One of the daunting peaks at Bukhansan National Park

Forest Canopy from the peak

The answer to question of what a typical normal Korean would be doing on their weekend would be to climb a mountain. So in my assimilation training, I picked up a friend and we’re off to Gupabal Station on Metro Line 3 on an excellent warm summer Saturday morning. We’re in shorts and t-shirt while the fellow hikers at the Metro station are all in Gore-tex and week long packs with titanium cups hanging off it. Reminds me of the old hikers in Japan, overdressed for the occasion. All I had was a bag with my camera and GPS in it, expecting an easy walk all the way to the top.

Blue line shows the GPS plots from this trip. The peak is marked with the GPS coordinates, reason being I have no idea what the peak is called as of writing.

Target this weekend is one of the peak at Bukhansan National Park, a bunch of peaks to the North of Seoul City Centre. Its technically inside the city, surrounded by urban sprawl. Some of the peaks in the National Park are quite scary indeed, craggy peaks with no visible easy route other than with crampons and drilling holes in the rocks. And most of them are 500-800m high. Nuts. This is one of those weekends where my mind is in a “what the hell” mode and that’s how most memorable adventures start.

At Gupabal Metro station, there is a large crowd of hikers (remember what I said about what Koreans do on weekends?) waiting at the bus stop. Follow them and you won’t go wrong. The bus goes fast here, they are probably the proverbial race car drivers in their previous career. But quickly we get off at a nice village. Having a friend that knows Korean helps, but not mine as we’re all first timers here at Bukhansan. So I took out my GPS and said that peak looks interesting and lets go the path of least resistance which is straight as the eye can see.

Make no mistake. This is the EASY part of the climb. I don’t have pictures of the tough part because obviously I’m hanging on for dear life.

View across the valley. While I doubt climbers for that mountain will have to scale those rock face, they still look scary.

I call this picture: Humble Undergrowth.

The start of the hike was easy enough, a walk through the woods with slight incline. Along the way there are some old hikers that over took us, but we took our time to enjoy the fresh morning air. For some reasons most of the hikers here are close to retirement. The most aggressive ones are old korean women, as they’re tougher than they look. They could be 70 years old and still kick your butt in the Metro when you sit on the senior citizen section by mistake.

Before long (that would be an hour or so), the path starts to be a little tougher, with 30 degree incline and the need to climb on small boulders. Still manageable, but today I had my sandals on, so wasn’t a good idea. I was wishing I had my hiking shoes on, but the hot summer weather made me wanting to go commando this trip. And soon we’re at the toughest part of the climb. Roughly an hour of crazy large rock sections where you either have to do some elementary rock climbing by squeezing your feet between cracks for 10m and grip either ropes with knots if you’re lucky, or bare knuckles into rocks. Although this sounds scary, and it is since you will plunge all the way down the cliff if you decided to take a break, you’d continue going up because old Korean women are passing you like its like a walk in the park. Some sections are so scary you’re stuck between going down the hard way and going up the impossible way. Being stuck at this altitude while the masses are passing by you is not a good ego boost either. So with heart pounding and sweaty palms, no choice but to go up. There are quite a number of sections close to the peak where it is fundamentally just vertical rock, a piece of rope and you. Sweaty hands don’t help either. Hands down one of the hardest mountain I’ve climbed so far. The mantle piece still goes to Huashan in Shaanxi Province China, and Siguniang Shan in Sichuan Province.

No we’re not at the top yet. This is looking AWAY from Seoul.

And this is the top. I’m standing on a piece of rock looking towards the path I will have to take to get down, and at this stage I’m hoping that the downhill path will be a lot more gentle than the ascend.

After an hour of so of your life flashing past you, it is time to enjoy the peak. Its bare rock with a path on the ridge connecting the peaks. The walk on the peak is easy enough but with the crowd there, it is easy to lose balance. Then again at that height of 500+m it is easy to have vertigo, but the view is nice and the surrounding mountains look inviting enough for future climbs. The funny thing is that I’m writing this at the comforts of my neighborhood Starbucks and I still have no idea which peak we climbed. I’m not at the Bukhansan definitely, this one is too low. For a while I thought it was Baegundae but now I doubt it. I could be at Yongchulbong Mountain too but seriously I have no idea. However there is a GPS plot of the whole journey but no information on the internet of the name of the peak we climbed up to. What is sure is that we went up the tough way because we came down another route and it was a lot easier. We would pass through a temple (Guknyeong-sa 국녱사) mid mountain.

At the peak, on the way down the mountain.

View on the way down.

Again, looking across the valley floor somewhere close to the peak.

The rest of the way down is quite pleasant. Rocks, but gentle enough not to require walking stick or hands on the ground for the entire descent. The temple is quite a good place to rest and to load up on the water from the spring at the entrance of the temple. There’s a big outdoor buddhist statue of the type that I see quite often in Korea. After a short rest stop there, its time to go down the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain we end up at a valley where there are Korean BBQ restaurants and a dried up stream made up of large boulders. The rest of the path back to civilization winds down along the valley floor along a road. Well, we ARE walking on the road, and there is the occasional car passing by.

This is a welcome sight. Close to the valley floor, the first sign of civilization on the descent.

Sorry, space filler. A mail box.

Easy down: Road/path with the stream flowing on the left.

The most important thing out of this trip is that we made it back in one piece. I did have a small issue when I was stuck on one of the rock climb and having to swing my bag to one side to balance myself to get the important 3 point hold on the rock and my GPS slammed into the rockface giving it a little more “character” than I would like it to have. Anyway, at least when I look at the scars on the device in the future I know it came from Bukhansan!

Enlarged Google Earth capture showing the trek path relative to Seoul which is to the South of the mountain complex.

Just like in China, you know you’re in a rural area when you see one of these.

Chillies left out to dry in the hot sun. These will probably be grounded into dust and used for making kimchi.

*end*

A peek through a broken window at one of the movie set inside the park

Full scale replica of Shanghai's Nanjing Road

It is difficult to write about something 5 months after. For one, I can hardly remember how I got to the Film Park. But I still remember how it happened, I’ve read about this place in Shanghai where many movies were shot, especially the ones that depict Shanghai pre World War II, and for completeness sake, let’s just place that in the 1930s. I can recall Kung Fu Hustle. So, there was no real direction available on the internet, and I had the GPS coordinates only. I remembered taking the Shanghai metro to the southwest, changed into a bus, a wrong bus, and then having to walk a bit and one more bus before I got to within 1km of the park by GPS.

