Day 1
we boarded Silkair @1245 hour and reached chengdu @ 1520 hour. the minivan driver that we booked through WenJunLou hotel was already there to receive us. we reached hotel around 7pm.
we boarded Silkair @1245 hour and reached chengdu @ 1520 hour. the minivan driver that we booked through WenJunLou hotel was already there to receive us. we reached hotel around 7pm.
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| Chengdu Airport |
after checking into our hotel, we went to look for prepaid phone card in the shops nearby, but they didn't have the type that we wanted. all of us were quite hungry. so proceeded for steamboat dinner instead. then returned to hotel.
woke up at 6.50 am, getting ready for our first outing to qingchengshan. reached train station at 8.30 am. alas, all trains for 青城山had been fully booked. the next available train was at 11.30am. worse still, we didn't carry our identity cards or passports, hence could not purchase train tickets.
we had to make a last minute change to our travel itinerary - visited qingyang temple 青羊宫then the thatched cottage of dufu, 杜甫草堂 ,then took a shuttle bus to 武侯祠 wuhou shrine (60/person for each).
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| getting ready for the morning outing |
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| view from our hotel |
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| the road outside our hotel |
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| breakfast |
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| qingyang temple |
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| touching the statue for good health and luck |
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| The Thatched Cottage of Dufu |
武侯祠
went for lunch 成都小吃 (140) at 锦里仿古镇 before visiting the wuhou shrine.
all were exhausted after the shrine visit. took a cab back to hotel (20), all 5 of us in the cab. the cab driver was grumbling, but agreed after we volunteered to pay him more.
reach hotel, and quickly booked a private transport for trip to 花水湾安and西岭雪山tomorrow.(800)
everyone was exhausted, hence took a short break in the hotel.
at 6pm, ventured out to 宽窄小巷 wide and narrow lanes, another touristy spot. mainly restaurants and bars. chengyee bought some souvenirs home - guess what: pandas related items, of course.
reach hotel, and quickly booked a private transport for trip to 花水湾安and西岭雪山tomorrow.(800)
everyone was exhausted, hence took a short break in the hotel.
at 6pm, ventured out to 宽窄小巷 wide and narrow lanes, another touristy spot. mainly restaurants and bars. chengyee bought some souvenirs home - guess what: pandas related items, of course.
宽窄小巷
wide & narrow lanes
wide & narrow lanes
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| panda souvenirs |
i had to rush back to hotel to relieve myself urgently. then off we go to 春熙路 shopping walking street.
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| Dinner at 春熙路 |
morning call at 6am. all ready by 7 am. breakfast at 7.30am. then off we went to huashui bay 花水湾/ xiling snow mountain 西岭雪山 in a booked minivan.
before departing for snow mountain, we made a detour to buy train tickets to 青城山 and 重庆. (17x5, 119x5)
by the time we reached four season valley hotspring 四季谷度假温泉村, it was around 11am.we spent over 3 hours in the hotspring. the tickets of 198 each included 泥疗，沙疗，鱼疗。
the hotspring water was dark in colour. Cy's new swimming attire was discolored as a result.she was terribly upset.
we then traveled another half an hour to the snow mountain resort. bought entrance and cable cars tickets (60 +100 each). reached hotel 映雪酒店 at 5pm.
foggy weather - could not even see the bus parked just 100 m away! had dinner in the hotel (150). had early rest for the night.
after taken our breakfast (extra 38 for extra person), we checked out from our rooms and made our way to the scenery cable cars. there were only a group of 20 odd tourists ahead of us. it was the longest cable car ride in Asia, and took 40 minutes to ascend to the station on top if the mountain.
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| view from our hotel room |
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| scenery from cable car |
we then walked up along the boardwalk to 日月坪 and then towards 阴阳界。the climb was tiring at certain stage, but the scenery was quite mesmerizing - resembled those scenes depicted in Korean drama. it was rather foggy, hence couldn't see the mountains and sea of clouds beyond.
it took us 4 hours to complete the return journey. by the time we reached our hotel, it was already 3pm, and the chefs at the restaurant had left. the restaurant could only offer fried rice (literary rice with egg only). we decided to walked to a nearby food stalls about 150 m away for our lunch. it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the food was quite good and the price economical. by the time we traveled down to the foot hill, our minivan driver was already there waiting for us (800).
