Bittersweet Jiuzhaigou

I'm not sure exactly where to start.  This trip was "bittersweet", so do I start with the "bitter" or do I start with the "sweet"?  For the sake of not leaving a bad taste in anyone's mouth, I think I should start with the bitter.  That being said, our tour to Jiuzhaigou was pretty terrible.

Let me make clear that the scenery itself wasn't unpleasant, in fact, it was breath taking, but Darren and I have both agreed that we will never take another overnight tour again.  This tour wasn't just overnight, it was over three nights, and the problems started on the bus on the way there.

The reason Darren and I join tour groups is strictly convenience.  I haven't come across a tour price yet, that is cheaper than what it would cost for us to do it alone.  We did the calculations, and for us to go to Jiuzhaigou on our own, would be less than a 100 RMB difference from the tour; but, with a tour we don't have to worry about the planning and arrangments.  In this particular tour, the transportation, accomodation, entrance fees, a Tibetan event, and all meals but one were included.  Anything not included in our tour price, was optional.  We also opted for the "bus tour", which was cheaper than the "plane tour" by over 1000 RMB, but took 10 hours longer!  It was a long 10 hours!  Now, when we booked our tour (and by we, I mean Darren) we were very specific about the details.  As you can see, we wanted to make sure we knew exactly what was included, and the nature of the tour itself (like the Panda tour, this one would drop you off at the sight and pick you up, but didn't accompany you and force you to follow a set schedule while at the park).  So, when the tour guide (who didn't speak any English) finished his microphone speal on the bus, and started walking around and collecting money, we didn't really know what was going on.  When he got to us, he said/gestured that we were to give him 600 RMB, 300 RMB each.  We didn't know why and were not about to just hand over that much money blindely.  We recited our well used phrase "Wo ting bu dong" (I don't understand), and he proceeded to solicit the translation of a girl from the back of the bus.  As best she could, she explained to us that the 300 RMB each was for two events, two Tibetan cultural experiences/parties.  We were aware of the events, and were also aware that they were optional and simply said that we didn't want to go.  The guide did not take this well.  As per her translation, the guide insisted that we attend these events, and that they were mandatory.  The girl however, also informed us that the events weren't mandatory and that we had the choice of whether or not to go.  The guide obviously had a different opinion and after brooding in silence for a few hours, asked us again to pay, during a pee break.  We again said no, and the guide blew up.  He started yelling at us in Mandarin with flaring hand gestures and we couldn't understand why he was so upset.  It's funny how some things are quite clear despite the language barrier, because it was quite clear that he was threatening to kick us off the bus if we didn't pay.  Sure enough, as our translator informed us, this was the case.  The guide called someone who claimed to be his manager who also told us that if we didn't pay the 600 RMB they were going to kick us off the tour once we got to Jiuzhaigou.  We were pissed off enough and not impressed at all, and didn't want to be on the bus anymore anyway.  So Darren told the guy on the phone, that quitting the tour was fine with us, that we would pay 100 RMB a piece for the drive up and that they could refund us our remaining 1400+ RMB and we'd be on our way.  We got disconnected (driving through the mountains) and when he called back, he explained that he had looked into our bookings, noticed that the one night's event was included in our package, that we were right, the other night was optional, and that if we wanted to go we could pay the 150 RMB but we didn't have to.  With a bad taste in our mouth, we stayed on the bus, though in hindsight, we wish we had gotten off.

Though awkward, things seemed to have smoothed out.  The other people on the bus were very empathetic and even embarrassed by the tour guides actions.  They were extremely kind and went out of their way to make sure that we were comfortable.  Needless to say, Darren and I didn't trust our guide at all from this point forward, and were weary of his every move.  Before we left our hostel we inquired about student prices for entry into the parks.  As it is with most places, they did have student discounts, but the hostel and the agency weren't sure if foreign students were applicable for the discount.  After checking with the agency, our hostel told us to just bring our student cards and see if they'd be accepted; if they were, we'd be reimbursed the difference at the end of the tour.  So when we got to Jiuzhaigou we asked one of the girls to check abou the student pricing for us, and sure enough we got the student discount (-50 RMB each).  We were still a little ticked off about him trying to scam us for 600 RMB, but this was a small redeeming factor. 

