Back in ChengDu

Finally i am back in Chengdu.
Been on a trip 4 day trip to chengdu famous attraction jiu zhai gou 九寨沟.

The 9hrs trip there
We traveled wit a group of 49 ppl a tour guide and 2 bus deiver. First we Past by du jiang yan city. The city is very clean and neat, nearly as clean as SG, with many rivers The river was blue not like in ChengDu where the river was brown. After the City was a huge dam and mountain and mountains. There was also beautiful clear lakes in between the mountain valley. In 1 lake there was an island that look like a tortoise. The tour guide said that its the biggest island that look like a tortoise and by seeing/spotting it u will 长命百岁。We also took a photo riding a white yak. The tour guide said tat 1 white yak can change for 10 black yak. yak = mountain cow。 The tour guide shared valuable information about the people living in the mountains. We gained a lot of insight about their religion, their culture and their life, like the meaning of the flags they hang at the back of their houses and villages. Placing the flags at different places mean different things. For example, the group of flags at the back of their village shows that it’s a burial ground. Each flag represents a member of the family that has passed away.

We got a new insight on the old-fashioned type of toilets in China. It was just a drain with partitions, no doors and no flushing system. It was very weird using these toilets at first as everyone would be able to see you while waiting for their turn outside, but we got used to it after that.

Upon reaching Jiu Zhai Gou, we took a bus to the top of Jiu Zhai Gou and saw many breathtaking lakes, waterfalls and mountains. We were told that a lake was the filming location for the movie “Hero” 英雄 (starring Jet Li) and the waterfall where they shot “Journey to the west” 西游记.

While waiting for a bus to another location, we experienced light snow. It was an enjoyable experience for us.

The only thing we didn’t enjoy was that we had to wait for the rest of the tour group and tour guide before we could continue to the next location at Jiu Zhai Gou. A lot of time was spent waiting for the other people. However, we had fun taking pictures of the scenery.

At night, we went to the home of a Zang race family. On the way there, our tour guide warned us that if we were to drink the wine provided, we would have to finish the whole cup or it would offend them.

There, we were ushered to a big room which was able to fit the whole tour group. One of the family members taught us how they called single men and woman (“se lan” and “se mou”). They also sang us their tribal songs. They barbequed goat for us to eat and also food like potatoes, and a type of barley which tastes like popcorn. We were also given a cup of wine and milk each. Luckily for us, this family doesn’t drink and we were told that it was alright if we did not finish the cup of wine.For me the wine was tasty and light in alcohol probably less than 5%.drank bout 5 cup :X

Believe it or not i am married at a age of 18 cool? It all happen like this.

I was unluckily chosen to compete with a single girl in 3 love song as u know me i dun listen to song moreover sing them. if i lose i will have to join the family and never go home and i win i can bring the gal home. So i sang a few lines of tong hua, lao shu ai da mi and forgot wat last song i sang. and had jiao bei jiu.

After the dinner, we joined the group of people outside around a fire to dance. It was enjoyable and a new experience for all of us. And after that i ran away back to hotel. guess it was all for fun

We stayed at another hotel for the night. This hotel provided hot water on time and the weather was less cold. We prefered this hotel as compared to the hotel we had to stay at the first night.

Day 3: Our main highlight of Day 3 is to visit 黄龙 Huang Long (“Yellow Dragon”) The tour guide brought us to the source of a river located at the top of a snow mountain for us to take pictures. It was the first time experiencing wintry weather for most of us.

Then, we were brought to this huge area that sells yak meat, products made from yak skin, yak horn and some food products made from sesame seed and barley.

We then went to another exhibition hall that sells herbs. It was an interesting insight to the type of herbs and their medicinal value. Next stop was an exhibition hall of crystals. The tour guide assured us that if we found out that the crystals were fake, we could get a double refund for the product and the tour agency would get a complain lodge against them.

Huang Long was the next stop. The tour guide gave us 4 hours to tour the place. It was a tiring climb for us as the oxygen level was low and it was a 3.5km hike up and another 3.5km down the mountain. Unfortunately, many of the streams, rivers, waterfalls and fountains were dried due to the dry season.

At night, we were again allocated to stay at the hotel which we went to on the first night. The wait for hot water was again long, and in the middle of the night.

Day 4: After breakfast, the tour guide brought us to a tea appreciation centre at where the minority Qiang race (羌族) lives. The lady who shared with us about the proper way of drinking tea has a humourous personality. She shared with us the difference between the Han race (汉族) and her race. In the Qiang race, the women is the head of the house and they work to earn money for the family. Then men stay at home to take care of the children and do housework. The women all marry early at the age of 18 and as they are a minority race, the Chinese government allow them to have a maximum of 3 children each per family (as compared to the one-child policy for the majority of the Han race).

We were given 4 types of tea to taste, and learnt the proper way of drinking them. One tea’s, 生态茶, health properties was actually discovered by a Singaporean many years ago when he visited the area. We were amazed about this relevation.

When one of the women there realised that we were Singaporeans, they were quite happy and said that they have never been to Chengdu, much less Singapore so they have only seen Singapore on television.

The next stop was a factory and hall selling products made from yak’s horn. The products available were combs, walking sticks, cigars, nail clippers, beads and some decors. The women working there were all Qiang race and we realised that even though some of them were of our age, they were already married.

After lunch, we took a 4 hour bus ride back to Chengdu and our apartment.

Currently we are back to work today.
tml the 7 other friends would be coming. Cant stand to meet them.When they come we could really turn the house in to a lan shop.Hope they get use to it soon. Sadly they missed the cold weather now its like SG warm.

Now all 6 of us are down
fy and Edmund having cough
Swee having soar throat hving blood in cough
henry down with soar throat and crack lips
jh vommit and fever
me stomach pain,constipation and fever

i feeling much better now le.

most content is taken from my twins..