There is a saying that people go to Taiwan to see the winter rain.  It sure looked to be true when we arrived at Taipei on a late December night.  Having always thought of Taiwan to be somewhat balmy due to its location, I was somewhat glad that I took my medium jacket instead of a light one.  The rain had apparently lessened off from earlier in the day, but we could still feel the cold and wind as we stepped outside the airport terminal.  And our local guide was bundled well enough for Boston.

We had decided to go to Taiwan after hearing that my sister was planning to go over for a few days during her Christmas break in Hong Kong.  Jessica and I thought that we could also head over with them.  The original thinking was that we were to go on the same package tour from Hong Kong as the one my sister would be on.  But after returning back to China, we found out that Jessica could only get a visa into Taiwan traveling with a China Tour group and not as an individual tourist.   Thus, we try to see if we could find one that matched up with my sister’s tour.  The best we could find is a tour with the same dates and decided to give that a shot and to see if we could meet up somehow.

Our trip had begun with a late evening flight from Hangzhou to Taipei.  With the typical delay, it was past 11PM by the time we landed at Taoyuan airport in Taipei.  One thing that we didn’t anticipate was the long immigration line.  It took almost an hour for us to clear immigration and well past midnight by the time our group gathered the baggage, exchanged money and headed out of the airport to our hotel for the night.   This is my first return to Taipei in more than 38 years.

On the short bus ride to the hotel, our guide gave out some preliminary background on the city and also our itinerary for our visit.   For our 3 nights in the city, we would be spending in 3 different hotels in various parts of the city.  (By contrast, my sister would be staying in the Grand Hyatt in the center of town for all three nights.)  Our first night was at a hotel by the airport, Hotel Orchard Park.  It’s a reasonable new hotel; but nothing fancy.  While the room was simply outfitted, it was big and clean, with a decent size bathroom. One negative is slow and bad WiFi connection.  These days of mobile devices, WiFi connection has become almost an imperative thing.

 

The next morning, we headed out to our first sightseeing destination:  Yehliu Geopark. Located on a cape at the northeastern end of the Taiwan Island, Yehliu has landscape eroded by seawater, creating numerous rocks in the shape of mushrooms, candle, ginger, chessboards, etc.  There were many interesting rock formations in the park, and on a windswept and rainy day, the area actually had a serene feel to it.  Despite the weather, the place was still packed with tourists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving Yehliu, we head into the city and first went to lunch at a local restaurant that seems to cater to tour groups from China and Hong Kong.   All the tables in the restaurant were filled with tourist groups, serving the same set of dishes at every table; a set course of non-descript 8 or so dishes.  Would have much preferred if we were just dropped off food court or market instead.

But our next destination is one of the main reasons we came to Taipei:  The National Palace Museum.  This is a museum that holds many of the artifacts that used to be in the Forbidden City Palace in China.  The museum has numerous galleries that probably would take someone two days to browse through it all.  And that is just the items on display; much more artifacts are in storage.   With our schedule stop of 3 hours, we were able to tour just a few of the galleries.  For the first two hours, we had a guided tour through a few of the key galleries and then an hour to wander by ourselves.   Some of the more unique pieces we saw were a multicolor stone shaped like a piece of meat and carvings of the finest ivories and gemstones.  During the royal court of ancient China, many artists were able to maintain a good life by producing artworks for the court.

There were also many porcelain pieces, furniture, household & personal items and bronze works covering many thousand years of Chinese history.  For me, it was like finally able to see the real thing of all the pieces that I saw on Taiwan’s stamps when I was a kid.  During our own hour of wandering, we also had a chance to see many paintings and calligraphy pieces.

The three hours wasn’t nearly enough time to see everything we want to see, but it was still a nice visit.  Our next two destinations were the typical shopping stops on package tours.  The first was a watch store that sells not the top tier brands like Rolex and Omega, but the next tier, such as Longene and Tag Heuer.   There was a short introduction and then we were ushered into the showroom.  We had an hour to ‘shop’, but we pretty much saw everything in about 15 minutes.  And taking a cue from Casinos, the exit to the showroom was not marked.  We have to ask to find our way out.  Once outside, we decided to walk around the area.  About a block from the showroom we saw an interesting small temple.  What’s interesting about the temple is that it appears to be something that was left untouched from a previous era as the area around it was built up with modern structures.  After taking some pictures, we continued onward for another block but didn’t see anything else interesting.  When we doubled back to wait for the bus we saw a food stall vendor selling local pancakes and milk tea in the parking lot across the street doing brisk business.  We decided to try some.  It was much better than the lunch we had and just hit the right spot for an afternoon break.

