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| Map of Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China |
For my visit to Jiuzhaigou & Huanglong, I signed up a local package tour with a travel agency located near the Chengdu train station. I paid CNY900 for a 4 day 3 night tour; all meals, entrance fees, transport & shuttle bus service and lodging included. I found out that locals paid around CNY650 and others as high as CNY1,200. So there was no standard pricing and you have to be good in haggling a fair price.
The disadvantage of joining a package tour is that the tourists will be taken to a couple of shopping trips along the way or expect to pay for extra money for any side trips (though this is optional) proposed by the tour guide.
1) The start of my 4 day local tour package to Jiuzhaigou (3,101m) & Huanglong Nature Reserve (3,600m). Some stretches of old road from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou had been buried by the Wen Chuan earthquake. New roads are now being built and this may take another 2-3 years to complete. Massive traffic jam along the way as some roads had converted into a single lane and under major repairs. In the interim, a long 14 hour bus ride from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou awaits you, others prefer to fly from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou - merely 2 hours. Or else, try riding a yak to Jiuzhaigou !!! A slow and hardy ride !!!
2) Songpan, Sichuan - A stopover ancient town on the road to Jiuzhaigou. Our bus took a short rest here and I took the opportunity to wonder around.
3) Jiuzhaigou meaning "Nine Village Gully" refers to the nine Baima Tibetan villages that exist in the valley. Before arriving at Jiuzhaigou, our tour bus took us to one of the nine village gully - I really enjoyed this visit. Our tour group was invited to a holy Tibetan home , entertained with Tibetan tea and offered holy prayers - but come with a price ! CNY100 for a holy blessing from a respected Tibetan priest !
4) Jiuzhaigou town, Sichuan - our tour group put up at a 2 star hotel for 2 nights here, meals included. I shared a room with a 19 year old Chinese worker from Hebei.
5) Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve (entrance fee CNY220 + CNY90 shuttle bus service), Sichuan. You need a full day to visit all or most of the scenic spots. So you can start from the higher ground and use the excellent shuttle bus service to ferry you to the rest of the scenic spots along the way. You may skip one or two places if you do not find them interesting. The waterfall areas are wet and slippery, quite strenuous to walk up and down the steps. So bring along some energy snack bars to give you extra energy. Some picture taken at various scenic spots:
Primeval Forest
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Arrow Bamboo Lake - This lake was used by a Hong Kong film producer to shoot the popular kung fu show "Crunching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" !
Panda Lake Outlook
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Rainfall of Pearl Beach
Mirror Sea Lake
Norilang Waterfall
Rhinoceros Lake
Tiger Lake
Shuzheng Waterfall
Panlong Meadow
Shuzheng Village
Jiuzhaigou Cultural Village
Bonsai Shoal
6) Huanglong Nature Park (entrance fee CNY200 + cable car CNY80), Sichuan - 56km from Songpan, local package tour to Jiuzhaigou normally includes a visit to Huanglong. At 3,600m above sea level, high altitude sickness can be a problem to the older people & the weaker ones.
" Due to the Wen Chuan earthquake, the number of tourist arrivals to Jiuzhaigou & Huanglong has dropped considerably in 20008/09. But this has not deterred tourists from visiting these two world heritage sites as the sceneries are simply stunning ! No wonder Jiuzhaigou is known as a World of Fairytales and a Fairlyland under Heaven !
The Secrets of Life - Treat sickness with optimism "
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