Jiuzhaigou–THE Most Beautiful Place I Have Ever Seen

 

Twice in my life I have felt compelled to thank the people in Corey’s world that have placed us in the cities we live in.  First was the … err…gentleman… who prompted our move to Dallas.  While it was hard to leave family, I truly feel it saved our marriage and we got to meet great people. The move to Dallas helped set up our move to Seattle.

The move to Hong Kong is without a doubt the move of a lifetime.  It’s hard to be a Mom and Sister from afar…and I do not know how people did it years ago before Skype, Whatsapp, internet and fast airplanes.  But I don’t have to worry about that.  All of the technology keeps us close.

Our move here has afforded the best travel.  My trip to Jiuzhaigou (zhoo – zhi-go) was, hands down, one of the most amazing things ever!

It was my first time coordinating and leading a trip for the American Women’s Association. No stress right?  Responsible for 11 others having a good and flawless trip…right…

We had a terrific group of travellers.  There were ups and downs (details to come)…but all in all it was amazing.

We landed in Jiuzhaigou and were greeted by Walter, our guide for the week.  He spoke great English (except every time he said “government” I thought he was saying “garment”)

We grabbed our bags…did the “bathroom thing”.  Bathrooms are an adventure in China…the question is always asked “How was it” or “How are they”  What we really want to know “Squat or No-Squat”,“Smelly or Not Smelly” “Paper or No Paper”  A bathroom that provides tissue is RARE…I’ve come a long way from Blue Jay Drive.

Our bus was waiting….with Oxygen. YES…each of us was provided with a bottle of Oxygen since where we were is about 4,000 meters (I looked out the window to see another tourist on a bus sucking hers down)

Here is Becky checking out the instructions!

Me on the bus.  We passed plenty of these guys: Yakkity Yaks

Here are some of the Tibetan Villages we passed on the way to our hotel. The Village at the bottom was destroyed in the 2008 Earthquake and rebuilt up the road as a “Tourist Area”  We did not stop

We drove to the Jiuzhaigou Sheraton for a Hot Pot dinner, Internet in the lobby and to bed. The morning was going to come very quickly.

China celebrates Golden Week from Oct 1 – 7 (ish).  The ENTIRE country is off that week and as China has prospered, many have started to travel.  We heard reports that on October 2, the army had to be called to Jiuzhagou to handle the 40,000 (you are reading that right) people that came there to see the park.  Traffic was gridlock.  Tourists had to walk 5-10 km to get to buses.  There was almost a riot. 

Luckily, it was not nearly as crowded when we were there…but don’t get me wrong…it was plenty busy. 

The park has public buses so that those without guides can jump on and off to see the sights. But imagine dragging strollers, lunches, walkers, etc on and off these buses AND fighting for spaces.  I was advised and agree to pay to have a private bus (BEST MONEY EVER SPENT).  Walter let us know…repeatedly, how much more we paid for this (lots and lots). 

Here is a map of the park…you can see it’s shaped like a “Y”

We started the day at 7:00 with our mini-bus waiting for us outside. Walter took our passports and got our reserved tickets and the bus for us at 6 am.  The park is just a few minutes away and we got to breeze through lines and get the tour going.

At first it was very cloudy (with a threat of rain). 

I was truly worried how the day would turn out and yes, how the pictures would be without light and sun.  I had heard overcast was best for color(??) but this? 

I had the new camera with me…and my fellow travellers (Becky and Joanne) were VERY kind it helping with settings….or I would just sneak up behind them and copy theirs!  My favorite thing was playing with the settings to get the water to look like it was “frozen in place!

vs..

We moved through the park, and as the day progressed, it got lighter, so I became more hopeful for the pictures.

I did discover an amazing feature on my Canon Sureshot (point and shoot)…it has an “enhance image” feature (hey, three years in…not a bad learning curve!)…it pulls color (or maybe puts color) where it exists…case in point:

Before I found the setting:

And AFTER!

Just a little different!

Some of it looked too phony:

VS but it was fun to play with

ANYWAY!  Off we went, moving pretty freely through the park:

Our guide set up our tour to go backwards…start at the least popular places and end at the most popular…thinking being most people do it the other way….this was truly helpful with crowd control…and AGAIN he stressed how much more we paid for the private coach (still worth it)

Much of the fun of traveling is taking pics of others.  Trust me…PLENTY of people too our pictures (most of our group was blonde so we were VERY popular)

I try to be respectful…ok…sneaky…or I ask in that universal non-language language (hold up my camera to show them I want to take their picture)

(for a fee you can dress up in costume for you pics!)

The other thing about having a guide is that they tend to have the best ideas of HOW to see things…and this is where my breath was literally taken from my body.

See that color of blue?  This color comes from elements in the soil.  We walked down a set of stairs, turned a corner to this.  I stopped in my tracks. 

It was a GREAT spot for our group photo!

This shows you the crowds…all of these people came down the “walking” path while we came down stairs from the bus parking area…our approach had NO people …which, you can tell…was good!

While we admired the spot…we grabbed our own pics (tough to try to shoulder your way in to get a pic without thousands around you!) Then moved on!

Our day progressed…the sun stayed out…playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds, but all in all it was gorgeous, and not nearly as cold as we thought it would be.

Here are some pictures so you can see the beauty of it w/o my words trying to describe the place!

(can you tell with these two I got fascinated with the reflections in the water??

How about having THIS as your wedding backdrop??

There were tons of us taking their pictures!  They could have saved a fortune on a photographer!

We ended the day seeing a local show that showed us dancing from different ethnicities, etc.

 

Some of our group got up and danced with them.

It was a perfect start to our trip.  There promised to be more good days ahead.

