This is my first blogspot since i've officially been on vacay - yay!! its nice to be not working or thinking about working or feeling guilty about not working!!!
So my coz suggested i write down all of my suggestions re: traveling in Jiuzhaigou & Huanglong on your own cuz i'll forget otherwise, so here goes.... (it'll be badly written, as everything i write is... try to meander ur way through and organize it in ur head yourself. :P)
I travelled to Jiuzhaigou on Aug 6 and left Aug 9, 2009. Everything in China changes fairly quickly, so make sure you check out the most current news if you can find it...
i chose to go on my own (with a friend) vs. going with a tour group and still think that that's the best way to do it... Although that is NOT how most people do it and many many people were shocked when i told them we weren't part of a tour. This post will hopefully help those of you who are "adventurous" enough to go on your own...
Getting to Jiuzhaigou:
Two choices: 14hour bus ride from Chengdu, or flying. I suggest flying...
Flying to JiuZhaiGou:
There are direct flights to and from the following places in China: Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, and Kunming - listed in order of flight frequency. only 3 flights to/from Xi'an daily and only 1 to/fro Kunming. All flights fly into 九黄 (Jiu Huang) airport, airport code JZH, which if u know me, you should be able to memorize just like that *snaps fingers*. :D heheheee...
The only problem with flying is that JZG is usually cloudy (at least in the summers) during the morning, and may or may not clear up later. because the airport is in the mountains and to land, the plane actually flies VERY VERY close to the mountain (i.e. wing tips only a few hundred meters away from the trees, if that!!!!), the plane cannot land when its cloudy. Our plane took off from Xi'an, and circled around JZG before coming back to Xi'an. Luckily, we only had to re-fuel the plane before taking off again for JZG, but we lost about 3hrs...
Flights taking off JZG didn't seem to have that problem tho... our plane took off in RAIN (and therefore tons of clouds).
From JZG airport:
There are two ways of getting around JZG once you're at the airport.
1) Taxi - it costs 200yuan to cab to JZG during the day (flat rate, posted on a big sign just outside the airport). it's 250 or 300 at night. I suggest going in the day cuz mountain roads are a bit scary at night in the middle of nowhere with yaks roaming around. I have no idea how much it costs to do airport-Huanglong-JZG altho i imagine it to be very expensive...
2) "Shuttle bus"
We took option 2, which is more economical (for 2 people) and gives you more time to see stuff given limited time.
Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou are on opposite sides of the airport. It takes 1-1.5hrs to drive from the airport to Huanglong, and then 2-3 hours to drive from HL to JZG. Therefore, its more of a waste if you go from JZG to HL and back again. The shuttle bus can take you from the airport to HL, then wait for you for a few hours to take you to JZG, all for 100yuan. BUT one of the problems with shuttle buses is this: it won't leave until it has at least 6 people. we had 5 for a loooong time and we got pissed so we each contributed another 20yuan so that it can leave. We got to JZG around 1PM, and didn't get to HL until 3PM. If our flight had arrived in the morning, we would've had more time in HL...
The other problem with the shuttle is that you must decide, between the 5-6 of you how long you wanna spend in HL and come to an agreement. If everyone's in the same party, great... if not, then it might not be so great. We had a total of 4 hours in HL which was limited by time (mountain roads in the dark = not so much fun) and not by people, but i can easily see it being limited by other people.
Huanglong:
Entrance ticket to Huanglong was smt like 200, i can't remember, but very very expensive (in China!) ... but so so worth it!! There's also a cable car that'll take you mid-way up Huanglong. It costs smt like 80yuan (only get the one-way!) and you buy it at the same time as the entrance ticket (although there are no signs indicating this nor prices listed on the window!!! you have to ask). I suggest taking the cable car up and then walking [up then] down - it'll save you TONS of time.
To take the cable car, you have to take a bus to the cable car point, which will drop you off somewhere that won't have any signs (but has a bldg with a washroom and tourist-trap crap)... Once you get off the bus, just keep walking forward, past a small 'bridge', and then keep walking. You'll be able to see the entrance of the cable cars when you're on the 'bridge', but you won't see it from the stupid building. It's about a 300m walk. The cable car is nice, and very very empty. I guess tour groups like to waste time, or the guides already know that you won't have enough time to cable car up and then walk down so they just make you waste the 200yuan and see only 10% of the park.
Huanglong is pretty high up, altitude-wise, so there are "oxygen houses" every kilometer or two along the trail. You hafta pay 1yuan for a breathing tube, but the oxygen is free. I had zero problems up there, as un-fit as i am (i am the most un-fit med student), but to each their own.
