China - outskirts escapade ep 3

Continued on from Chengdu, we were off to another city in Sichuan provice: the Jiuzhaigou Valley. Part of the Min Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, it is famous for its beautiful lakes and numerous waterfalls.

Jiuzhaigou

So according to Travel China Guide, we can only catch the bus to Jiuzhaigou from the main bus station. But, Tony (our super helpful landlord in Chengdu) booked us a bus that left from width alley which is (I assumed) another tourist attraction area near our accommodation. Turned out it's actually a tour bus, which was the same price as a normal bus but with a Chinese guide and stops along the way on our 7 hours bus ride.

And on this bus trip, I experienced the infamous 'true traditional Chinese toilet'. It is not your mere squat toilet, it's on another different level. It doesn't have doors, the wall only covered up to my tummy (so if you're taller than 180 cm you're doomed), there was not even a toilet per say inside this 'cubicle'. It was just a concave tunnel, in the middle of the tiles, running along all the toilets. My advice; if you ever fall into a misfortune to experience this type of toilet, it is wise to go to the FURTHERMOST toilet available. I didn't know any better before, and I shall not repeat what I saw. It still gave me nightmares - in fact I think I am scarred for life.

We stopped on a couple of places but I am not quite sure where and what they were, since the guide only spoke Chinese. But thanks to Google, here's what we saw (I think):

Fortress village of Qiang people (minority Chinese) composed of 30 to 100 households. It almost looks like a massive apartment block but with all your extended family living together. Imagine the chaos!

Fluffy yak

Songpan - the fortress city

Inside the wall

We got into Jiuzhaigou unscathed, and found out that taxis and unmarked cars would 'beep' us whenever we walked on the street. There were lots of them looking for business, and we found about ¥20 was the flat rate wherever we went regardless of distance, as they were allergic to using their meters.

We settled in at Jiuzhaigou Mingya Hotel,  slightly out of the way from the entrance park. There was no one at the reception when we got in to check in so we didn't know what to expect - but after struggling with our 'mandarin' with the staff, we found the bed was comfortable and clean, and they even gave us some fruit. After the toilet saga on the way to here, I was just so overwhelm and happy when I saw a Western style toilet in our room! The breakfast was Sichuan type of breakfast which we couldn't really eat (basically just ate the boiled eggs), but overall it was ok for what we needed.

There are prayer flags everywhere in the city

So, this national park is famous with the local tourists. And turns out they are not keen walkers. So, there are hop on hop off buses running on the main road in the national park where it dropped people on the 'main sights' along this massive park. There is a wooden footpath which snakes around the national park running parallel to the bus routes. We headed straight to the pathway just to be stopped by the park ranger warning us the walk is FAR (10 km) to the point we wanted to go. When we said we wanted to walk, she looked at us like we're some sort of aliens. I am glad that we walked it, because we were the only souls walking from the beginning of the park.

It was incredible

Gorgeous reflective lakes dotting the park

This place is ridiculously beautiful

We were originally to camp in the park as part of their 'Ecotour' available to mainly foreign tourists looking to hike the national park. But after an extremely long and painful chain of broken communication with the tour organizers, accompanied by horrible reviews online, we decided not do it. So instead, we decided to stay INSIDE the park. It turned out to be pretty much some local guy's house. There were random socks in the bathroom, the shower was just a trickle of water, and we had to pay an additional ¥20 for a towel (non absorbent and hand sized). When we were to pay the guy he pretty much asked how much are we willing to pay 😅 In saying that, we had decent meals in the house and good night sleep in the comfortable bed.

The hotel 'reception'

Me having breakfast at the hotels illustrious restaurant!

We were told to leave the house later in the morning after 10.00 am the next day. It is 'discouraged' to stay inside the park, and the entrance ticket was supposedly only valid for one day and not two. We managed to sneak back to the tourist bus line and blend with the other tourists, and there were countless tourists. I never seen any national park THAT busy in my life!

The day before our flight out we stayed in Songpan where the airport is 2 hours drive from Jiuzhaigou. We stayed in this Tibetan style accommodation the night before. As for most places in the country, we found the hosts so friendly despite the massive language barrier - they drove us to the city centre for food on demand and dropped us off to the airport at 6am the next day free of charge!

Off to Xian next to see my beloved mother!

Extra

After this leg of the trip, I felt I had thoroughly erased the stereotypical perceptions of Mainland China. Yes, they drove like frantic chickens about to get slaughtered (most Asian countries drive like this), spit whenever they can (Koreans do it as well), and have complete disregard for queuing. However, they’ve been very helpful and accommodating despite the language barrier. I couldn’t imagine the reactions of most English-speaking persons if a Chinese lady jumped into a taxi and started speaking Mandarin. That’s what I did here, jumped into a taxi and told the driver in English our destination. Indeed, most of them were quite patient and helpful. We are very impressed with Chinese urban planning, infrastructure, the battery-operated motorcycles (careful when crossing the road, they are soundless!), and the general cleanliness of all the places we went (discount the toilets!).

Tipping: we didn’t really tip in China other than our guide in the tour.