Our next stop was the Duty Free mall in town.  Bus loads after bus loads of tourists were dropped off at the place, which had all the typical name brand as well as local specialty shops.  Our tour guide gave us a pseudo boarding card that we could use at the register to get our tax-free stuff.   Jessica checked out prices of some of the branded items there; while some weren’t bad and with a few selective sale items being a good bargain, she didn’t find anything that was a must buy.  However, we did end up picking up a few boxes of local teas and food items at the place.

Before dropping us off at the hotel, we were taken to another local restaurant for dinner.  Wished they had skipped the group dinner and just took us to the hotel instead.  The dinner turned out very much like the lunch fare.  Jessica and I purposefully didn’t eat too much as we had plan to go out in the evening to try some local night market food.

Our hotel that night was The Grand Hotel, located up the Yuanshan on the northern part of Taipei.  The hotel was built in the Fifties to ensure that foreign dignitaries have a 5-Star modern accommodation to go.  One can say that this is the original high-end hotel built after the war.  It is built in a classic Palace like style.  Interior has wide hallway and rooms would offer a perfect view of the city.  The hotel is laid out in a rectangular shape and wide enough such that the hotel is able to place two rows of interior rooms with no windows (the “standard” room).  And those were the rooms our tour group ended up having.  These rooms

were relatively small (although I have smaller rooms in Europe and Hong Kong), just enough for a desk and two twin beds.  It lacked some amenities offer in the larger rooms like a room safe.  But the bathroom was surprisingly large, relative to the overall room size.  The hotel website listed these rooms are designed to provide “comfort and an unforgettable stay”.   I have to say our stay in the room was unforgettable, but probably not what the hotel had in mind.  The bright spot was that we weren’t going to stay in the room for much more than just sleeping for that night.

 

After putting our stuff away, we took a taxi and head out to the one of the renowned night market of the city not far from the hotel:  Shilin Night Market.  It was still drizzling a bit when arrived at the place around 8:30PM, but it was full of people.  We started walking around and finally found the food court area full of individual stalls offering various kinds of local food.   Most of the vendors have no seating; most people just eat standing on the side or as they wandered around.  Eager to get started, we first sampled the fried chicken steak.  There was a line of twenty people waiting when we got to one of the more popular stall.  For 45 TWD (equivalent to about $1.5), we got a small plate size chicken piece that not only was good but almost filled up both of us right there.  Just as we were finishing up the chicken, we got in line to get some bake potatoes.  We end up ordering the deluxe piece with seafood topping that turned out not as good as we had hoped.  But not to be discouraged, we went and picked up some Japanese style Fried Fish Ball next, which turned out to be very good.

Taking a bit of a break, we picked up some milk tea and walked around a bit.  This is an area with many shops and is a renowned tourist shopping area.  Yet, our focus this night was only on the food.  Next, we waited in line for the next batch of red bean filled waffle cakes.  As good as they tasted, it was just as interesting to see how they made it.  Similar to making egg ball waffles, the cook would pour dough into individual cupcake size mold on a large round hot steel plate.  After a bit, the filling would be placed inside half of the mold.  After a few more minutes, the cook would pull out the cakes without the filling and put it onto the ones without the filling to make a cake.

Next we grabbed some roasted beef and some bread.  I was tempted by the beef noodle and dumplings, but was quite full by that time.  It was around 10PM, and wedecided to head back to the hotel to our windowless room.

 

The next day, Christmas Eve, was to be our ‘free day’.  After breakfast at the hotel, which might have been the best meal with the tour we had the entire trip, we dropped our luggage off with the tour lead and head out to the city on our own around 9:30AM.  We were going to meet up with my sister in the late afternoon at Taipei 101, so we plan to do some site seeing and shopping on our own before then.  I had a more ambitious plan, but as it turned out, we didn’t go out of a few blocks of Taipei 101.

Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world for a few years.  Located at the south end of the city near the City Hall and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, it has become one of the must see places of the city.  When we got there, just before 10AM, none of the shops were open.  We walked around a bit and decided to stash some of our stuff in one of the lockers to lighten our load.   We then walked out decided to see if there were anything else open in the area.   But nothing else was open, the nearby mall and shops all seem to open at 11AM.   After circling around a bit we head back to Taipei 101 for a restroom break.   Coming out of the restroom, we saw the sign for the tower’s observation deck.   We decided to go up to see if we could get in.

The advantage of early arrival is that the line can be much shorter.  Even though the outside observation deck would not be opened that day (which would have been better for pictures), we paid the NTW 400 ticket price (each) and went up supposedly the world’s fastest elevator to the enclosed observation deck on the 88^th floor.  Despite the overcast day, we were able to see nice view of the city, and we were able to get some pictures through the windows as well.   There is just some unexplained exuberance of being up so high and getting a bird’s eye view of a city, whether it is on the Space Needle, Sears Tower, Eiffel Tower, etc.  It gives people a very different perspective than they get on the ground level.

On our way out of the observation area on the floor below, we walked through a gallery of fine coral art, with the obligatory shop selling the coral art and jewelry right there before reaching the elevator for ride down.  But one good thing about this place is that there is free WiFi available.  So while Jessica was doing some browsing I was clearing out my emails and download.   Jessica ended up picking up a piece of reasonably inexpensive coral pearl there.  The coral jewelry is a specialty of Taiwan as it is one of the few places where coral used for gems is available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Being Christmas, there were sales in all the stores as we browsed the mall after we came back down from the observation deck.  Jessica picked up a few items and even I picked up a couple of Brooks Brother shirts.  As we weren’t hungry, we decided to go to the other malls in the area.  While Jessica went shopping, I sat and catch up with my reading on the iPad.  By around 2:30PM, Jessica was done with her shopping and we were ready to grab a bite.  There were a café and a Gordon Biersch Restaurant on the floor we were shopping.  But it turns out one doesn’t have an opening until 6:30PM and the other was all booked up for the day.  So we headed down to the food court at the basement of the mall.   It was pretty crowded even at that hour, but one advantage of a food court is that Jessica and I can pick our own vendor.  I end up getting the traditional Taiwan Beef Noodle Bowl, and Jessica picking up a set lunch menu with claypot chicken.

After finished eating, we walked around the plaza area outside the malls.  There were outdoor shows at several spots and lots of promotional tents as well.   It was festive, but a different kind of festive one would find in the US on Christmas Eve.  We then looked around electronic shops in the area for an iPhone.   After not seeing anything, we remembered there was an Apple shop at Taipei 101 near where we boarded the elevator to the observation deck.  We headed back to take a look.

Like all stores in Hong Kong and Taiwan at the time, it did not have the new 4S in stock, but they did have the unlock iPhone 4.  We decided to pick one up-for Jessica, who phone was ready to retire.

We then went downstairs to meet up with my sister, brother in law and nephew.  They just got back from their tour for the day.   After dropping our stuff at my sister’s room at the Grand Hyatt, located just next door to Taipei 101, we went over to Din Tai Fung, a renowned Taiwan restaurant for their Xiao Long Bao (a water dumpling).   It’s more a curiosity for us more than anything, since we have been to its franchisees in other locations; we just want to see what the “original” is like.  The question for us was which one to go to.   To make it easy for us, we decided to go to the one at Taipei 101.  A big crowd waited at the restaurant.  We took our numbers and end up waiting about 30 minutes for our seats.   While we waited, we were given a menu form to which we can select what we want before we are seated.  The other thing the restaurant did was to have separate set of waiting numbers for different size tables instead of one set for everyone, ie one set for up to 4, one for 5-7, and one for 8 plus.   This makes it easier for people to see how many people are really ahead of them for the table they want.

