Christmas 2014 - Round The Coast Of Zhejiang Province Via The Yan Dang Mountains Geo-Park (雁蕩山)
Posted On Saturday, December 27, 2014 at at 8:20 PM by Alvin
We spotted a break of blue sky in the Winter gloom and decided on the spur of the moment to hit Zhejiang Province (浙江) on the South Eastern coast of China. We landed in Wenzhou (溫州) - the export capital of the world for goods like shoes, clothes and even cigarette-lighters (!) and paid a visit to the local landmark of Jiang Xing Yu (江心嶼) - a small island 1km in width and 4 km in length, just 5 minutes' ferry ride from the city. It was a pleasant blue day and the peacefulness and quietness away from the hustle of the city, left us a good impression of this city. Next came 2 days of hiking in the International Geo-Park Yan Dang Mountains (雁蕩山), traveling further north for an hour by bus.
Essentially, eons ago this area of China was part of an enormous volcano (think Yellowstone), and hence we would today in Yan Dang Geo-Park, find volcanic remnants of the collapsed caldera, lava balls, lava flow patterns, gigantic volcanic features such as sky-scraper height and size rock "screens", "doors" and miles-high waterfalls. Mind you, it was great to be hiking in the off-season as we practically had the whole park (靈峰 靈岩) to ourselves and we hiked for 7 hours in the shadows of the giant mountains to the waterfall of 大龍湫, passing many rural villages along the way. Lungs full of fresh air, we were ready for some city comfort as we moved on to the beautiful port city of Ning Bo (寧波). Ning Bo surprised us with its modernity and the amount of green space and leisure parks. We took our time exploring different parts of the city - 中山廣場, 天一廣場, 鼓樓, 月湖, 天一閣, 佛教居士林, 天封塔 and 城隍廟. We even packed a day out to the nearby city of Shao Xing (紹興), now that was a very busy Christmas !
Jiuzhaikou (九寨溝) Left Us Speechless And Breathless !
Posted On Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at at 11:31 PM by Alvin
Well, well - after years of procrastinations, pointless debates, futile discussions, useless excuses over all matters large and trivial about mountain sickness, horrendous crowds, possible earthquakes, suitability of seasons, remote location and so on - we at last, made it to this beautiful part of China - Jiuzhaikou (九寨溝). And what a stunner ! We had all too often heard people use the description "now that's what I would call a Jiuzhaikou color" to exclaim any out-of-this-world scenes of lakes, lagoons and rivers. Now, we would not hesitate to do like-wise ! The patchworks of chaotic colors of algae-filled turquoise lagoons and mineral-rich rivers set against a background of Autumn golden, crimson and violet leaves would leave any jaded travellers speechless ! 
These water ways covering acres of land had all been fed through one of Mother Nature's best creation of surface- and underground-water systems; hence the waters that filled the moody lakes, joined up into streams, stumbled into rock pools, roared down as elegant waterfalls and formed shallow beaches had continuously been filtered and cleansed, the result of these filtering processes over millennia would become our piece of paradise on Earth - Jiuzhaikou !
We flew in from Chengdu on an early morning flight and touched down on the third highest airport in China, Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport, located at an altitude of over 3,440m ! Phew ! As Sichuan Province could be described as a rice bowl, this small but modern airport was located on the rim of this rice bowl. Luckily, a local mini bus quickly whisked us away (gradually down the rice bowl a bit to 2,900m) and we shopped for our beds near the entrance of Jiuzhaikou (溝口) and even managed to get accustomed to the dizzying height by taking a power stroll around the township of Zhang Zha (漳扎鎮). Thankfully on a week day and almost off-season, we did not find the "horrendous crowds" we had at first feared, but quite a gentile mountain village welcoming us.
I would no longer keep you from the stunning photos below, suffice to say that, we loved the place so much that we went in to the National Park a second time two days later. By spreading our visit over two days over the almost 60km length of Jiuzhaikou, we had ample time to take in all the view points as well as taking mega-long strolls along the plank ways which offered us close-up, different but equally beautiful vistas. As Jiuzhaikou was shaped like the alphabet "Y" with each segment covering around 20km, we made good use of the Park's green buses when our tired limbs cried for help. We stayed each day until almost closing time and our camera battery died of thirst and hunger. The colors, vistas and atmosphere of Jiuzhaikou would definitely stay in our memory for a very long time !