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| going back to our minivan |
it was lucky that we booked him for the trip home, as all of us were already exhausted by then.we dropped our luggage at the hotel, and went to 春熙街 for shopping. I bought my leather jacket (460) while the boys bought their leather shoes and my wife bought a pair of jeans. we then went back home eating cup noodles for dinner.
woke up early to catch a morning train 8.30 am to 青城山。the train traveled at peak velocity of 190km/hour and reached our destination in 50 min (car may take two hours). at the 青城山 train terminal, we boarded bus 101 to the tourist spot.
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| waiting for the bus to qingchengshan |
we bought combine tickets (including 都江堰 800)。
it was another tough climb up the slope, even with cable car ride covering s big bulk of our ascent. we took our lunch in a restaurant next to 上青宫 temple, and made our descent via cable car again.
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| husband & wife trees |
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| may our wishes come true! |
by the time we reached 都江堰，it was already 4.30pm ( the bus ride from 青城山 took about 20 mins). we managed to catch a glimpse of the famed dam that helped to avert flood and enable irrigation of arable land in ancient time ( now a world heritage site).
by the time we reached chengdu and ready for dinner, it was already 8.30pm. we went into a high end restaurant for dinner. but an unfortunate incident occurred, and the dinner ended prematurely before it even started. we ended up eating cup noodles for the night again.
engaged the service of the driver who picked us up from the airport on the first day. he drove us to panda breeding and research centre for a half day tour. saw quite a number of those cuddly and lazy pandas. the movie on the breeding of pandas was quite an eye opener.
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| Red panda |
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| baby pandas sunbathing |
checked out from hotel at 1 pm. embarked on second leg of our journey to Chong qing 重庆 (direct train, 2 h 15 min). took light rail from train station to 小十字站, then walked another 5 min to our hotel ( 9 号商务宾馆). after checking into our hotel, we went for 重庆火锅。it tasted much better than the one we had in chengdu.
for some reasons, my wife, Ck and Cj all have diarrhea after the hot pot.it was the earliest day for rest.
had breakfast in the hotel. no coffee (expected). but alas, no soybean drink! the breakfast was quite awful. checked out of the hotel, but left our luggage in the hotel for safe keeping till we boarded the cruise later in the evening.
managed to tour the neighbourhood by foot - 洪崖洞 (amazing stacks of building which housed many stalls selling local food delights, souvenirs, hotel, international food stalls), 解放碑行人街 (high end modern shopping street),十八 梯( slum).
洪崖洞
food courts, souvenir shops abound
解放碑
shopping district
十八梯
Eighteen steps slums - to be demolished soon!
the contrast between the have and have not was heart ranching as 解放碑 and 十八梯 were just a few streets apart!
ate lunch at 全聚德烤鸭店- had a sumptuous meal for 5; the portion was quite huge. we were still quite full till late evening.
at around 5pm, cj and Ck went back to the hotel lobby while I went to pick up tickets for the cruise.my wife and Cy went shopping along some if the wholesale stalls selling leather bags and winter clothing.
finally boarded the cruise at around 7pm. was surprised to know that only about 16-17 out of over 200 passengers were foreigners. we bought 3 bowls of dry noodles for supper on board the cruise.
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| on board the cruise ship |
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| from the balcony of the cruise ship |
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| flyover across yangtze river |
woke up at 7pm. took breakfast and then went for an excursion to ghost city 鬼城丰都。a pity that a big part of the ancient city had been submerged under water. only the temple at the peak that housed king of hell 阎王 was left intact.
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| 奈何桥 |
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| from the uppermost deck of the cruise ship |
went out for optional tour at 红石寨 red pagoda. it was a wooden pagoda built against a towering rock. the base was surrounded by tall wall which rang off the rising water level of Yangtze river ( prevent erosion). the view from top was simply heavenly, literally 犹如登上九重天。
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| the wall the encircles the island to prevent erosion from surrounding water |
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| the red pagoda built against the rock, without the use of any nails |
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| the red pagoda (front view) |
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| heavenly view... |
skipped the fashion show at night.
retired early for trip to 白帝城 tomorrow.
went for a trip to white emperor city 白帝城，the place where Liu Bei 刘备 entrusted his loyal advisor 诸葛亮 to guide and mentor his son 阿斗。this is apparently the only ancient city that was not affected by the rising water level after the Three Gorges Damn was built. not that impressive apart from the opportunity to view 夔门kuimen from the peak of the city.
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| entrance to white emperor city |
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| Kuimen - this is imprinted on the 10 dollar note |
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| the entire scenario of LiuBei entrusting his loyal advisor to guide his son is depicted here |
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| the bridge that links the white emperor city to the land |
we cruised through 2 gorges, namely 瞿塘峡&巫山。they were pretty but somehow not as impressive as those I saw 17 years ago.