The next morning, we boarded the bus at 7 am to head for Huanglong, expecting to get there around 10 am, and we didn't get there until after 2 pm.  We had stopped at four different tourist/souvenir shops on the way to Huanglong.  At each one of course, our tour guide got a commission off how much we purchased.  Consquently, when a couple of the other tourists decided to take over an hour perusing and purchasing cystals, there was no rush.  Everyone was sitting on the bus, waiting and preturbed as the amount of time we were wasting.  Oh, and did I mention that up in the mountains it was freezing? We were all so cold and just wanted to get going.  Darren and I made a small purchase, just snacks, at the last place and regretted doing so as we watched him collecting copies of receipts as we paid.  (It was such a massive waste of time and everyone else on the bus seemed to think so as well, but it does seem to be par for the course with these tours.)  Once we finally got to Huanglong, the guide went around collecting all the student cards/certificates before going to get our tickets, but came out and told us that the discount only applied to Chinese students, and then dashed off.  Still untrusting, Darren went into the ticket office himself to check whether or not our student cards were applicable.  Sure enough, they were, and the girl at the office told us that we'd have to take up the discount with our guide.  Livid and raging, we stormed up the hillside, passing people with oxygen masks like it was no problem at all (a lot of people apparently struggle with the elevation).  We were so mad that we barely took in anything we saw on the way up.  Once we got to the top we sat down, had a bite to eat and talked over how we were going to deal with getting our money back (another 50 RMB a piece).  On the way down it was like seeing everything for the first time since on the way up we just stormed passed it all.  We made sure to get back down before the ticket office closed and went back to speak to the attendant.  She called our guide (the tickets were registered under him) and found out that the tickets were booked online as full price tickets, and that once they were booked, you couldn't redeem them at the student price.  Just to be sure, we had one of the girls who speaks English to double check for us.  She came back fuming.  (Keep in mind, this is the same girl who translated to Darren when the guide said that the student price was for Chinese students only).  She said that the tickets were booked as full price adult tickets (which we couldn't understand since they knew we were students) but that all the guide had to do was cancel the tickets (at the expense of 4 RMB each) and then ask for student priced tickets.  Well, she was so angry that she could hardly relay this information to us, and when the guide got back on the bus, she tore a piece out of him!  Our hero (her name is Gloria by the way), she was fantastic!  They got to arguing and even stormed off to the ticket office together to sort it out, but the office was closed.  He apparently told her that it wasn't his responsibility to explain to the "English" people why they couldn't get the discount, and it wasn't his responsibility to get us the discount in the first place.  Then, he threatened to kick her off the bus as well, told her she was a "bad student" and that she was an embarrassment to the Chinese for helping us.  Again, we had the empathy of everyone else on the bus, but were really no better off.

The next morning (we left Huanglong at 5 am), another dissatisfied tour member got into an argument with the guide and he threatened to kick her off the bus as well.  The guide was off his rocker!  We've met a lot of tour guides or aspiring tour guides and none seem to be quite the prick this guy was.  Thanks to our wonderful Gloria though, we were able to call our hostel, explain to them what had happened, and ask them to figure out how we were going to be reimbursed the 200 RMB (the total amount we saved with our student discounts).  Our hostel spoke to our guide who apparently told them that we wouldn't be reimbursed for the student discount at Huanglong because we weren't applicable.  Our hostel then called the tour agency who said we would be reimbursed the full 200 RMB, and then told us to wait until the end of the tour and that if we had any trouble to call him again.  Sure enough, at the end of the tour, our guide proceeded to hand us each 50 RMB.  Wonderful Gloria told him that we were each entitled to 100 RMB, which of course he argued, now claiming that we he was reimbursing us for Huanglong and not Jiuzhagou, and we called the hostel again.  Meanwhile, he got on the phone with his boss, and was apparently arguing with his boss telling him that Darren and I were trying to cheat him.  In the end, after the tour guide called Gloria our whore, we got our 200 RMB back.  Gloria was fantastic, if not for her I don't think we would have been able to get our money back.  She also came with us to our hostel to relay to them what had happened.  The people at our hostel speak incredibly good English, and it wouldn't have been that they couldn't understand our explanation, but it's difficult relaying the faults of someone else through translation.  At first, the hostel thought maybe it was just a case of miscommunication, but Gloria made sure they knew that the guide was definitely trying to take advantage of us.  I have a feeling she sugar-coated a bit of the translation for us, but gave the hostel the full account, and apparently, somebody's in trouble.  Ideally, Darren and I would have liked to be reimbursed for the entire tour, but this isn't home-- things don't work like that here.

So, now for the sweet stuff.