The restaurant’s menu is fairly similar in all locales, with about 75-80% being the same and the other 25% tailored to local tastes or local availability.  We end up picking our typical favorites Xiao Long Bao, Noodles and Won Tons plus some local vegetables and fish that we saw the first time here.  Even though the portion of each dish wasn’t huge, we were all full by the time we finished.

As we headed out of the still crowded restaurant and the mall, we decided to browse around town a bit.  Taiwan appears to be like Hong Kong in that people celebrate Christmas by gathering with others outside rather than in homes; whereas in the US, all shops would be closed by late afternoon on Christmas Eve.  But here, some shops may stay open later the normal on Christmas Eve.   We decided to head out to a famous local bookstore, which opens 24 hours a day, Eslite.  Yes, even in this digital age, some bookstores can still find a niche.

The store was far enough for us to take a taxi.  Since five of us couldn’t fit in one cab, my sister, brother-in-law and nephew took the first cab, and then Jessica and I got in the next one that came along.   The interesting part of this journey was that despite that Jessica and I departed at least 5 minutes later, we got there 5 minutes early.  And their fare turned out to be 30% more than what we paid as well.

Anyways, we spend about an hour plus at the bookstore.  It has a large offering of Chinese and English books and magazines.  It even had Baseball Digest, a magazine I wouldn’t be able to find in most bookstores in the US.   And of course it has a café as well.  My nephew and Jessica picked up some books.   It was around 9:30PM when we left the store and decided to walk around the block to see what we can find.   We ran into a store that specializes in Apple products.   Jessica picked up a case and a screen protector for the new iPhone.    We walked around the block some more and ran into a local bakery store that has one of Taiwan’s specialty snacks, the pineapple cake.  We bought a bunch to bring back home.  Feeling fulfilled, we decided to head back to my sister’s hotel to pick up our stuff to head over to our hotel.   Again, despite getting into a cab first, we end up arriving back about 5 minutes earlier than my sister at the hotel; although this time the fare differences were not as great.   Something that one just can’t explain.

After a bit unwinding in my sister’s room and gathering up our stuff, Jessica and I took a cab to our new hotel for the day, the third one on this trip.   The Fullon Hotel Sanyin is located in New Taipei City, beyond the northern end of Taipei proper.  It was a good 45 minutes of cab ride from the center of town to the hotel (but it only cost around NTW 900 (or US$30), which isn’t too bad.)

The hotel room was spacious if a bit spartan.   Before heading to bed, we begin figuring out how to put all the stuff we bought into our suitcases for our flight back home the next day.  It was almost 1AM before we went to sleep.  The next morning I got up a bit early around 7AM.  Wanting to take a walk to see where we were and see if I could find some contact lens solution for Jessica.  I discovered that we were located next to Taipei University, the main campus entrance not more than two blocks from our hotel.   It was fairly quiet on the streets in the few blocks I walked around.  Only activities seem to be around the couple of convenience stores that was open at the time.   (There was a new McDonalds that looks to be opening soon, but appear to be still under construction.)  But I was able to find the contact lens solution at the 7-Eleven.

The breakfast at the hotel was not inspirational, particularly for a Christmas Day.  But as we headed out on the bus, I hoping I would be able to find something better along the way.   I had thought we had stayed there so that we could see a couple of places near there before we departed for the airport in the early afternoon.  But instead, we started back on the highway to Taipei again.   Our first stop was a store that sold coral jewelry and art.   It was very similar to what we saw at Taipei 101 the previous day.   It did have some interesting pieces, including a model Ferrari made out of Coral that costs almost as much as the real thing.

Like some of the other tour members, we left the show room after about 30 minutes.  There wasn’t much around the area, but we did find a coffee shop nearby and picked up some tea, pastry and home fries, while we waited for the bus.  It wasn’t much but help fill some gaps from the breakfast.  While heading to our next stop, Jessica and I commented about all the campaign posters and signs that seem to be everywhere, something one doesn’t see in China.  Taiwan’s election was just around the corner to be held in early January.

Our next destination was a store that sold all kinds of specialty Taiwan ‘snack’ food.   Jessica and I bought a number of things we had not picked up yet, including beef & pork jerky, mochi cakes, dry pineapples, etc.  While we picked up a big bag, some of our fellow tour members were taking a couple of cases of the stuff back.