From the top of the cable car, you walk along trail to get to the main trail... along this trail, if you look carefully, you can see some of the pretty karst-water-ponds (i have no idea what they're called... "ponds" it is) on way down below through the trees, but the real stuff is waaaay later. So just keep walking along the trail. Once you pass the bridge with yellow water running underneath (the bed of the 'river' is yellow [sulfur?], the water is actually very very very clear), go LEFT, i.e. UP!! Pretty view up there, and that's where EVERYONE goes for pictures, so you'll hafta FIGHT for a picture. There's also a temple up there that we didn't really visit.
There was only one trail open on the way down when we were there (the other one was under construction), so i can't advice which trail is better. But either way, make sure you don't waste ALL of your time up in the crowded place cuz there are TONS of places with much less people down below!!! there are tons of picture spots all along the way down (which is also the way up if you didn't cable car), and there are lots of 'side trails' too that branch off the main trail. We didn't have time to go on the side trails, but we wish we had cuz their views were much better than what we had! so, just be adventurous and make sure you have at least 5-6hrs in HuangLong to fully explore the place. heck, u're paying a steep steep price for it, so why not enjoy it thoroughly, right???
From Huanglong to JZG is a looooong ride... and mostly likely in the dark....
(oh, from airport to HL, there are tons of yaks roaming on the cliffs. pretty cool cuz i've never seen yaks before)
Jiuzhaigou - where to stay:
From what i could see, there were three 'areas' to stay in near Jiuzhaigou. The first one you'll 'encounter' on the drive to JZG is very very nice and prolly very expensive. But that place is at least 4-5km away from the entrance of the park, so you'll hafta cab it to the entrance everyday there and back. In my opinion, not worth it. Another place is within Jiuzhaigou County itself. The Sheraton is there, but i have no idea how the county actually looks and i don't know how far it is either from the entrance. Online, lotsa ppl suggested an "Abu Luzi" TIbetan food restaurant, but that place no longer exists.
We stayed at the MIGU Hostel, which was a whopping 1km away from the entrance of the park, which we were VERY happy about. We booked through hostel.com - bring cash cuz they don't take credit card for the remainder of the balance you didn't pay online. There were restaurants, shops, and convenience stores around... and food places were open at 6AM for us early-risers to catch breakfast before heading into the park. in our area, there were only hostels and no fancy hotels... I prsonally like that and don't need room service, so it suited us perfectly (including price-wise!! only $10/person/night with our own hotel-like room with two separate albeit very hard beds!)
Jiuzhaigou - where to eat:
Only one place to eat inside the park - buffet style, kinda expensive, different price levels (don't know what difference is), and it ends at 2PM. we missed it both days we were there. My suggestion is to bring bread into the park (plus some gatorade) and eat that for lunch. As for water, either bring ur own, or just drink the water in JZG! (from the falls places, i don't suggest drinking stagnant water!!!!!) I asked a Tibetan lady and she said that that's what they drink... but since i'm not from there (not Tibetan), she suggests i don't drink that much just in case i don't react so well to it.
Most people go for Tibetan food when in JZG cuz there are tons of Tibetan people there. There was a Tibetan girl working at our hostel, so we were invited to a Tibetan home (it was not a private thing by any means, but u do need an invitation from someone Tibetan). There was a small performance plus Tibetan food and dancing, which they teach you. it was very cute and interesting. it cost 100yuan. But Tibetan food is nothing to write home about... quite gross, actually. or maybe our chef just wasn't very good. O.o
Near our hostel, there were a few food places. But you really need to ask around to see what's good. or do what we did: pick the restaurant with the most people!!! The place we went to was pretty full, service was great (prolly cuz they could tell we weren't even Chinese!), and the food (Szechuan food) was REALLY good! it was pretty pricey for China tho - 180yuan for two people (but four dishes. we're not regular girls). but again, if u don't know Mando, u're pretty much limited to hotel food. haha suckers. :P
Jiuzhaigou, the park:
Although i'm not the most well-travelled person in the universe, I think Jiuzhaigou is hands down, THE MOST beautiful place on earth. There is no comparison anywhere else. My cousin agrees. :D So the 220yuan entrance ticket + the 90yuan bus ticket is vey worth it. (that's just for ONE day in the 'high season'!! ... advice: go before mid-July, or in/after September, cuz then the entrance ticket is good for two days)
The park itself is in the shape of the letter Y, with the entrance on the very bottom of the Y.
The bus takes you up, and you can either walk or bus down. The bus does't stop on the way up but will stop at every stop on the way down. Almost every "scenic spot" (i.e. lake) has a bus stop. But i suggest walking down. i was very very happy with how we explored the park, so i'll describe that, with each axis of the Y.
