2017 China | FindPenguins

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Début du voyage
25 juillet 2017
2017 China Voyageur
Day 1: Chengdu - 7/23/17
26 juillet 2017, Chine ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
Today, we went to the biggest Panda facility in the world! There are 80 pandas reside here. We went there early enough to see many pandas playing outside (pandas have to go inside once the temperature passes 26 C).

The whole facility is well build and maintained, lots of green space for pandas to play and for humans to walk around. We've seen 2 weeks old panda, 2 months old pandas, 2 years old pandas, and many adult ones. It's so clear how well they are being cared for. The caretaker was feeding a baby panda when we passed by. Our guide told us that there were twins, and panda mom chose the stronger one, so the weaker one was being cared for by the caretakers. They would feed it and then rub its tummy gently, to help it digest the milk.

He also told us that the panda population was thriving in the wild as well. So much so that panda is no longer listed as endangered animal.

Afternoon, we went to a huge city park called People's Park. Many locals were spending their leisure time here. Today is matching making day, so we saw many ads for singers laying on the ground, Abdul many people (mostly mothers) were sitting around waiting for inquiries. Very unique thing to see in China.

As we passed by an amusement park, Evan really wanted to play bumping cars, since he is finally old enough to drive one by himself. I insisted that my father join him as well. Watching my dad laughing like crazy on the bumping car made me extremely happy!

We ended our active day at Sichuan Opera theater. This opera is known for a technique called face change. The actors can change their face masks in the blink of an eye! The whole show was very authentic and very enjoyable!En savoir plus
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2017 China Voyageur
Day 2: Chengu - 7/24/17
26 juillet 2017, Chine ⋅ 🌙 25 °C
Today, we went to Qingcheng Mountain. A famous mountain know for its Taoism temple. Despite the hoards of Chinese tourists, as we walked around the beautiful mountain paths, we could still feel the peaceful atmosphere.

Afternoon, we went to Dujiangyan, an irrigation marvel build 2,000 years ago! Check out why this system so important to China here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dujiangyan

We ended today with eating in a restaurant by a busy local food street.En savoir plus
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2017 China Voyageur
Day 3: Chengdu - 7/25/17
26 juillet 2017, Chine ⋅ 🌙 25 °C
Today, our main itinerary is Leshan Buddha, the tallest Buddha status in the world. More than 1,000 years ago, the Buddha was carved on the side of a mountain, over 90 meters tall! And it took over 90 years to complete this massive project.

Our tour guide told us that since this area is where 3 different rivers meet, the current was very unpredictable a thousand years ago, many fishermen died. So a monk proposed building a massive Buddha here to provide blessings. Once the Buddha was carved out from the mountain, and the amount of rocks dumped in the rivers actually did ease the current. Amazingly, the Buddha did save many lives!

We first saw the Buddha from a boat, soaked in its magnificent size from afar. Then we walked to the top of his head, and hiked the narrow path, along with hundreds of Chinese tourists, all the way down to its feet, and then all the way up to its head. Despite of the massive crowd, it was still a wonderful experience.

Afternoon, we visited the largest shopping mall by volume in the world! The brand new shopping mall is truly massive! There is a whole water park and ice Skating ring inside!En savoir plus
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2017 China Voyageur
Day 4: Chengdu to Jiuzhangou
26 juillet 2017, Chine ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Flying to Jiuzhaigou was thankfully short, only 45 minutes. It was nice to look down at the mountains from the plane. Very loud Chinese kids and adults though. There was a guy in sunglasses insisted getting in front of everyone, he was walking towards the front of the plane even before the plane arrived at the gate, the flight attendant had to use to overhead speaker to tell him to sit down. He was ignoring the her until all the passengers told him go sit-down. He finally sat. As soon as the plane arrived at the gate, he jumped up and run to the front. We all thought he was in hurry, until we saw him waiting just outside of the plane, playing on the phone. And then much later we saw him came out with his wife. So when he left the plane, he left his wife behind. What a selfish and impatient person!

Our driver met us just outside. A very lively young man who talks a lot, which made our 1 and half hour drive from the airport to our hotel very interesting. As we stopped and took a break, a woman approached us with some necklaces for sale. She took a necklace and told me the pendant was wolf tooth, and it costed ¥200 (about $27). I quietly asked the driver should I get it. He shook his head. After we got back in the car, he told me that real wolf tooth pendant would've cost ¥2,000! The tooth she was selling was most likely fox tooth.

When we stopped again for photos, some locals approached us. One of them handed us a baby lamb for photo taking (¥10), another trying to sell fake wolf tooth necklace again. This lady only asked for ¥20. I though ¥20 for fox tooth was kind of neat too, so I bought one. Kind of worth it just to see how happy she was!