Before we were to head back to the airport, we stopped for lunch at another local restaurant.  This time we had at least somewhat of a Taiwan style meal:  Dumplings, Xiao Long Bao, Noodles, buns, etc.  Not great but better than then other meals we had with the tour.

As we waited for the bus outside the restaurant afterwards, we went to a nearby drink store to get another Taiwan specialty:  Milk Tea with pearls; a sort of a going away drink for us on the bus to the airport.   As we drove to the airport, we passed by several fields where people were playing baseball.   Somewhat a rare site, baseball games on Christmas Day.

Jessica and I visited the Jiuzhaigou National Park in early September with some of her relatives to see one of China’s most scenic spots.   Located in northern part of Sichuan province, while not far from the capital city of Chengdu as the crow flies (152 miles), it feels like a million miles from modern civilization.   Jiuzhaiguo (Juizhai Valley) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.  “Jiuzhai Valley” translates to mean “Nine Village Valley” and it was said to be named after the nine Tibetan villages that is scattered throughout the valley.

The forty minute flight from Chengdu put us in a mountainous spot that feels like being in the Himalayas.   As I would have discovered later, in fact, we were sort in the Himalayas.  The mountain range that is part of the Jiuzhai Valley is on the edge of the Tibetan Himalayan Plateau. (Sichuan province is located just east of the Tibet region.)

It definitely felt like the Himalayas when we landed.  We went from a place that was about 25C (78F) in Chengdu to a place that was 2C (35F) as we disembarked.  We hadn’t plan for these weather extreme.  We heard it would be cooler, but just wasn’t sure to what degree.   So Jessica scrambled to procure some outerwear as I waited for the baggage.  There were shops selling winter jackets at the airport – obviously catering to shellshock tourist arriving there; a number of people were wearing shorts.

As we went outside and met up with our pre-arranged taxi, it did felt like winter.     What we didn’t know (and what the airport vendors obviously didn’t tell us) is that the temperature near the park area where we would be staying would much milder.  As taxi left the airport area and started the drive to Jiuzhaiguo, the “country/rural” environment quickly revealed itself.  Just minutes from the airport, we stopped as someone led a small herd of cattle across the road.  (I am not sure the type of bovine – Yaks are very common in this region.)

About twenty minutes from the airport, and maybe a thousand or so feet in lower elevation, the sun appeared and we can see lush green fields in the valleys as we sling around mountain edges.   With the landscape of the area, the only way to build the roads through some of the stretch was to carve around the mountains.  But the road itself was in fairly good shape.   The road reminded me of driving through the Sierra Nevada:  The fresh, cool mountain air I can feel through the small window opening and the rolling hills with pine trees.  Except for a couple of spots here and there, it wasn’t until we got close to the “Park Area” that there were any meaningful settlements (shops, restaurants, hotels, etc.).

During most of the drive, our driver wanted to take us to another well regard scenic area about another couple of hours away from our hotel called Huang Long.   If my head wasn’t spinning so much from the drive I may have been tempted.  But all I wanted to do during the last half of the drive was to get out of the car.

About an hour and half from the airport, we arrived at our hotel around 10AM local time.  While it was cool, it didn’t feel like we would need the new winter jackets we just bought.   The hotel seemed to be very quiet, almost deserted as we checked in.   It was mentioned that most people who goes there would go to the Park in the morning and return in the evening, such that for much of the day, there is very little activity around the whole area.  We would found this to be true as we ventured outside later.

After settling into our rooms, we met up with Jessica’s cousin, aunt and uncles who had arrived the previous day.   Our plan was to do some light sightseeing around the area during the afternoon spend the entire day at the park the following day.  Tracey, Jessica’s cousin, asked the hotel receptionist for some suggestions, who indicated our best bet was to walk along the river toward the Park entrance, where there are some shops and restaurants along the path.

As we walked outside along the main road to begin our ‘hike’, we can see that only some of shops were open, and it was all very quiet and with hardly anyone or even cars were around.   As we ventured down toward the river (Baihe or White River), we can see all kinds of shops, coffee shops and restaurants store fronts in the promenade area (Bian Bian Street) but almost all were closed.  Nonetheless, the walk along the river was refreshing.   The quietness of the area may have also contributed to the tranquility of the walk for us.