JZG - right axis:
This is Rize Valley and there are TONS of scenic spots along the way. do NOT get off the bus on the way up. the bus will NOT pick u up to go up the remainder of the giant 17km hill!!! along the way, the bus tour guide will tell you all about the places. I suggest buying a book at the entrance of the park (even before where you get the tickets). there's an English version of a book where the title includes the word "Fairytales" that describes all the 'stories' about the lakes (i.e. how they were named). The book costs 29.80yuan but the price is NOT labelled on the book. so ask in Mandarin. :P
Get off the bus at the top of the hill if and only if you wanna walk through the "virgin forest", its a 1.5km hike and very much like North American forests with coniferous trees, etc... we didn't walk it and was happy we didn't. From here, you can walk all the way down but that's a 17km walk.... Our bus lady suggested we take the bus to the next stop and walk down from there (only 7km - much more doable in a day!!!). This was greatadvice, cuz from what we could see there wasn't much to see on the 10km trail. So, get off at "arrow bamboo lake" and walk down from there. There will be very few places with no view so enjoy the walk down!!!! There are maps all along the trail and the trail is very nice. If you tired, u can always take the bus down again, but i don't suggest it. Try to "cross" the lakes on the trails as much as you can cuz the views of the falls there are amazing. I'm not gonna describe each lake - u'll hafta explore on ur own. There are tons of nooks and crannies that are GORGEOUS that u'll miss if you don't walk down, so taht's what i suggest.
Once you reach Nuorilang (smt like that) falls, then that's the middle of the Y, and that's the only place where they have food/drinks in the park. that's also the place to catch another bus up or down. we took a bus up the left axis from here. (the bus stops are very far apart from each other. find a map or ask someone where the different bus stops to the different places are. (We bought a map for 3yuan [vendor ppl walk around selling it... asking price is 8, u can prolly get it for 2] before the entrance, in the parking lot)
JZG - left axis:
The left side of the park only has two scenic spots plus a bunch of "seasonal lakes" that may or may not be around when you go but they're pretty meh anyway so there's no point even if they are there.
The first scenic spot is "long lake" which is at the very top of the 'hill'... its the biggest lake in JZG, but isn't all that.... Get off the bus here, take some pictures, then hop on the bus to go to the next spot...
The second scenic spot is the smallest lake but is the most beautiful lake!!!! its absolutely stunning. We went there twice, that's how beautiful it was. That's it for the left axis. Take the bus down ALL the way cuz there are no other sites on the left axis.
That's where our day one ended. If you only have one day in JZG and can walk very fast, then u can get off at the stops along the lower axis of the Y to check it out... but u'll miss a lotta cool views if you just walk along the road-side trails.
JZG - lower axis:
The lower axis has a bunch of cool views in the MIDDLE of the 12km trail. Not at the beginning and not at the end. Bus most of it, then walk on the non-road side of it!!!! near one of the falls is the most beautiful place and the coolest place in JZG ... i can't describe it... but its very cool. :P trust me.
and that's it for JZG. Its gorgeous and u must walk most of it. not walking it means u're stupid and wasted all of ur money. :P also, please people, if you're gonna carry around a DSLR, you'd BETTER know how to use it before you come to the parks!!!! cuz when others are waiting for u to finish ur goddam picture and u're still fiddlin with it, i want to KILL you!!! (i was SCREAMING at this one guy in English in Huanglong. cuz he's a fucking RETARD. He had a fucking point-and-shoot too, not a fancy camera!! what a jackass!!!! his wife was so embarassed for him. GOOD!!!!!)
other stuff about JZG and area:
The tibetan girl oat the hostel told me that winter is also a great time to visit JZG... there are snow plows and plow away the snow. i suggest autumn tho, from the gorgeous pictures that others took. :P also, Songpan (where the airport is) has a bunch of spring water spas (like, hot water out of the ground), so if you have time and money, that's worth checking out too. i had no idea about this place. :(
General advice about traveling in China on your own:
Unless you're going to Beijing or Shanghai or some REALLY REALLY fancy (aka. $$$$$) place... you need to know how to speak AND read Chinese. If you cannot read, i highly suggest you go with a tour group. If you only know Canto, i also highly suggest you go with a tour group. the 'highly' should be underlined, bolded, and italicized. and capitalized. seriously.
to book flights, i like using ctrip.com
Don't know if its the cheapest place to find flights, but its reliable.
The earlier you book flights, the more deals you will find... altho those flights are only available on the Chinese version of the site. i.e. i booked a Shanghai to Beijing flight for 500yuan (cf. 655yuan train ticket!!!! <--cheapest non-tour ppl can get), but i couldn't find it on the English site, so i had to ask my cousin what different words meant....
No comments:
Post a Comment