I am very happy to be in the beautiful mountains now, at the eastern part of the Himalayan mountain range.En savoir plus
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2017 China Voyageur
Day 5: Jiuzhaigou - 7/27/17
27 juillet 2017, Chine ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Today, we visited Jiuzhaigou National Park. This park is a massive park that's one of the most well known tourist sites in China, therefore it's always packed with Chinese tourists. Unfortunately we went on the day that there are more than 30,000 people visiting!

As we arrive at the entrance, we met with sea of people. Tour groups everywhere with their megaphones. We decided to take the VIP minibus instead of waiting for the bus with thousands of people, and trust me, it was a wise decision.

The park is truly an amazing nature wonder, with many little lakes and massive waterfalls decorating the mountains. We just have to imagine their tranquility without huge crowds.

The day ended with an amazing Chinese culture show.En savoir plus
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2017 China Voyageur
Day 6: Huanglong - 7/28/17
28 juillet 2017, Chine ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Today is our last day of vacation; we are heading home tomorrow.

Huanglong in Chinese means Yellow Dragon, it's another national park that draws many Chinese tourists. Thankfully, since there are a lot stairs and walking involved with this park, the crowds are much smaller.

This is also our favorite day of the whole trip, because we were mostly on our own for the whole day, enjoyed the park at our leisure. Unlike yesterday when we were in Jiuzhaigou, even with the VIP minibus, we still felt like cattle, being shuffled around all day.

Really enjoyed the amazing sceneries of this park!En savoir plus
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2017 China Voyageur
Day 7: Jiuzhaigou to LA: 7/30/17
30 juillet 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Back to USA! I can finally post freely on Facebook again! I was able to post directly to Facebook once and then not able to pass the Great Digital Wall of China since. I had to use my FindPenguins account to post my travel journal.

I have to say the most surprising thing about this trip is the fact the bathrooms in China have improved a lot. Our guide said the government had launched a movement called "bathroom revolution", so agencies in China have invested lots of money to build better bathrooms. Even though they are still not as good as the Western ones, at least we saw a lot less horrifying things in them now. Some of them even have toilet papers! Unthinkable in the past.

Also, Chinese tourists litter less now too. There are garbage cans every few hundred meters, so they are really good at putting their trash in the cans. Some even recycle! Although some people still spit on the floor. I think there are too many smokers in China, and many of them have lung issues, therefore need to spit a lot. At least the government has banned smoking indoors. I only saw one person smoked inside, and I told him to get lost. He walked away with his young son unashamed. Horrible person!

With so many changes (many more high rises and highways), what hasn't changed is the kindness of the people. Everyone we met has gone out of their ways to make our travel easier. When I forgot my shoes, the hotel sent someone to bring them to me to the airport; the wife and father of our guide in Chengdu, escorted my parents from airport to train station in our absence; our VIP minibus guide in Jiuzhaigou made herself the guidance angel of my parents, always made sure they were safe and sound at every site.

Sichuan is known for its amazing cuisine, and we had so much amazing food! From the best mapo tofu, to very authentic street food; from extremely tender yak meat, to Tibetan stuffed pancake made with local corps in the mountains. Every where we went, people were shocked how much Evan could handle the spicy food. He even challenged a chef in a little family restaurant to make the dishes as spicy as he could, and the food was spicy and wonderful!

Saying goodbye to my parents was hard. They had turned 80 years old this year, and my mother has terrible knee problems that she can't walk very well anymore. She told me this may be her last trip, and she had a really good time. She then thanked me for enabling her to see how much of the world in the past 10 plus years. I of course told her this would not be her last trip, and I would bring her to see as much World as she wants!

We will go back to China in 2 years!En savoir plus
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2017 China Voyageur
Day 8: Flying to KC from LA - 7/30/17
31 juillet 2017, États Unis ⋅ 🌙 27 °C
The landscape from LA to KC is very interesting! It's clear how unique the land formations are from the air. Since Evan was busy reading his book on the flight, I was able to sit by the window. I realized that I haven't had the chance for a window seat for years since Evan always gets the best seat on the plane. Well, sacrifice of a mother.

Las Vegas looked amazing from the air. It's truly in the middle of the desert. After many miles of yellow and red sand landscape, suddenly a sprawling city came to view. Everything looked so organized from the air with straight streets and perfectly spaced houses.

Grand Canyon looked amazing from the air as well! This is one nature wonder we have yet to visit. Definitely will do so soon.

After traveling for 30 + hours, we are finally home!En savoir plus
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Fin du voyage
31 juillet 2017