Jiuzhaigou

I started my trip at Chengdu. My first impression was that the traffic was crazy. Green light for the pedetrians does not necessarily mean that the cars, mopeds and bicycles will stop. It just means that they will slow down before they hit you.

Sichuan is famous for its sizzling mouth-burning spicy hot food. These workers are preparing two big tubs of red hot chili peppers for a big night.

This vendor sold grapes right on the cross walk at the busiest intersection of two big streets. Ironically as you can see, everyone thought that it was completely normal.

I had my first bite in Chengdu in this mom-and-pop restaurant.

I paid 6 CNY (about 80 US cents) for 8 soup-filled dumplings. These did not taste as good as the ones in Hong Kong but were definitely a lot cheaper.

Here are some examples of Chinese snacks: pig snout, pig ear, goose neck and gizzard.

Did I mention rabbit head for a snack?

This chef made noodle from scratch using only his hands. From start to finish, he took only a couple of minutes.

It was amazing to watch the chef make the noodle from a piece of dough in real time. Another amazing fact was that this bowl of noodle with lamb costed only 10 CNY (about US$1.3).

For a major city, the people of Chengdu were amazingly friendly. As an example, right after I finished the noodle, the chef grabbed his son from the apartment next to the kitchen for me to take a picture. I paid for the noodle but the picture was free.

The next day, I took a nine hour bus ride from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou. Sichuan is famous for being the home of many different minority groups. I believe that these are Hui Muslims living on the mountain.

I started the walk in Jiuzhaigou from the Primeval Forest (mispelled as "Promival" Forest on the sign) from the top of the mountain at about 12,000 feet. Jiuzhaigou first stuck me as the Chinese equivalent of Yosemite.

The wind generally does not blow in the morning too much so that the surfaces of the lakes are as flat as a mirror. (Arrow Bamboo Lake)

When there is too much beauty, we take it for granted. (Panda Lake)

The fallen logs in the bottom of the lakes are a signature scenery of Jiuzhaigou.

Pearl Shoals Waterfalls

Jiuzhaigou is a natural conservation. Visitors are not allowed to take a dip and must be confined to the foot path. Nevertheless the foot paths are integrated with nature seamlessly so that the visitors feel that they are part of nature.

All of the foot paths are paved by wooden panels. Despite the large number of tourists, the park is very clean. Jiuzhaigou is an easy nice walk.

The perfect integration of plants and water creates a dream-like quality.

At the bottom of the mountain, there is a 200 year old Tibetan village. Tibetans still live there.

After Jiuzhaigou, I visited Huang Long which is famous for its ponds. The walk begins with a ride to the top near 14,000 feet by cable car and a nice stroll through the forest.

The Multi-color ponds at 14,000 feet is the largest and most famous one of this kind.

These ponds line up the valley all the way to the park entrance at 12,000 feet.

Bathing Cave Waterfalls