Shanghai Movie Park

As of writing, maps of China on Google Maps has to be viewed in map view and no satellite. There is a little 500m offset on it. I did a little internet sleuthing and came up with this address, copied and pasted (shall I say plagiarized?) without much though:

Shanghai Film Park, Chedun Town, 4915 Beisong Gong Lu, near Cheting Gong Lu
车墩镇北松公路4915号，近车停公路
Coordinates: 31.01228, 121.31037

Now that I have, hopefully, given enough instructions to get there, let me first start by saying that this is one of the hidden gems in Shanghai. Sure, the internet has plenty of day tours, but do you REALLY need a tour guide in a movie studio? I was there late in the afternoon, and there was a movie that was being shot at that time. I can’t imagine another studio where you could just walk up to the set, and watch the film crew doing their stuff.

There is an entry fee, but it is a pittance, a little less than lunch for a tourist. Since a local can eat for less than 10RMB I’d make that clear first. I can’t recall the entrance fee, lets just say its between 10-15RMB at the most. Could even be less.

Came across this working Buick Eight on the Shanghai 1930s set...

... And it deserves a little more scrutiny by my camera.

Immediately to the left of the entrance is a building that seems to suggest they have performances there. I can’t imagine dances and so on happening. I was out of time and I have absolutely no interest in something offtopic when I’m visiting this place for the set. I came with 2 Leica Rangefinders, a M2 loaded with Tri-X which unfortunately, was fogged so the frames looked strange (which would be all the black and white pictures you see here). The second was a Leica M6 loaded with Kodachrome 200. This partly explains why it took 5 months to write this post. With Kodachrome, I had to mail it to Kansas (that would be KS) and wait for it to come back before I could scan.

Replica signboard. This is from the fogged roll of Tri-X. I must have loaded the film into the canister in a less than light tight environment.

More of the set

Tram tracks line the set. I believe these are working tracks.

Entrance to a building that seems like a real working shop near the entrance to the park

This store is definitely empty inside, but put a bunch of extras outside, and you'd never guess

It even has details like these ticket counters from the 30s. Again, pardon the fogged roll of film.

I think I might have seen this building somewhere in Shanghai before. This one is off the fake Nanjing Road. And yes, that's a guy with a rickshaw, probably got lost on the set, either that or it is for hire.

Continuing on, the first would be the giant reconstruction of Nanjing Road in the 1930s. These are actual buildings, but quite obviously close up they look like they’ve been built recently, and the workmanship looks crude closeup. That would be my expectation of a movie set anyway. There is even the Nanjing Rd road sign. I’ve been in Shanghai in years, and I would consider myself quite familiar with anatomy of downtown Shanghai, and I can conclude that this scale reproduction does not follow the actual city center. I mean, Suzhou Creek does not run perpendicular to Nanjing Rd. There is a smaller scale version of the metal framed Waibaidu bridge on Daming Rd spanning Suzhou creek. I noticed that there is even a tram track around. I did see some pictures of a working tram in this set, but I did not see it during the trip.

Village set. Missing horsemen rushing through and villagers scampering back into their huts.

Can't help taking this detail from the village set. I noticed I always like to place the object offset to the right in my pictures. I shall start to place them to left in the future. But this one absolutely looks better on the right.

Here's a lighter set, just a facade with supporting frames behind it.

Wandering around, I explored the other set. I saw sets of old villages, and sets that are purely facades with supporting columns behind. By far the largest set would be the Nanjing Rd 1930s set, and perhaps the most permanent one as well. Wandering to the east of the sets, you’d find a full sized church there. I have no idea if this is a fully blessed and working church or just a oversized store room. Seems wedding couples love to take photos for their mega album here. That afternoon there were at least 5 groups there, group made up of bride with sneakers and wedding gown, groom with fancy tuxedo, and the makeup artist and photographer, and the quintessential guy holding up the gold reflector and remote flash.

THE Church. Architecture does not look very Gothic Catholicish. Even has statues of Saints on the front facade. I will need to do an investigation next time. That van parked in front is, yes you've guessed it, a wedding photo crew.

This wardrobe is just left outside hanging. I have no idea who it belonged to.

Isn't 1930s without period posters

It would seem that before the war, Shanghai was plastered with naughty French posters of can-can girls

I think this kind of paste then let it rot style posters is deliberate. Makes the place look a little more "abandoned" which was probably the mood before 1940s.

What’s for sure, this place is a heaven for photographers. Whether you shoot architecture of you have your own model to shoot for the day. There are no shops in there, but there are fancy toilets camouflaged as the rest of the buildings in the set. So bring water, but no worries on where to expel liquid. Avoid the church if you can, that’s where the wedding photographers gather. And also the metal bridge. Somehow I prefer the real one on Daping Road. The further away you go from the fake Nanjing Rd, the less people you will encounter. You could have the whole set to yourself, but I did not see if you could shoot a movie in there illegally. When it is all done, you could look for a movie being shot and see how focused it really is. As in, you only get people where the action is (obviously) and the rest of the surrounding is like a ghost town, except for the occasional tourist. I bet they have a problem with foreign sound (like someone spitting in the background) during post-production.

Highly recommended destination. Too bad I did not record how I made my way there. But doubt anyone would want to try my long way there. Ask around, check the bus routing feature on Google Maps, do your homework. I think it’s worth it.

And finally:

Getting ready for a take...

Props. I checked it and they're real props.

Extra late for the shoot. The extra's wardrobe are in the van. There were a bunch of them suiting up in Japanese soldier costume, and while the rest are quicker, this guy was the last. Strangely this shot reminded me one of Cartier-Bresson's, except mine will never win awards.

Action! A war period drama being shot.

*end*

Boarding the water taxi at Aberdeen

The second part of my trek on the Hong Kong trail will be quite interesting. I start off at the town of Aberdeen on the other side of Hong Kong island, go through Aberdeen reservoir, up the mountain, and end up hopefully in Happy Valley. Looks straightforward enough, but I have lost my Nokia E71 since the last trip, so I will not have the luxury of blogging live and viewing googlemaps when I get lost. However, I stick to my theory it’s not easy to get lost in a small little island.

The only thing you will see are tug boats like this one and water taxis here in Aberdeen.

GPS plots of the path from Aberdeen to Happy Valley

Just for the record, I will be attempting Section 3 & 4 today on the official Hong Kong trail maps. The start is easy enough, I’d catch bus ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​7​6​ ​​​​from Causeway Bay to ​​​​​​​​​A​​​​​​​​b​e​r​​​​d​​e​​en​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​a​t​ ​t​h​e ​​​​​​​​f​o​o​t​ ​​of​​ ​​​​​​Y​u​e​ ​K​​w​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​on​g​​​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ro​​ad​​. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​But made a earlier stop at Wong Chuk Hang Road to have a look at the boats between Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau Island. It’s good I still remember where to go to get to Aberdeen Reservoir Country Park. Walk along Aberdeen Reservoir Road up hill, in fact the road up to the main gate is steep enough for anyone to stop for breather more than once. The gate to the reservoir is at (22.253006, 114.15855). And I’m back at the Aberdeen Lower Reservoir visitor centre, a familiar sight from the last trip.