 

Some of the surrounding views that we can see in parts of our walk were quite awe inspiring as well.  The valley in this area is quite narrow.  One side of the river buttresses a mountain and the mountain range on the other side of the valley also feels to be right next to you on the other side.  We could feel that we are right there in the middle of this majestic natural wonder place.

About a kilometer or so from the hotel, we found some restaurants opened for business.  The restaurants here are fairly “open”, in the sense that they will show you the ‘ingredients’ they have for dishes, open to how you want it cooked, and even let you ‘into’ the kitchen.  One of Jessica’s uncles vetted the offerings of some of the restaurants for comparison shop.  We finally settled on one whose live fish seemed to pass her uncle’s quality inspection.   And we were also able to get the dishes to be cooked somewhat on the milder side, to help some of us who can’t quite handle the spicy level of typical Sichuan cuisine (ok, mostly just me).   The meal turned out to be quite nice.  Along with the fish (which we had both steamed and cooked in a soup as well),  we also had some stir fried local greens, walnut flower leaves (a distinctive black leave that turned out to be not too bad), some yak beef with peppers, thousand-year old preserved eggs, and braised tofu.

 

 

 

After the big lunch, we continued our walk toward the Park.  About half way down, there was this small hanger like place that hosts a bazaar of shops next to a big parking lot.  When we were there, there were few people around. (As we discovered the next day, a lot of bus would park there during the morning when the crowd would be much bigger.)   One of the more prominent items are those made from bovine horns (Yak, Water Buffalo or Bison), which include combs, jewelry and tools.  The other is various kinds of dried yak beef.   I ended up picking up just a key chain on this visit.   On the other side this venue is a park like promenade next to the river that would lead into the Park entrance area.  On the ground of this promenade has difference languages welcoming people to the area.

Just before reaching the Jiuzhaiguo National Park entrance, there was a confluence of two rivers which one can see the very distinct color variance of the water from each branch and with very distinct line where the water from the two rivers met as their converged water flow down river.

 

The Park entrance has a large open plaza at the front, which during mid afternoon was sparsely filled.   This turned out to be a good opportunity for us to take some group photos.  Around the plaza, there were also your obligatory souvenir stores and fast food offerings – these things are pretty much standards worldwide.   We tried to see if we could get tickets for the next day, but found out that you can only buy tickets on the day you want to visit.  (Tickets costs RMB310; discounts available to students and people over 60.)

Jessica thought of the “ancient city” complex that we drove by on the way to the hotel, as a good place to visit to fill in the time for the rest of the afternoon.  We picked up two taxis to drive us to the complex, which is about a 25 minute drive away.   Once arrived, we walked around while the taxi drivers waited for us.  (It would have been difficult for us to get a return taxi otherwise.)   The complex was built to resemble the old local architectural style.   It seems to house mostly restaurants and tea/coffee houses.  Most appears to be closed.  There is a big theatre in the middle of the complex.  There were some pond and man-made streams (or look like man-made streams to me).   A Holiday Inn sits at one end of the complex.   Toward the other end of the complex there was a large circular plaza.

 

 

 

 

After walking around for about 30 minutes, it began to rain a little so we decided to head back to the hotel.  Some of us played cards for a while before we headed down to the hotel restaurant for dinner.  The meal didn’t turn out quite as well as the one we had at lunch, but it filled out needs.  Afterwards, all of us went out to get some fresh air and to buy some snacks for the next day.

The next morning we headed to the Park taking almost the same route we had the previous day along the river.  The Park opens at 7AM, but we didn’t get there until about 8:30AM or so.  The Park is laid out in a “Y” shape, with the entrance at the base of the Y.   Theoretically people can walk/hike all along inside the park, and there are numerous trails for people to do that.  But with the vastness of the park (the core scenic area is said to cover 300 km²), most people would take the bus to the main scenic points at the park and then walk around some of the shorter trails in between scenic spots. That was the approach we decided to take.

