2009 Anniversary Vacation Day 1: Wagons West!

Last May, Katherine and I were just about to move from our second Hong Kong apartment to the residence hall where we currently live, so our first wedding anniversary celebration was rather subdued (but still lots of fun). Also, when we were married in 2007, we were in the midst of preparing to move to Hong Kong, so we didn't get a chance to take a just-the-two-of-us honeymoon. This year, our lives are much more settled, so we decided to ratchet up the festivities a few notches by taking a week-long anniversary+honeymoon trip outside of Hong Kong.

We considered quite a number of destinations but eventually narrowed the list to Singapore, Guilin, Sanya (not far from where Katherine was born), and Jiuzhaigou (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Singapore and Guilin were ruled out fairly early because they are cities and, since we already live in a city, we thought it would be nice to escape that. Sanya was later ruled out because we thought it would be nice to have Katherine's parents with us when we explore her birthplace. That left Jiuzhaigou, but the truth is that it was already our top choice because of its legendary beauty.

After a month or so of planning and preparation (which included the research and purchase of an appropriate companion anniversary gift: Canon's 500D Digital SLR camera), everything was set to begin May 3rd (our anniversary being on the 5th). The evening of May 1st, however, the first east-asian case of H1N1 influenza was confirmed in Hong Kong. This was obviously reason for concern, especially since we would be traveling in close-quarters and spending a week in one of the most tourist-packed destinations in China, so we discussed the possibility of postponing our trip. Since there had been no other confirmed cases in our travel path, though, and since there were already known treatments, we decided that the risk wasn't high enough to derail us. We committed to not touch our face while in transit, packed plenty of hand sanitizer, and ventured forth!

Jiuzhaigou, or "Valley of the Nine Villages", is a nature reserve in central China's Sichuan province, the area devastated by last May's 8.0 earthquake (helping with Sichuan's economy was definitely a factor that influenced our decision to go there). There isn't a direct flight there from Hong Kong, so we first had a 2.5 hour flight to Chengdu (the capital city of Sichuan), a few hours of layover, and then a one hour hop to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport...

Getting ready to board our first flight!

Upon arrival in Chengdu, we were required to fill out this influenza declaration

The flight from Chengdu to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport was spectacular!

...as also evidenced by this little video

Not a whole lot of folks in the chilly Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport

The Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport is 11,311 feet above sea level. Commercial passenger airplanes are pressurized to the equivalent of 8,000 feet above sea level, though, so your ears actually don't pop during decent and landing here. Later in the trip we would hike to 13,500 feet, so this is definitely the highest area I've ever visited (a personal record previously held by Mérida, Venezuela at 5,348 feet above sea level).

After stepping off the plane, we grabbed a taxi for the final leg of the trip - a two hour ride to our hotel at the base of Jiuzhaigou...

The ride was bracing, completely without seat belts, and very typical of the Jiuzhaigou taxi experience. You may have to enlarge this picture to see it, but the driver generally stayed squarely in the middle of the road, straddling both lanes. When oncoming traffic appeared, though, he did move into his lane and give way. He also used his horn very liberally, making sure every car we approached was fully aware of his presence. (This applied to blind curves as well - he would honk continuously while moving through the curve, which seemed like a very appropriate safety precaution given that many drivers seemed to use both lanes.)

During this ride we had the first of many experiences with the staple livestock of the area: yaks! They littered the countryside during our drive and, in the picture above, we were just about to pass a truck (or "yakmobile" as I like to think of it) loaded with two.

Yaks, at least for me, have long been like magical, mythical creatures. I first learned about them while memorizing the English alphabet as a child ("Y is for Yak"), but not until this trip had I ever seen one in person. It may sound odd, but yaks were very much one of the highlights of the week, and you will definitely be seeing more of them in later blog posts.

Anyway, on with the drive...

A new hotel under construction using very traditional architecture and stonework

Turning in to our hotel, the Jiuzhaigou Sheraton

Our room number!

Our room!

Our room's view!

The accommodations were extremely comfortable and would be the perfect place for us to relax after each day's hike.

It was dinner time when we arrived, and we were tired after a long journey, so we decided to stay in and try the hotel Chinese restaurant (there was also a "Western" restaurant where we ate breakfast every morning). Normally we completely avoid hotel food, but our research strongly indicated that the Sheraton actually had the best food available in Jiuzhaigou, so we made an exception...

We took this picture to illustrate how people placed their napkins (one corner under your plate, the rest draped down, protecting both the tablecloth and your lap). I'm not sure if this is typical across China, but we did see restaurant customers do this of their own accord (not just the waiters and waitresses who helped us).

A snippet of the menu: yak meat!

Two delicious cold, spicy appetizers

A standard set of four condiments: chili oil, scallions, minced garlic, and cilantro

Excellent "Chinese walnut bread"

We decided to order a famous local dish: mushroom hotpot! You drop a multitude of local mushrooms, along with a few other accompaniments, into a boiling pot of tasty mushroom broth...

A huge plate of raw 'shrooms!

Lettuce, tofu, and freshly made noodles

A handful of raw yak meat (and the same lettuce and tofu)

The pot 'o broth (with some mushrooms already dropped in)

Savory, hearty, and surprisingly filling

My first yak meat bite (of many) after cooking it in the mushroom broth

Pan-fried corn cakes (with whole-kernel corn, which I'm not usually a fan of, but it was tasty)

The restaurant's complimentary dessert plate (with the sweetest tomatoes I've ever tasted - not at all tart)

Glutenous rice balls in a sweet soup

On our way back through the lobby, we spied these traditionally-dressed dolls in a gift shop window
(I like to think of them as "Jiuzhaigou Barbie")

After returning to our room, we took a dose of rhodiola (something we did three times a day)...

...which has long been used as an herbal preventative for altitude sickness. Because we were hiking and living at a very high altitude (much higher than sea level, which is essentially where we are used to living in Hong Kong), there was a definite risk of altitude sickness, so we decided to take a few precautions like this just to help ensure we weren't forced to end our trip early. Happily, we never experienced any problems with the altitude (except perhaps for a few pressure-sensitivity headaches and the occasional shortness of breath). I can't say whether or not the rhodiola played a significant part in that, but it didn't have any negative side-affects, so I'd say it was well worth taking.

Next up: our first day in the Jiuzhaigou reserve!