The walk up to the reservoir and country park entrance. The slope is not a visual trick. It IS steep!

The walk from Aberdeen lower reservoir to the upper reservoir is relatively easy with a little bit of slope. There are barbecue pits all over the path, so I guess this the very young to the very old that I saw on the way up here would be coming here for a barbecue. The pits near to the entrance are the most busy, and if you would like to have a little peace while browning those chicken wings, the barbecue area close to the Upper Reservoir was empty when I was there. This, compared to the full house at the pits closer to entrance. The two reservoirs look like they are a little short of water on the way I was there, yellow soil was visible, indicating drop in the water level. Various lines indicate the different water levels it was holding over the months, similar to tree rings. In fact, I don’t think I remember the last time it rained in Hong Kong.

No kidding! I still believe all these fire warning are not updated regularly. I’ve seen more flammable forests in my life than this one.

Upper Aberdeen Reservoir

Water levels here has seen better days

Anyway, there’s not too much to see at the lower reservoir, while the upper reservoir looks better from far than close up. Exposed orange soil just don’t look that interesting. And the upper reservoir is littered with picnic sites. I’d continue up Aberdeen Reservoir Rd, and just before hitting a steep climb on the way up to the posh houses on Cameron Road, there is a little path filled with dried leaves that leads to the right, this is where I should be going. The bad news is that it goes on like this and generally gaining altitude all the way. The tree cover means that it should not get too hot on this trail, but on a cold day, it could get rather cold.

The path just after Aberdeen Reservoir Rd

Another view of the GPS plots showing (hopefully) the elevation gain in this section

There are a couple of signboards that you will see regularly. Of course at intersections there will be signs, sometimes useful, sometimes you wish it was not there. At major points there will be maps that you can check if you’re going in the right direction. Then there will be all these slope registration sign, which I think should be meant for those who really care about it at the government department that checks on erosion and all that. And since we are walking along a slope, with many streams, you do find flash flood warning too. Why am I going on and on about signboards? If you guessed this sounds like space filler, it is exactly that. Out of the 5 parts I will attempt on this trail, Part 2 has to be the most boring one of them all, in a monotonous way. Except for the odd world war 2 battery or two. They are not too well marked but you do bump into them at least once.

Signs to make sure you are not lost…

… and signs to make sure you don’t swim just in case…

Here’s one battery. Strange I did not log the GPS coordinate of this one. Now I don’t remember where it is…

Most of the path here follows the concrete catchwater, meaning the altitude is more or less constant. They’re boring, as you can see…

… makes me feel like trying something interesting like jumping onto this staircase and see what is on top of it…

At a point in the trek, look out for the sign to Black’s link. This will initially lead uphill and then a junction at (22.258641, 114.181917) before hitting the little one lane road of that name. The altitude here is high enough, there’s a view of Ocean Park and the eastern side of Aberdeen. Not quite Deep Water Bay yet, but I think it is visible from here. But you know what, I think it is good that I have hit a road at this time of the day, when the sun is starting to set. It means that I should be able to get all the way back to Happy Valley on paved road. Not exactly adventure, but somehow I prefer open air trekking than in the forest where I have not too much idea where I am heading. My 10 year old Garmin eTrex Vista GPS does not really acquire satellite signals very well under tree cover.

Another angle look at the GPS plots, this time including the approach to Happy Valley

On the right, Wong Chuk Hang (Ocean World) and Aberdeen Country Park occupying most of the image

Nothing better than a path with a view…

This is a view of Wong Chuk Hang hill on the left farther on and closer to Black’s Link and Aberdeen on the right

Aberdeen Country Park

Before long, Black’s link gets you to a set of apartments up in the mountains. Follow it downhill and soon it will meet with Wong Nai Chung Gap Road. Tennis centre on the right, walking downhill, hitting Blue Pool Road (I’m close to Happy Valley now!) then Sing Woo Road and before very long, I hit the Race Course, by now there is not too much sunlight left and time for a little dinner before going home. This concludes Part 2 of the Hong Kong Trail, a whole day of trekking, from sea level up to the middle of the mountain, never really reaching the peak, then hitting civilization on the other side of the Island. Good just for the experience…

Blue Pool Road, on the way down to Happy Valley race course

Continue to Part 3….

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Flower fields blossom at Wusong Park, yes strange way to start a post, but thought starting with a little colour might be appropriate here...

Summer is finally here. While I’d like to think that I have compiled a list of places to go in China, I rarely adhere to such lists anyway, and most destinations are off the seat of my pants. Last winter was reserved mainly for discovering new interesting back streets in Shanghai. Because of the cold, and the fact that most of my trip requires hours outdoors, it is a lot more comfortable to be close to home.

The first one the list, which has been on my want-to-do-list for some time, is a survey trip to Hengsha island. It desn’t really have to be Hengsha, Changxing is fine as well. The former is one of the larger islands on the Yangzi river mouth, where the Yangzi and the smaller Huangpu rivers meet. I’m not a geologist, but it does seem to form part of the Yangzi river delta, the famous Yangzi River Delta! Trip there requires a public bus to one of the ports where the two rivers meet, as I wrote this, I had no idea which port the boats leave, but Google maps does suggest that I start with Wusong pier and so it shall. Taking a taxi there would be the easiest, but since when has adventure about taking the easiest path? Buses are not really that dodgy in Shanghai, but just for the fun of it, why not the bus? There are many places to board buses that goes to Wusong pier, and I settled on the closest one so that I can avoid taxis.

The Yangzi river from Wusong battery park

Port of Shanghai at Pudong

Over the course of weeks I made a few trips to Wusong port and it took till the third trip before I made it to Hengsha Island, but none of the trips were a waste at all.

30 May 2009

Unlike most other trips I have made, I woke up a little late at 10 am this morning. Has to be the latest waking up time for me on a Saturday! After lunch and a little gear tinkering and packing, and just utter time wasting on twitter, I started leaving my apartment at 1 pm, knowing full well I might have missed the last boat to be able to return on the same day. Let’s face it, staying the night on some island I’ve never been to before in China is not exactly part of the plan today.