Playing Tourist in My Own Back Yard

What I am about to type will result in  screams of “WHAT” or “HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?”  from my Hong Kong friends…

Until today, just about 32 months after I landed in Hong Kong, Corey and I had never…ever…been to the Fish Market, Flower Market or Bird Market in Kowloon.

WHAT??

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

Let me go back.

Today we had nothing on the agenda and Corey asked me what I wanted to do.  I actually went to the Hong Kong Tourism website to get some ideas. It’s a GREAT website www.discoverhongkong.com

These hugely colorful, local, historical and picturesque places are  a mere four train stops away from our home.  I don’t’ know why…but I’ve never been inclined to go see them. 

Maybe it’s b/c I don’t own a fish (don’t want to).  Maybe it’s because I don’t own a bird (don’t’ want to) or maybe it’s b/c I don’t’ have a nice vase (how do you like THAT reasoning?)

This little field trip gave me the opportunity to take my new “big girl” camera for a walk.

We decided to walk down Nathan Road and stop for coffee, lunch (hot and sour soup and dumplings at a 12 table hole in the wall that is AWESOME – thank you Jane Buck!)  then walk to the markets  It’s not far…but with HOURDES of people out and about…it took us awhile!

While Corey stopped for a water (getting puffy after lunch…MSG? Sodium? ), I stayed outside and watched three local men play a board game.  No table and chairs?  No Problem! No “real” board? No Problem!  A box, a stool and a stairway and a hand drawn  board is all one needs!

First stop is the Gold Fish Market.  It’s REAL name is Tung Choi Street , but who needs a real name when the map has it marked as Gold Fish Market? I will bet if I asked a local, they would know “fish” before Tung Choi Street.  EVERY type of supply or fish that you would want or need is here. 

It was interesting to me that some shops were PACKED and others empty.  We liked this first shop.  It had a fun tank with shrimp and other pretty creatures.

See the lizard like guy hanging on the rock?  Corey didn’t either!  I was happy to NOT see any clownfish or other real exotics out in plain sight.

There are ferns, and tanks and plastic bags of fish ready to be taken home

  This guy had a particularly cute face I thought!

I found these…albino turtles(??) very fun to look at!

(getting some air)   

The area is also very cramped with housing :

Living in these areas you use every space you can to dry clothes! I think at night the area would be beautiful (think Blade Runner and neon lights)

As we moved on, we came to the Flower Market.  Hong Kong does many things well, and one of them is MAPS. 

Before you really even get to “the street” there is this store…where in true Western tradition is READY for Christmas

All sorts of ornaments, etc., EXCEPT…if you go to Sham Shui Po in early December…you get the same things…even cheaper! We kept going…

The flower market is called…wait for it….Flower Street (someone was using their head).  It is shop after shop after shop of flowers, plants, orchids, trees.  There were many couples sitting inside the stores planning their weddings (I knew this b/c HE looked pained as SHE was pouring over the catalogues) 

Gerbera Daisy's are Kari’s favorites…it’s what we saw first! 

Once again, if you want it…you can be pretty sure they have it.  Some shops do NOT want you to take pics…and some say “please feel free ) I can only tell this by the signs on the walls, I have NOT become fluent in the last 15 minutes.

I know ONE friend who would love this place (Bo Ward!)

Corey sat and munched on his freshly roasted peanuts as I wandered.  He missed this guy:

 

People in Hong Kong sleep whenever and wherever they can…and shoppers just continue with their day!

Right at the end of Flower Street is the Bird Park.  This is where you can pick up all of your bird needs.

While most of us DON’T get the birds, I do know many friends who have decorated with the beautiful cages that can be found here! 

As we entered we passed older gentlemen sitting together chatting, their bird cages hanging close by.  Yes, that’s right, they take their little birds for a walk and then have a chat.  From what I have seen, if retired, this is done on a daily basis.

I realize as I type this I did NOT get pics of cages OR the visiting men (though I am VERY careful and respectful of taking pictures of locals…I try to be stealth like)

  Pretty bird!

Happy Talk !

    

                            Hello….

Our walk came to an end and we headed back home to put our flowers (yes, I bought flowers) into a vase.  I a NOT a flower arranger… but they are pretty…and I WILL be back before the next 32 months is up!

Morning Breaks

 

Hong Kong has been shrouded by thick black clouds for weeks. They hover at the tops of the high rises like hats, but hats that are permanently pinned in place.

It gets old, quickly, especially living high enough to be IN those clouds.

At street level, it is depressing, yet life goes on. We know this will pass, and all too soon, we will be complaining bitterly about the humidity and heat that summer will bring.

This mornings’ daybreak brings promise. The promise of sun. The guarantee of heat.

I awoke to broken grey and black clouds. Moving slowly to the East.

Directly in front of me is a dip in the hills that are Hong Kong’s backdrop. Between the hills,directly behind the Shangri-La Hotel and the Hopewell Center in Wanchai loomed a series of dark clouds. In the lowest part of the dip, was a starkly white cloud, almost dragon like, backlit by pink. It stood alone, so bright, almost heaven like. It moved up, it moved back, and now, it is slowly slipping behind the hills. All that is left now is a bit of white puffs, peaking over, not dominating the hill.

To the west, a large bright cloud is growing. As it develops higher, the top is bright white, while the bottom of the cloud becomes more and more pink. Under the pink, are heaps and heaps of clouds still in shadow. Are they trying to decide to take on the pink, or force their way to the top of the cloud which is being lit by the rising sun?

The grey clouds have moved away, the skies just about clear, except for that growing, luminous cloud over Sheung Wan.

5:50 AM. It is fully light. I am fully awake. The Harbour below me is slowly coming to life.

Another day.

I am blessed.