menu was preset with some expensive dishes, a whole steamed river fish, a fried tofu dish and stir-fried carrot, greens and turnips. The food was delicious but we were still hot from the morning and could not eat too much.

After a siesta we visited the best feature of the day, Reed Flute Cave. I am usually not too impressed by caves, I cannot see most of the features they say we should see, but this cave is quite large and it has a massive main room that can easily hold a thousand people. The operators have done a beautiful job setting up the cave for tourists since its rediscovery in the 1950’s. Steps have been carved and the path is done in level stone (unlike caves I have visited in the US and Europe). Most impressive is a truly professional light design that a theater would be proud to have. [All pictures in the cave are taken without flash. The camera is mounted on a mono pod. Exposure varied from 1/30 of a second to 2 seconds. In general, I took three consecutive shots to minimize movement in the 2nd or 3rd shot.]

The final visit of the day was to Elephant Park. This park and an Elephant Park in France are sister parks. While the elephant in the rock is hard to imagine the area is very nice. Only worthy picture is the Mayor.

Dinner was at a local chain restaurant, McFound. It serves Hunan food. We chose and enjoyed a very good meal. Within an hour our lips stopped tingling.