So what is in the bag today? Plenty of water since it is a hot day today. Took with me a innocent looking tote bag bought in Tokyo, filled with a Nikon D300, 12-24mm DX, 10.5mm DX and of course a 105mm f4 Macro AI in case the opportunity of insects, details and flowers present itself. Since there will be people to shoot as well, packed in my Leica M3 as well, along with a new 5cm Summitar collapsible lens. I just got this one back from a little repair work by John van Stelten from Focal Point in Colorado about a month ago, and it is time to see if this lens is any good for the price you pay (one of the cheapest Leica lens you can buy!). Film is of course, ERA100, and like I always say – chinese film for chinese people. Packed a Garmin GPS as well, and I can already feel that this unit is getting a little creaky old!

The trip starts with a long walk to People’s Square in Shanghai city puxi side, and looking for the bus stop for number 952. There are no maps, so this involves asking people who look like workers for the bus company, but you can never be sure. Anyone that doesn’t look like a tourist qualifies as the right person to tell me where to take that bus!

Start of Bus 952 Route

952 starts at one of the bus stop next to the Shanghai Museum. There is also 952B but it seems to be stopping less and ends before reaching the pier. Baoshan to be exact. The bus ticket to the end of the route is 6 RMB. I don’t know how much it is to get to the pier, but 6 RMB is not too much of a price to pay! The pier is supposed to be stop number 25. And in the front of the bus, they do indicate the bus stop number out of a total of 30. At least that is what it looked like. I see a number that says 5-30, and somehow it didn’t seem right to me. So fine. Just sit back and relax, and before long I doze off due to the hot sun. The interior of the bus is supposed to be 18C according to the thermometer readout at the front of the bus but I doubt it. Probably so inside the airconditioner!

Motorcycle taxis (illegal or not) are all over the place at Wusong Port

1427 hrs: In the bus and just woke up from a short slumber. Darn old garmin GPS is not acquiring any more than 1 satelllite. Maybe it is time to get a new GPS standalone unit. Those new GPS units seems to be able to acquire 3 signals a lot quicker.

Asleep on the job at Wusong Port

1529 hrs: Arrived at Wusong pier. No, I can nor confirm that the number in the bus does not indicate the stop but the conductor does shout out the stop coming up. Just listen out for Wusong something. Just before getting to the pier, the bus will go on an elevated highway for some distance and a port would be visible with a lot of standard sized containers stacked up before the stop. In short, it is a proper port, unlike the tourist piers that dotted the Huangpu running through Shanghai. The junction where the bus stops is Mudanjiang Rd and Songbin Rd. I have no idea where the pier for the boat to the islands really is, so I decided to stop early and do a little survey of the place.

This place is a typical chinese suburb. No one seems to respect any traffic rules, cross the road at any time, walk on the road and not the pavement, and cars turn right at their convenience. It seems that traffic light here are just for aesthetic purposes. There are restaurants and sundry shops. Further up there are mostly repair shops, in case your hybrid bicycle/motorcycle breaks down. Dusty for sure, but somehow there’s a little nice breeze in this place. A little check on google maps on the Nokia E71 tells me I am indeed close to the river mouth, and hence the sea. Now, for the passenger terminal.

It seems that the passenger terminal is still a distance to walk. On Huacheng Rd now and walking following a road sign pointing towards the terminal. Can’t wait to have the GPS coordinate for future use. Along the way, there are some lookout points and I’m able to see how busy the Huangpu is, full of cargo ships and barges going out to the Yangzi. Along the way, I was able to see a large terminal that is being built, and some signs indicating that this will be the next mega ship terminal and somehow I think by next year I will be able to grab a boat over here.

Wusong Temporary Pier (2009)

Temporary pier ticketing booth

After a little walk, finally I’ve found the boat terminal, not too far away if you know where to walk. The terminal is placed about 200m away from the water front, which is a little strange. It doesn’t appear on Google Maps, so it has to be a new building, or rather, a temporary building waiting for the new terminal to be opened sometime in the future. There is a ticket booth outside, and a short walk away to the entrance to the waiting room. I had a little peek inside and it looks like a typical train station in small town China. An x-ray machine greets you followed by a chamber filled with chairs and ringed by government grocery sellers.

The roadside economy on the way to the park seems to revolve around repairing tires

And a row of half completed and abandoned buildings...

Outdoor snooker tables: Life here is definitely slower than back in the city...

Unfortunately, the boat to Hengsha is at 1830hrs and there will be no more boat back to Wusong pier after that. Cost for the journey is 17 RMB, which I took note. So it is no go, I woke up too late for my own good. There is another boat to somewhere in 10 minutes time but no more boats back as well. I will then have to cancel the trip and walk around this area. Not too much of a failure though as this was supposed to be a scouting trip. The passenger terminal looks crappy with noisy chinese all over the place. Expect to sniff in plenty of low grade cigarette fumes.

Wusong Park Entrance

Here is an interesting find. This is the location of the entrance to a large park called Wusong Battery park perhaps. Perhaps, as I saw a couple of different names everywhere but this is the name on the ticket. Yes. All parks of a certain size in China requires an entrance fee. This one cost a negligible 5 RMB. And it closes at 7 pm this time of the year.

The first thing I noticed is the number of girls in wedding dress. looks like a haven for wedding photography. The paths are lined with plenty of flowers, this time of the year, and it looks like poppies if I’m not wrong. Thanking myself for bringing the 105mm f4 macro as I was having a field trip shooting the flowers.

Blimey, don't these look like poppies?

And some innocent daisies...

Viewing pier at the park overlooking the mighty Yangzi

This park is also located at the point where the Huangpu river meets the mighty Yangzi. I’ll use the new spelling as I don’t like the way Yangtse spells. A few minutes walk and I come to a walkway along the Yangzi. I believe this is my first time looking at the Yangzi but I might have seen it at Zhenjiang last year. There are plenty of ships for sure, and here at the mouth of the giant river, it looks like it is a sea. On a relatively clear day like today it’s impossible to see the north bank nor the islands I was hoping to go to earlier.

It seems that this park also has a wetlands area, did see some but with noisy people around, doubt any animals will want to make their presence known. There are for sure more flowers here than animals or birds. The sea breeze is actually quite enjoyable here. I think I will just sit here looking at the cargo ship and barges for a while.

Repairing CCTV outside Wusong park

1822 hrs: On the way back to People’s Square. Boarded a 952 after checking out the route on one of the bus stops. They all have this map with the buses and stops in the vicinity and it takes about a 20 minutes walk to get there. Whats interesting is that it seems the trip back to People’s Square is only 5 RMB so it looks like I have overpaid a little on the way here.

7 June 2009:

Taking the metro to Wusong Port

Will be testing out another way to get to Wusong Port today. Bus was not an issue, as my test last week revealed. Today I will try the Metro. On the map it looks as though Line 3 Metro will get me close to the place. Only one way to find out, people!