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| family photo as we entered the first gorge, Chuitang Gorge |
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| unexpected appearance of hydrofoil at the first gorge |
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| 2nd gorge, Wuxia |
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| A veil of cloud at the top of the mountain at Wuxia |
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| goddess peak |
this was followed by a trip to 神农溪in the afternoon. the gorges and scenery there were most impressive. the hanging coffins were one of the highlight, buy they were too distant away and too small! the trip took about 3 hours.
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| the town before entering little three gorges |
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| hanging coffin |
we discovered that local tour to 武当山was not available during weekdays. had to think of means to spend the next 3 days in 武汉。
entered the three gorges Dam quite late Ayers night at 10pm+. we managed to cleared the first gate after 45 mins! too tired to wait for the second gate to clear....went to bed after waiting in vain for over half-hour.
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| witnessing the closure of the first gate |
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| water being drained from the first deck |
Day 10
last leg of Yangtze river cruise. visited the three Gorges dam exploratory spots for tourists. had a closer look at the dam, and how the ships were translated from upper stream to lower stream. magnificent project. it's just a pity that some historical sites have to be sacrificed in the process.
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| escalator to the site of three gorges dam project |
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| bird eye's view of the three gorges dam |
the cruise ship sailed pass the third gorge, Xiling Gorge 西陵峡, reputably the most beautiful gorges of the three gorges. it was rather misty and windy, hence could not appreciate its true beauty.
The Third Gorge, Xiling Gorge
checked out from the cruise after lunch. took a minivan (300) to Yi Chang 宜昌市东 train station. managed to get tickets for the train that was leaving in 15 min. hence it was a mad rush to clear the security check and board the train.
two elderly men from France followed us from the cruise all the way to wuhan 武汉。
took a minivan (60) to green tree inn hotel at Taipei rd.
was almost giving up on visiting 武当山(no tour during weekdays) until we called a tour agency who left their contact in the hotel. we took up the offer of private tour (650 / person). the tour agency would send us to the train station in wuchang 武昌. we would then board the train ourselves, to meet up with the tour guide in 武当山。
Day 11
reached the train status in wuchang before 8 a.m., took out breakfast and then boarded the train for 武当山。
we finally reached Mt Wudang at 2pm. Alas, it was too late for us to go up the Golden Peak 金顶 via cable car. And to add salt to injury, the cable car would be closed for maintenance the next day. the tour guide had requested for additional 100 RMB if we wanted her to hike up to the peak, and this of course created unnecessary unhappy exchange between us and the tour guide.
we managed to visit the Taizipo 太子坡for the day, and checked into our 3 star hotel (located in the middle of the Mt Wudang).
It snowed when we reached the hotel.
the heater was unfortunately very "weak" - it failed to warm up the room. all of us were literally "frozen" at night (despite wearing our jackets and covering with layers of blanket). for one, we did not bathe that night.
Taizipo
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| winding path leading to the main temple |
It snowed when we reached the hotel.
the heater was unfortunately very "weak" - it failed to warm up the room. all of us were literally "frozen" at night (despite wearing our jackets and covering with layers of blanket). for one, we did not bathe that night.
we felt that it may not be safe to hike up to Golden Peak in the slippery mountain slope. hence, decided to opt for 3 other tourist spots instead (南岩，紫宵宫，逍遥谷）
Day 12
woke up the next morning, and was immediately captivated by the amazing sight of heavy snow covering the road and building.
somehow, the winter/snow scenery is quite different from what we had encountered previously. the view of mountains/clouds and temples in combination reminded one of Chinese brush painting! Amazing!!!
somehow, the winter/snow scenery is quite different from what we had encountered previously. the view of mountains/clouds and temples in combination reminded one of Chinese brush painting! Amazing!!!
南岩宫
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| south rock palace |
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| simply amazing!!! |
紫宵宫
逍遥谷
Happy Valley
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| farewell to Mt Wudang |
we left Mt Wudang at 2pm, took our lunch cum dinner near the train station, and finally boarded our train back to Wuhan at 7pm (quite a long and cold wait in the very rundown train station, without any air condition).
Day 13
went for brief morning shopping in Wuhan, and headed for the airport at 12 noon. departed from Wuhan International Airport at 3pm for Singapore!
The entire journey had been quite rewarding. We managed to cover the major tourist attractions.
I must say Yangtze River was a disappointment - it has lost some of its charm after the building of Three Gorges Dam - the water is not treacherous anymore, and many ancient sites have been submerged under the rising water.
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