The first night in Jiuzhai, we went to some sort of Tibetan dinner.  It was almost like a cold luau in that as we got off the bus they draped a piece of yellow cloth around our necks.  Before we were allowed to pass through the gate, we had to step over a bowl of some sort of smoking substance.  From there, we walked over to a wash basin and washed our hands, before passing by and touching the gold wheel/spindle things, afterwhich we were led to walk around some sort of shrine.  Form there we were led into the room where we were to eat.  It was a small room, the table and bench seats set up in a square, with an open space in the middle.  True to the Tibetan style, the room was very bright and colourful, with lotus flowers and other cultural symbols painted on the walls.  We sat down to various plates and dishes of breads and snacks, some strange green things, a bowl of soup/broth with a chicken head in it, and a nice steaming bowl of yak meat.  They also performed some sort of ceremonial toast where we chanted something or other, dipped our fingers in it in the ceremonial way and the proceeded to splash people with it, before toasting again and taking sip.  It tasted like cold broth.  It's possible that it was supposed to be warm but cooled while waiting, I'm not sure.  It was strange, but a lot of fun.  We sat eating while the locals sang songs, and quite well.  I told Darren that if he could learn to sing like the one guy (who was kinda cute--Darren noted that he looked like Jason Lee off the Jungle Book) I wouldn't mind so much when he made up his own words to songs.  The other men in our group really took to Darren, raising a glass of potent rice wine to him several times and saying "Gambe", which is a Chinese form of "cheers" except that you have to down your entire glass.  Darren could easily drink them all under the table.  Most of them had on their Asian glow after their first cup.  We also had, what I'm pretty sure was the Tibetan milk tea, made with yak milk, and it was pretty good.  At one point in the night, they brought out a huge roasted something-with-no-head on a platter.  When we asked one of the guys what it was, he said he didn't know what it was called in English.  It kind of looked like a dog, and he said it wasn't a dog, but like a dog.  Darren braved a piece of rib and took a bite, but I don't think he liked it.  The animal, whatever it was, looked somewhat under-fed because there didn't seem to be much meat on the thing to begin with.  After the "not-dog" meat, and a lot of singing, they played some strange game where they dressed two of the men in traditional Tibetan garments (but I think they were women's clothes) and sang more songs.  At first they tried to elect Darren to play the game but we didn't know what was going on.  It was pretty funny.  After everyone was done drinking and eating, we all went outside and danced some special dance around the fire.  Well, they were all dancing their dance, Darren was "picking potatoes" and doing the electric slide.  It was a blast though and we had a great time.  The women kept telling Darren "I love you, I love you" and then giggling and dancing some more.  It was a great way to relax and relieve the stress of our trip up, and we really enjoyed the experience.  The next morning, it was off to Jiuzhaigou.

The mythical story behind the creation of Jiuzhaigou is based on a love story of course.  Apparently there was a man who was in love with a goddess, and he gave her a very special mirror made of wind.  An unforseen evil force apparently separated the two lovers and the goddess smashed the mirror, the pieces falling to earth and creating the crystal clear lakes of Jiuzhaigou.  The water there was so unbelievably clear and so blue that it didn't seem real.  It was unfortunately miserable weather, raining and cold, but the scenery was still beautiful.  I can't imagine how amazing it must look with clear blue skies, but apparently, they really do look like mirrors and perfectly reflect the surrounding mountains.  They were still fairly clear though, despite the clouds and the rain rippling the water.  We walked a lot of the back walkways and it's incredible walking through waterfalls basically.  The water rushing below your feet on the walkways and down the hillside.  Trees still grow all over the place and it's like a wet land but with clear moving water rather than a boggy swamp.  Some of my favourite places were the little waterfalls tucked behind the trees with no one around.  The Panda lake was also pretty cool.  It was actually a white sand beach with the bluest water which varied in shades, depending on the depths of course.  It was all so unreal.  The park consists of five valleys (I think) with a road through it shaped like a Y.  To walk the entire thing is 32 km, but they have a shuttle bus that you can get on and off of to save time between some of the sights.  It was an excellent walk though, even with the rain,, and they say that it's the ever changing weather that makes each experience to Jiuzhaigou so unique.  Apparently, October is a great time to go because the weather is a little clearer, and the lake refelcts all the bright colours of the fall leaves.

In Huanglong (which I'm sure I'm spelling wrong), or Yellow Dragon, the water falls down the mountain gathering in small pools on its way down.  The minerals in the water actually turn the mountain-side a light shade of yellow, and the pools a bright shade of blue.  Though we missed a lot on the way up, we did take in a bit on the way down.  A lot of people take a "rope way" up and walk down, but Darren and I opted for walking the entire thing.  On the way, we saw a lot of people with oxygen tanks, or stopped at the various oxygen bars along the way.  Apparently the altitude gets to people and makes it hard for them to make the climb.  But it's not even a climb really.  All the mountains we expect to be more like Grouse or the Chief, but they're all just a series of steps, and not very steep.  Again, the weather was kind of crappy and it was freezing, but still a gorgeous wonder of China's landscape.  As Darren and I were discussing, it's just a pitty you have to travel so far and pay so much to enjoy what little of the beautiful landscape is left.

Finally, the other "experience" that I got from the tour was less scenic and more... personal I suppose.  I tend to avoid squat toilets when at all possible, especially the ones where there isn't really a stall so much as two small walls on either side of you and no door.  When travelling with a tour however, and in a rural area especially, you basically don't have an option unless you want to pee your pants.  During our tour, not only did I use squat toilets, but also squat toilets that look more like a trough (troft?), and I used them with people standing right in front of me waiting for me to finish.  These weren't clean squat toilets either.  If you do have the option of picking which stall you go into, then you can pick the one that doesn't have number two splattered all over the floor, but usually, you just had to use whatever was available when it was available.  It's a small milestone, but one you have to experience in China and I think I can now successfully cross that one off my list.  I've actually gotten pretty good at it... squatting that is.  It's difficult at first, trying to aim, but you really just have to get right in there.  It's not like hovering over a public toilet, but you fully have to squat as low as you can get basically!  I'm still perfecting my technique, but I think I've got it down pretty good.

While you think about that, Darren and I are heading off to Kunming.  20 hours!  It's a long one.  I'm going to work on getting photos posted soon but I've run out of time for now.  Hope everyone is well and we'll send word from the Yunnan province next.