This metro I am taking stops at South Changjiang Road station. Everyone leaves the train so I do the same as well. There is a slight breeze here so I guess we are close to the river, but I seriously doubt there is a climatic difference between this place and central Shanghai. Nevertheless, the frequency of trains on this line is low. Guessing 10 minutes between subsequent trains.

In front of the metro station, an elevated highway, and a bunch of people just chillin, I'm guessing they are street sellers taking a break.

Quite obviously this thing has been here for ages. Shanghai dust accumulating on it.

Getting off at Song Bin Road station after passing a small river. There are some old feeder boats, making very good photographic subject. This time, armed with a Leica M6 and 35mm f2 Summicron ASPH and clearing stock on Fuji Neopan SS film. There is no real waterfront to walk on the way to the Huangpu river, there is a concrete dyke that, i suppose, protects the town from being flooded during a king tide or typhoon. There are areas where one could climb over to a small waterfront. The ships that you are more likely to see would be barges, the type of river transport that is very common along the Huangpu when viewing it from the Bund. What else would you expect, really! The port over at Pudong is clearly visible and its nice to think that I was just there during my 58km cycle ride.

Barge going under Yixian Elevated Road and the metro line

Along Songpu Road close to the Huangpu river, a promenade lined with seafood restaurants

Whatever their speciality is here

And there's no escape from - outdoor snooker!

Roadside restaurant at Wusong Port

Locals enjoying the overcast day

Funny thing this trip, I accidentally stumbled on yet another pier with boats that goes to one of the islands on the Yangzi river mouth. This one even has a big ticket booth, and a proper timetable, unlike the one I found last weekend. Looks like this is the official Wusong/Baoshan pier. This one is closer to the bus stop which I got off from bus 952. Will check it out one morning. First boat to Hengsha seems to be at 0635 am.

There are many names for this area. I see it as Wusong but there are also signs indicating this place is also called Baoshan. Baoshan or Wusong? Doesn’t matter anyway, I have the GPS coordinates stored away and that is what matters.

With a ferry just arriving, all the motorcycle taxis line up for business among the passengers

At another ferry exit gate, motorcycles line up...

There are a lot of illegal motorcycle taxis here, perhaps hoping to snatch the passengers arriving at the passenger pier. While loitering around the pier, a ship came in and I could see swarms of motorcycle taxis getting arrracted to the pier exit. Never took one before, but the alternative here would be local taxis (car) in dark green colour and with Baoshan in chinese characters stencilled on its front door.

14 June 2009

On the bus to Baoshan/Wusong for the third time

1210hrs Wusong Port: This time I might have the time to go to the islands. I am now at the ticket office which I scouted last weekend. The queue is relatively short and makes no difference as people here don’t queue so the strong has the right of way, which is how I like it, to be frank. It allows the general public to get rid of pent up anger.

Waiting for the boat

At the ticket booth the agent will ask whether you prefer the fast boat or the slow one. Its a no brainer. Although I’d like to try the slow boat, not this time as I need to find out the time of the last boat back, which I estimate to be around 1600 hrs or so. The ticket on the fast boat cost 23 RMB and it is possible to pay for it with the Shanghai Transportation Card, which is how I prefer to do it. Boat 923 leaves at 1310 hrs.

Then it’s time to stroll across the road to the waiting rooms. There are two sections, room 1&2 and 3&4. I dont quite know how they divide it but common sense seems to say it has to do with the speed of the ship. But this fast ship waiting room does not look better than room 3&4 for sure. To make things worse, there are no airconditioners here, just a medium sized room where an xray machine greets you and a complete lack of chairs for all waiting passengers are apparent.

Standing around the xray machine and watching passengers and what they are carrying with them. Hello Kitty large plastic sacks on balance beams, small packs the likes which are distributed when you join a local tour group, plastic bags of fruits, a man purse or two, the usual farmer plastic gunny sack seemingly filled with duvet and cotton blanket. No bootleg french luxury handbags so far. And not everyone gets to put their bags through the machine. Depends on the size of your bag. Bombs must be quite big this part of the world!

And as usual, I need to keep a record of the equipment that comes along with me so I can tell where the pictures on this post comes from. So today in the Artisan & Artist bag we have a Leica M6 Classic with a Summicron 35mm ASPH loaded initially with an expired roll of Ilford Pan F+ and later to use ERA 100 if I do run through a second roll. Also in the bag is a Nikon D300 DSLR with a prime 50mm f1.8 AIS which I just received last night. Call it a test trip if you will.

In the waiting room, standing room only as all the seats are all occupied. From here, the river traffic on the end of the Huangpu is clear, all barges with waterline almost to the top of the bow, which is probably not an issue for river navigation. What is interesting is that barges are separated less than 50m apart from each other and they are like a trail of ants almost continuous and bumper to bumper.

Boarding

1308 hrs: In the boat now, which looks a little like an enclosed escape pod they used on large ships or oil rigs. The large hello kitty packs go outside the boat on the decks while everyone else sits inside. The seats are all numbered and while there are matching numbers on the ticket, it looks as though no one ever takes their seat. It is a first come first serve logic. The announcement says the trip today will take 65 minutes! I was expecting Hengsha to be a lot closer than that.

Port at Hengsha

Arriving at Hengsha Island

1421 hrs Hengsha: Arrived at Hengsha. Will get a GPS plot of the port in a while. The port is quiet enough, and the first thing to do is to get a return ticket to see how much time I have to move around today. At the ticket booth I was told the only boat left is a 1630 hrs slow boat that will take 2 hours to get back. Looks like there is no choice. I will take boat number 910 and the price is 14 RMB, close to half the price of the fast boat.

Main street on Hengsha Island

Awwww. Don't be fooled, after taking this photo, the dog squeezed right through the grill and chased after me... Damn dog!

Barrier protecting the island from what I can only guess to be king tide water. The masts in the distance is a fleet of fishing boat

Waited 15 minutes for the ticket as the computer at the ticketing booth was not working properly. So I have about an hour and a half to walk around, which means I will not be able to move too far. There is not map at the port, so will have to bring up Google Maps. The saviour.

Small ship yard at Hengsha Island, there is a bigger one over at Chongming Island next to Hengsha

When there are humans, there has to be a toilet. I can only imagine how this one works.

Best way to get around on the island

Boats on the Yangzi from Hengsha Island

Farmhouse

The only logical hour long hike is the one that covers the north western coast of the island. There are fishing villages, small ship yards and farms. Both cameras come out to play and there are not too many colours out so black and white films were ideal for this shoot. Only the scenes of a visceral landscape this time. The 50mm on the D300 seems ideal for most use, and at f2 it seems to produce amazing pictures.