The first stop for the bus took us about two-third of the way up the “Y” base, close to Tiger Lake.  There are several lakes that are adjacent to each other in this area.  With loads of buses dropping people off in this stop, there was a large throng of people walking around the village turned visitor center and along the smaller streams and ponds that starts the pathway taking people toward Tiger Lake.  Most of the pathway in the park has a wooden walkway, making the walk relatively pleasant and blends into the surrounding.  Along the way to Tiger Lake, we saw the first of many waterfalls that day.   Our walk to Tiger Lake and then to Rhinoceros Lake provided us chance to begin soaking in the grand views of the park.  And one of the things that struck us was the clarity of the water, where in many places we can see to the bottom of the stream or lake, even to depth of 10-15 meters (~30 to 45 feet) in some casess.

 

 

 

At a trail on the side of Rhinoceros Lake away from the road that relatively few people seem to use, we stopped for a small picnic on a mixture of the various snacks and fruits that we had brought along.  The one thing that struck me as I was eating at looking at my surrounding is that how long it has been since I really had a picnic in such “natural” setting.

As we were eating, one of the park workers told us that one of the last buses to the next spot is leaving quickly that we should get going.  We packed up and hurry over across a causeway to the other side.  But just as we arrived, the bus took off.  Figuring we may have to wait a while, some of us used the portable ‘toilets’ that were built on a bus. (Interesting concept: This enables the park to move these temporary toilets around more easily to where the demand is.)  But another bus arrived inside of 15 minutes, so our wait turned out to be short.  I half wondered if the park worker had wanted us to leave so she could keep the area for herself.

We took the bus up to the center of the Y, where there is a big visitor center that along with shops also had a number of restaurants as well.  It was a major connection point at the park where people can take the various lines of buses to all points of the park.  We got on to the bus that would take us to the farthest stop on one branch of the Y, the Long Lake.  This is the largest lake at the park and one of the highest points of the park area (about 3,000 meters).  The Long Lake surrounding reminded me of the Lake Tahoe area.  The main difference here is that there is no development around.  This is a pristine, unspoiled area that hardly a boat has been on it.

 

 

 

 

From the Long Lake, there is a nice trail that takes visitors down to Five Colour Lake, a lake that due to its mineral content and varying depth is said to reflect varying colors.  It was during this part of the walk that Tracey remarked how refreshing the air is in the park. Walking along the trails in the park is truly a refreshing break from the cities in China, where blue sky and fresh air can be a rare sight.

After walking around the Five Colour Lake area, we headed back to the Tourist center to go to the other branch of the “Y”, after a rest and snack break.  Most of the scenic spots off this “branch” are located near the lower half of the route.  With the time we have, we figured that visiting these areas were the best use of our time.

We first stopped at the Arrow Bamboo Lake and walked our way down to the other water pools:  Panda Lake, Five Flower Lake, and Pearl Shoals.   What made this area memorable was the walk from one lake to the next and the waterfalls that cascade down between the lakes.  These waterfalls are not big, but one can get close to it to feel its splendor and beauty.  And the walks along the trails, which mostly follow the feeding stream that flow from one lake to the next, provided another smoothing stroll.

 

 

 

Among the waterfalls we saw that afternoon, the Pearl Shoals Falls may have been the best.  It was the largest falls in terms of breath and height that we saw in the Park that day, but what makes it most interesting is the rushing rapids that this fall feeds into as the water travels downstream.

By the time we reached the bottom of the Pearl Shoals Falls, it was around 4:30PM.  We decided to take the bus back out of the park.  After a bit more browsing of the local shops on our way back to the hotel, we decided to eat dinner along the river bank.  After scrutinizing the offerings of the restaurants close to the park entrance, we settled on one that offered the variety we wanted.  The centerpiece of the meal was a fish that is fire grilled before being braised on a hot pan.  The rest of the dishes were more basic comfort food variety:  Tomato and mince pork with chili, stir-fry greens, chili string beans, etc.

During dinner, a number of street hawkers walked by selling their wares, from spices and nuts to fruits and vegetables.   I saw one vendor swing by 3 times during our meal.  We did end up buying some fruits from a couple of the vendors.