The Nine Tibetan Villages Of Jiuzhaikou (九寨溝之寨)
Posted On Monday, November 10, 2014 at at 11:15 PM by Alvin
Since eons ago, there had been nine Tibetan settlements/forts/villages in this beautiful part of China - Jiuzhaikou (九寨溝). Yeh, these lucky villagers had Jiuzhaikou all to themselves - farming, weaving, raising cattles, dating, getting married, bringing up kids, passing their O-Levels, going down the pubs, clubbing, that sort of thing; basically enjoying this piece of paradise on Earth for generations. Then one day, some clever dudes from the local government thought : hang on, we could charge passers-by a fee for taking beautiful pictures of these stunning rock pools, waterfalls, pristine rain forests, reed lakes, snow-capped mountains ! 
And there you have it, in 1984 Jiuzhaikou officially opened its doors and had since become one of THE premier destinations in China, hosting around 12,000 visitors per day during high seasons - truly a tourist hot spot (no kidding man...). This had been especially true during Autumn when the local fauna turned to a patchwork of crimson, liquid golden and fiery violet - see my next Blog entry for a few stunning photos. We visited two of these Tibetan villages (則查洼寨 and 樹正寨) and we were pleasantly rewarded not so much by the villagers selling us soft drinks but by the very original style and decoration of their houses, stupas and the way they pretty much went about their own businesses. I even managed to ask for permission to take a photo (below) of one family's pet dog - a massive Tibetan Mastiff (藏獒) !
On Our Way To Western Sichuan (川西) - Ya' An (雅安) - Kang Ding (康定) - Mugecuo (木格措)
Posted On Friday, November 7, 2014 at at 11:57 PM by Alvin
Reaching Ya' An (雅安) in Western Sichuan (川西) was a breeze as our flight from Shenzhen (深圳) touched down in Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (成都 雙流國際機場 ) and we caught a direct 2 hours' bus from the airport. Ya' An was a pleasant town with loads of tea houses plying their trade along the misty Qingyi River (青衣江) with its centre of attraction being the Gallery Bridge (廊橋) - currently being restored. We caught a glimpse of the bridge and could imagine that it could be very beautiful when the restoration was finished. Ya' An was a convenient stopover for one night on our way to the main event in this part of Sichuan - Kang Ding (康定) where a single lane B-Road would snake itself precariously along the neck of the Sichuan Basin mountains.
Apart from being a very beautiful town at the confluence of two roaring rivers (雅拉河) and (折多河), the town also had a raw frontier feel to it as Kang Ding was a main stop between the Tibetan highlands and the Sichuan Basin (四川盆地) on the Tea Horse Route (茶馬古道) in ancient times. Kang Ding of course, achieved fame through the widely-known folklore love song (康定情歌 - 跑馬溜溜的山上) which everyone in China knew how to sing since the age of five ! The star attraction in Kang Ding was the beautiful Mugecuo (木格措) National Park which was named after the highland lake of the same name, located about 30 km from the city centre. We took a mini-cab through some remote Han (漢) and Tibetan (藏) villages to find this national park in pristine conditions - about 50 people (initially) in the whole park as it was low season and we experienced all 4 seasons within our 7 hour's stay. Yeh - flurry wintry snow, hot summer sun, spring time breeze and autumnal red and golden leaves; not forgetting, we had to quickly adapt to the highland altitude of exceeding 3,000m ! A most fun (and breathless) day out !
Motoring On The Spectacular Icefield Parkway Between The Canadian Provinces Of BC And Alberta
Posted On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 at at 8:33 PM by Alvin
Perfectly locating itself along a 300KM stretch between Banff and Jasper, the stunning Icefield Parkway awaited our exploration - on a per kilometer basis, this road had to be one of the most photogenic places we had visited. Motoring along this road was tiring as we found it difficult to concentrate on the driving and not be distracted by the surrounding scenery of roaring rivers, snow-capped mountains, shimmering glaciers as well as enough wilderness and hiking tracks to last possibly a life time. We made frequent driving stops to take in the breath-taking views and satisfied our photography appetites. Every turn of a corner was a gem of a photo opportunity waiting - we stopped by the famed (and sadly retreating) Columbia and Athabasca Glaciers, Bow River lookouts, picnic spots by the numerous view points such as Mosquito Creek. Yeh, the Icefield Parkway could also be named the Ooh-Ahh-Wow-Jez Parkway !