1610 hrs: Back at the port, and with 15 minutes to burn, next thing to do is to hang around a small colony of fishermen. Houses seems to be built on top of boats, since this was beyond the breakwater on muddy ground, I would assume this is to float in the case of king tides. Its dirty to say the least.

A house of doors...

Shopping on the street

View of the fishing village on Hengsha next to the ferry pier

1629 hrs: On the boat back to Shanghai. The slow boat can pack in a lot of people, but is also noticeably older and dirtier, not that it matters to me. The TVs are CRT and not LCD like on the earlier fast boat. It will also take 2 hours. This slow boat is almost like a typical ferry with inside seating.

Boarding the boat on the return to Shanghai

If there is something I really hate in China, it has to be the amount of cigarette these people smoke in a day. Non smoking signs seem to mean ”don’t smoke in the first 5 minutes”. And just after we left port, the cabin start to smell of smoke.

This boat seems to break every rule in the book of boating. Now, there are 3 levels, right on the 1st level is where the cattles sit, same for the second, and the top are full of plush chairs, but guessing this the gaming room since Chinese people love to play cards especially on a 2 hr long boat ride. The funny thing is that everyone seems to be locked inside. All the doors, emergency or not, are all locked and it’s not possible to go out for fresh air. So its either the nicotine tainted air or you can suffocate yourself thank you. The smokers are getting bolder after the first 30 minutes of skirting the rule. Since no one seems to be stopping them, they are smoking even in the passenger cabin now. Only thing left is to curse them. Can’t do much more than this. Next time I will pack an oxygen mask.

1823 hrs Wusong Port: Back at the mainland. Right on the dot, 2 hour trip. Too tired to tap out the rest of this blog on my E71. Time to log off, hope to spend more time here in the future and continue this quest.

Tree lined street on Hengsha

*end of post*

Cotton-like plants are found all over Jiuzhaigou Park, with one of the colourful lakes forming the perfect backdrop

Jiuzhaigou is one of those places in china where it is said you can never miss and you have not been to a certain place if you have never seen it. It has definitely appeared many many times in pictures. First time I heard of it was a few years back when it was said it was very difficult to get to. I don’t know when they went or heard about it, but I see there are airports near the park, and there are official tourist buses going from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou with daily bus (yes, singular) and in the parks are roads going to all sights and mini buses plying the route. Surely not in accessible, but nevertheless, still a place not to be missed. We shall see if this is a boast or truth.

16 November 2008: Taking the 8 am bus to Jiuzhaigou from Chengdu’s Xinnanmen station. The bus station looks like a special station for tourist areas, but on the inside other than the metal detectors and xray machines, it looks like any other station. The buses look newer and the windows are fixed, so naturally I was afraid of the species known as the smoking chinese. But looks like the locals going to tourist places are a special type. During the whole trip, the guy in front of me had a half burnt cigarette in his fingers for hours but kept the urge to light it. In fact, no one smoked on this trip in the bus. Amazing show of patience. The only two things that irritated me were some passengers playing their songs on their mobile phone speakers and a guy eating process meat that smelled like coffee flavored chicken and a hint of chloroform. Smells nauseous. Overall, the trip was a lot nicer than the 12hrs bus to Xiaojing in part 2. Bearable.

Reflection on Arrow Bamboo Lake

How long? 10 full hours. We would get to see all sort of terrain. Highways first, boring and time for the ipod to keep company. Then valleys with slow flowing river, which is nothing like the ones from Xiaojing or Rilong last week, so it was about awe inspiring as cooking instant noodles to me. Then we started climbing and that’s when it started to get interesting, soon we were up in the clouds and it started to look white. Snow were everywhere, trees, ground, everywhere. The GPS was not acquiring any signals so I had no idea where we were, and afraid that Jiuzhaigou is on top of the plateau, meaning that I will have some problem with my plan since I didn’t bring any thermos. The view up there were quite spooky, and I was tempted to get the driver to stop the bus so I can set up my gitzo and take some photos up there.

Before long the road started to go down from 3200m altitude to just around 2000m. Some mountain range to cross, the snow started thinning down and soon it was back to normal terrain. Normal except the trees look redder signalling autumn time. The river at the bottom of the valley seems to be flowing faster probably meaning there is some more climb to come, long but a climb nonetheless.

Throughout the trip it was possible to see the effect of the recent earthquake here in Sichuan province. There are many tents along the way, some with Chinese Red Cross emblazoned on it, and others normal. In the town of Pingwu, there was a small area of the town made of temporarily materials with schools and sport facilities, I’m guessing for the victims of the disaster.

At 6 pm we arrived at Jiuzhaigou bus station. First thing first, bought the ticket back on wednesday right away, and there is only one bus in the morning. 7 am I believe. On the way, I saw the hotel I booked and walked there, a total of 400m or a little more in the darkening skies and cold weather.

Cheated this time and used my SPG points to stay at the Sheraton Jiuzhaigou. Since I have a platinum card which forces them to upgrade me if possible, I am staying with my backpack in a suite. Its nice to very pampered for a night before going to look for a local family to bunk tomorrow in the park. Ordered room service and just sat down to type this blog out. Will go for a nice long warm shower and long sleep in the nice Sheraton bed and will wake up tomorrow at first light to beat the standard tourists going into the park.

17 November 2008: Woke up well before first light, but as I love Sheraton’s bed, I left the hotel well after first light. Seems it makes no difference as there are no fog in the morning and being on a valley floor, Jiuzhaigou’s sights are not bathed in morning light till around 11am. Stacked on powerbars and snickers for breakfast and soon boarded a taxi for the 5 minute ride to the entrance.

This week is the first week of the off season. Tickets cost 80RMB and for 20RMB more you get a second day included. That and 80RMB shuttle bus ticket puts the day’s damage at 180. Everyone had to take the shuttle bus as some of the roads are not for walkers although it should be possible to walk on it anyway. There is a reason why they call it off season, that’s when they close some of the paths for fire hazard, they say… I guess its more for crowd control during off season. So it is not possible to walk all the way from one attraction to another in the forests, though it is possible to see path, they are sealed.

The tourist buses today goes directly up to Rize Valley right away and drop all passengers there at the end of Arrow Bamboo Lake. There is a pickup point just a walk away, and there is a shuttle there every once in a while so there is no need to rush.