It was about 7:30PM or so when we finished and started our way back to the hotel along the river.  One thing that struck me as odd was that many of the shops that were closed during the late morning/early afternoon the previous day was still closed at this hour; just curious as when some of the shops would open.   The walk back in the semi-darkness was almost as pleasant as the walk in the park earlier that day.  And even at that hour, a light jacket was all that were needed.  Overall, we figured we walked something like 20KM that day.

On the way back to Kunming next day, we had planned a long layover in Chengdu.   We took an earlier flight out of Juizhai Valley early in the morning so we can have the better part of the day in Chengdu before our connecting flight in the evening.   After dropping our bags off in holding at the airport, Jessica, Tracey and I went to visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (Panda Research and Breeding Center) located in the northeast part of the city, while Jessica’s aunt and uncles headed off to the city center, where we planned to meet up later in the afternoon.  (The Wolong Panda Reserve, the world’s largest Panda Reserve and an UNESCO site, is located near Juizhai Valley.  But it has not been open to the public since the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.)

As it was a Saturday, we had hoped the drive from the airport (located to the south of the city) would not be too congested.  But a long stretch of one of the main ‘expressway’ was closed for maintenance, which made our ride a bit bumpy and longer than we had hoped for.  We arrived at the park well past 11AM but the crowd was light.  (Tickets to the Center cost RMB58, a relative bargain.)   Since our plan was for a relatively quick tour, once inside, we looked at the park map to see the key spots we want to hit.  The park itself was laid out fairly well, with good walkway, well positioned signage and lots of green space place.  The center is said to total about 260 acres, although the exhibits area covers only a portion of that.

There were a number of Panda exhibits/habitat areas, including a baby nursery, young pandas with their mother, young adult pandas, and several mature panda habitats.  There was also an area for the Red Pandas, which looks more like a large raccoon than a ‘bear’.  Each of the habitat area was large with plenty of room for the pandas to roam around, with platforms, trees or playrooms in the habitat.  One thing that we didn’t see was the true ‘cub’ size pandas, ones that people can still hold.  Think of the size of “Po” in Kung Fu Panda was when he was adopted by the noodle making goose.  (The couple of “cubs” we saw with the mother were relatively large.)

 

 

 

 

The Park also has a museum, a large lake with different kind of birds and a research center, which we ended up passing.  After taking what would be the analog equivalent of ‘rolls’ of pictures, we were ready to head out about and get something to eat. We had only a few bits of snacks all day and ready for something more substantial.

 

 

 

 

Chengdu is considered to be the heart of Sichuan cuisine, with its well known spicy favor.  On our way back to the city, we had an interesting conversation with the cab driver, covering topics on life and money to the local food.  We end up going to a local eatery that he recommended.  As the person who is the lightweight on “spicy” food, I tried to make sure at least some of the dishes ordered I can handle.  The thing I have to be careful is that in places with a strong spicy cuisine culture, what may constitute as “not spicy” to the locals could be quite spicy for me.

We ordered one “set menu”, which comprised of small portions of a variety of the dishes available in the restaurant, such as different kinds of dumplings, meat, noodles, vegetables and dessert.  A majority were spicy, a few weren’t.  When I first dug into the Dan Dan Noodles, it didn’t feel too bad initially. But after a few bites, my mouth burned.   We then ordered a couple of the dishes that we thought were good; I picked one of the non-spicy ones.

After we finished, we head out to meet up with Jessica’s aunt and uncle on Jinli Old Street, a commercial street that dates back to the Shu Kingdom around 200 AD that has been refurbished to the architectural style of that region during the Qing Dynasty.  This type of area is now a typical hub for locals and tourists with local/regional food specialties, entertainment and shopping for local favorites that exists in many Chinese cities.   On Jinli Street, there were vendors selling regional handcrafts like paper-cutting and clay figurines, Shu embroider lanterns and puppets.   Food snack vendors abound in the area, from ice cream and chocolates to sticky sweet rice and dumplings to beef balls and spicy beef jerky.  There are a number of tea houses as well as a Starbuck.  After walking around awhile, we stopped at a tea house for a break.  At the tea house, the server demonstrated the various ways to pour from a long-necked sprout pot that is unique to the region.

We made one last tour of the area after leaving the tea house before heading to the airport around just past 6PM, ending our short venture in Chengdu.