Arrow Bamboo Lake

Arrow Bamboo Lake: Seems that during off season it is not possible to go farther to Swan Lake and the forests. I got off the bus at about 830am, and it was still close to 0C at that time. So cold the security guard had to run in circles to keep warm. Funny guy, we would chat for a while. The lake is blue green and tree trunks are visible in it. When I was there there was just shadows so the pictures were not too saturated. Polarizers are very useful here, and not anything that casts colours as the lake is already very colourful. Must have spent 30 minutes there.

Panda Lake: This lake has a walkway built along the cliff that surrounds one side. But off season, so it is closed. It is possible to be a contortionist and get thru but I asked a chinese man getting out of it if there is anything worthwhile and he said no. Panda Lake has some nice photo opportunities, again due to the multicoloured lake bed. Locals hang around the bus stop end of this lake to rent out traditional clothes for couples to take photos. I don’t bother.

There are three types of photographers there at Jiuzhaigou. There’s the serious ones. Then there’s the point and shooter, and third category are the boyfriends that go all the way there to shoot their girlfriend posing. I suggest they either get into the first two categories and shoot their girlfriends at home and do some photoshop masking tricks.

Again, there is a path downhill where it winds from Panda Lake past some waterfalls to the next lake, but they are closed for winter, time to hit the bus then,

Five Flower Lake

Five Flower Lake: This one is more colourful, probably because it is shallower than the other 2 and thus, it is possible to see the whole lake contents and the transition between blue and green that is the hallmark of water features in this park. There is adequate paths to find different photo vantage points and again polarizers are essential to get the most of this lake. When I was shooting this lake around 11am, the sun starts to fill the valley.

View from top of hill over looking Five Flower Lake

Five Flower Lake

I would then notice a vantage point uphill between this lake and the previous Panda Lake, and walked on the main road for half hour uphill to get there. Was hoping to see a nice view from there, and although it was ok, was missable. Loaded my 105mm and started shooting crop shots.

Taking the bus next, we would have to skip Peacock Riverbed and Golden Bell Lake as the paths are closed and there are no bus stops. Next stop, Pearl Shoal.

Pearl Shoals

Pearl Shoals

Pearl Shoal & Waterfall: Here the bus would tell you to all get off and walk. Actually in every bus there will be a driver and a girl whose job it would be to tell passengers what’s next. More often than not they will be shouting to see whether they should be stopping next.

But at Pearl Shoal, everyone gets off. It starts off as an oversized dam. Water is slowing on the surface of a slope and there are small trees and round rocks breaking the smooth flow of water, giving the look of a slope with sound of crashing water. There are two walkways, one goes straight down and the other branches left. Take left which cuts across the shoal itself. Tried to take some photos there but nothing dramatic. The path drops by way of stairs and I realised this is the famous waterfall. There is almost no way for the sun to be shining on the waterfall, always in the shadows and when I was there, there was a strong backlight and the wide waterfall was in the shadows. Saw in the distance a mountain covered in snow and whipped out my gitzo to do a hard core 5 stops HDR. The waterfall would deposit the water into a fast flowing stream, by which the path then continues all the way to a car park a few hundred metres away where the park buses would be waiting to go to next destination.

Mirror Lake: To tell the truth this one is a disappointment, it is late at noon by the time I got there and noon is not the time to look for mirror reflections. I got off the bus anyway, and snapped a few as creative I can. Next…

Nuorilang Waterfall

Nuorilang Waterfall: The bus stops at the Nuorilang terminus, which is nothing more than a glorified bus stop with some buildings near it. I was hoping there are buses to go to Zechawa Valley but seems that section of the park is closed too. A path leads under the road and into the forest, and soon after a few minutes walk past toilets and a junction, I’m at the Nuorilang Waterfall. Almost like the Pearl Waterfall, this is a long waterfall about 2 storeys high and you are very close to the waterfall. Again we are in the shadow of the sun, so any pictures that includes the sun will have blown up skies. I took a few pictures sans the skies and to add some warmth by using my Singh-ray gold and blue polarizer. It was not that easy as it is easy to get water sprayed onto the filter and bright sunlight made water droplets visible at small aperture openings.

Smaller waterfalls are everywhere at Nuorilang Falls

The waterfall runs about a hundred metres, then the path leads into the woods along the river for a few hundred metres of nice cool walk before reaching the bus stop again, and the routine continues. Its 4pm but the time I got to the bus stop.

Little waterfalls connect different lakes in the Shuzheng valley

Rhinoceros Lake: Next stop on the way to the entrance of the park, is this lake, large as is, starts to look like any other lakes in this park. Next to it is Tiger Lake. These two are connected together by series of mini waterfalls and overflows with trees growing out of it, creating a nice sound of water rushing thru obstacles. Getting sick of taking yet another lake shot, I switched to micro lenses and started shooting plants with colourful lake backdrops. This seems to work!

On the periphery of Rhino Lake

Before long it seems its getting late and the wardens are starting to clear the park. Not having time to look for park accommodation, and not really sure they exist now in off season, I took the shuttle back down to the entrance and looked for a hotel near the exit.

Flowers are everywhere on the banks of the lakes

For dinner, walked into a bright local restaurant in an evening of blackout in town (restaurant runs their own generator!) and ordered rice with Sichuan chilli yak and a dish of local vegetable that looks like black twigs. The yak dish was really good, as was the vegetable. This is china so expect it to be oily, but the cheap tea is free flow to compensate.

Will be an early night tonight while I make it back to Jiuzhaigou tomorrow morning to continue my adventure.

18 November 2008: There is not a reason to start off early today. Got out of the hotel at 8 am, and proceeded procedurally to Jiuzhaigou gate and bought a bus ticket only. I already have the second day ticket from yesterday. The crowd seems to be thicker than yesterday but maybe it is because it is now later than when I started.

Zechawa Gully: Now this trip to Zechawa valley is what I really wanted to do today. I tried listening attentively this time but didn’t hear anything about the gully being closed. The 3 valleys are Zechawa, Shuzheng and Rize valley/gully. I have done Rize yesterday and top part of Shuzheng. To get to Zechawa, take the tourist bus to Nuorilang terminal and get off and hang around the police booth on the road up, first bus seems to be at 9:30am and I waited 30 minutes for it. It should be possible to ask at the gate and get omitted board the bus that goes only to Zechawa valley. Most buses goes to Rize as this is where most of the attractions are.

Long Lake at the end of Zechawa Valley

Long Lake: This is the last stop on the road to Zechawa and is a full 15 minutes away uphill. When we got there, we were probably the first bus of the morning and there were again locals with local costumes for hire. But my attention was fixed on the lake. The sun has not really affected the lake and the wind has not blown hard yet. There was cold morning water vapours rising, I ran to the viewing gallery above the lake next to the carpark and started shooting with wide angles and short telephoto.

Long Lake is just that. Largest lake in this park and perched on top as remains of a glacial lake. The path to the next lake closeby is closed, so I am forced to take the shuttle to it.

Multi-coloured lake bed

Multi-coloured Lake: This little lake is no bigger than a large fat swimming pool and is not too far downhill from Long Lake, but is the most cozy and colourful lake in the park. There are shades of blue and green in high saturation here, and before the wind started to come in, I shot with polarizers with minimal ripples. Very nice place.

The path leads the herd of tourists into the forest downhill to a pick up area a few hundred meters away. Efficient and relatively quick if not for those noisy and slow Hong Kong tourists.

The other lakes in Zechawa are all empty of water so the bus do not stop there. The next stop will be the Nuorilang stop at the centre of the Y shaped park valley. It comes to around 11 am by the time I get to the Nuorilang Centre, lunch time.

I didn’t see the size of the Nuorilang complex yesterday. The bus would stop close to the center and I would have to walk right through it to get to the bus going through the Shuzheng valley to the other sights I want to go to on the way to the entrance. Outside are the cattle class restaurant, chinese eating instant noodles. Inside, there are many stalls selling souvenirs though I don’t think most are made in this place. They just look too manufactured. I don’t bother. I then saw the restaurant and the scale of the place. One would buy a ticket for 50 RMB and then go through a turnstile into the restaurant, I believe serving buffet style meal. Looks like everyone in this park has to eat here. I took out my soy joy and mars bar and decided to continue my trip while the masses chow.

Nuorilang Waterfall: Oh yes. I have been here yesterday buy I was hoping to get a better view from the road viewing platform today. A wide angle nicely frames half the waterfall without taking the road. I don’t know if I took a better shot but surely today’s muted weather was making it a little easier than yesterday’s strong backlight.

After this quick stop revisiting the waterfall, I backtracked to Nuorilang centre and took the bus back down Shuzheng valley.

Tiger Lake on the second day

One of the many waterfalls interconnecting the lakes together

Shuzheng Village: Took the bus to Tiger lake where I left off but again looks like other lakes I saw yesterday. Took the broadwalk down the lakes and shoals with trees growing out of it. Took some photos but nothing to shout about once you have seen the rest. Soon I would be at the village, looking around realising that in this down season, nothing is opened. Wondering if I really wanted to look for a place to stay here if it was possible. It looks as though either everyone here are working for the park and minimal agriculture happens in this village, or the real villagers have been removed and only some or only workers live here. I believe it is a combination of the two. Definitely sparse and probably difficult to find accommodation in here. I spent 10 minutes here.

Shuzheng Lakes

Shuzheng Lakes: Just at the front door of the village are a series of small lakes. It looks to me like a large area with natural dams and barriers making it look like many lakes. Water flow from one lake to another downhill. Maybe it can be easily said to be a flat looking rice terrace with trees growing on the barriers. At this time the trees are in autumn configuration, yellow and red colour, while blue transparent water filled the lakes with gradients. Wide angles do not do too well here, but short telephotos do. The platform is elevated and one side of the lakes so telephoto lens helps to isolate the autumn leaves and just enough transparent blue water to make scene. The area is so vast it is possible to stay on the platform and shoot telephoto and normal lenses the whole day if you are into that sort of thing.

Shuzheng Lakes

Shuzheng Lakes

The lakes are so clear, they make good backdrops for tree shots!

After this would be the Shuzheng waterfalls, denser groups of trees and small waterfalls rotting the landscape.

Reeds on the banks of reed lake

Reed Lake

Other Lakes: I continued walking down the park towards the entrance all the way to the reed river. There are many macro opportunities shooting plants and small fruits and cotton plants. The reed river is now brown waiting foe winter, and photo taking into account the brightly coloured reeds with the dark coloured blue water. Anyway, I took a couple more shots and noticed my D300 battery is below 10% with more than 600 shots in 2 days. As it is approaching 4 pm and already tired, I then took the next available bus to the entrance of the park, ending my 2 day trip before winter arrives.

After checking into Sheraton (again, free nights based on my SPG point exchange) its time to go out to the restaurant I went yesterday. Arriving there the owner recognised me right away and came to me without the menu. I then told him, ok I want local chilli chicken today, a plate of mountain mushrooms whatever that is and an ordinary plate of vegetable knowing here in Sichuan everything comes with dried chilli and Sichuan peppercorns. Asked also for a small portion of their self roasted peanuts. Since I did not have a proper lunch, thought it was appropriate to eat more for dinner! The meal was excellent as usual, and I have the GPS coordinates for this restaurant and once I finished and paid for the meal, we chatted a little about cooking and when is the best time to visit. Incidentally it was this year during summer when Jiuzhaigou is a little cooler than the coastal areas, and because of the earthquake, not many tourists were here. Too bad I missed it and coming at the border of autumn and winter.

In terms of purity I would prefer Siguniang shan, but Jiuzhaigou has a different feel to it. The part is run like a machine, and I can see how amusement park it can get in summer. It is possible to walk the whole park but I don’t see how to do it in 3-4 days to cover the whole park. Taking a combination of walking some part and taking buses where there are no attractions, 2 full days would be required. 1 day is enough if you stop on every stop, take the obligatory photo and bus to the next stop. It should be. I took the slow, take my time approach, taking time to setup tripod and photo and walk when needed and it took 2 days to finish the 3 valleys. But seriously why rush it? If a triage is required, I suggest doing a quick Rize and Shuzheng Valley. Actually Zechawa and Shuzheng Valley is ok too. Obviously you down miss Shuzheng Valley as you will see what is essentially Jiuzhaigou if you visit only this area. Start uphill and go downhill. Unfortunately this is what most people do. At high altitude don’t bother being a hero and move uphill.

Whatever it is, it’s a one of a kind scenery here. Very graceful the way water flows up from the mountains to the lower rivers. I’m guessing from zero geological knowledge that this is because of the high mineral contents causing the water to be colorful and calcify easily. But I leave the explanations and all the myths of naming the attracting to wikipedia.

Tomorrow I will take the slow 10 hrs bus back to Chengdu at 7am. My trip starts to get easier as it goes on! Soon it will be a panda trip in Chengdu. Unless there are anything interesting along the way, its over and out from Sheraton Jiuzhaigou tonight.

19 November 2008: After a nice American breakfast before 6 am, it is time to go to the bus station just next to the Sheraton before the sun comes up. Like most days, sleep early and wake up early. This time I get seat number 3 right in front to the right of the driver. In 10 hours I will be back in Chengdu.

Verdict: when in Sichuan, never miss Jiuzhaigou, but come with plenty of money!

Next part: Guilin, China