16/02/2010 - Yunnan, The Province of Mountains, Part 4.1

5 something in the morning, the air is cold, but I had to leave my very warm bed to get ready for the tour of the day. After preparation and taken my breakfast in the hotel, we headed to the bus. The tour guide given us an extra jacket, as we are heading to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

It was freezing when we reached the foot of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, worst still, I didn't wear any gloves, my hands were so cold that I have to rushed into the bus station to grabbed some gloves for myself, my parents and my grandma. The glove I bought was not in good quality, so it actually didn't keep my hands warm, but it's better than nothing.
another bus taken us from the bus station to the cable car station, we started the long queue. It took us almost one and a half hour to reach our turn to get into the cable car.


Snow~! Finally I reached the top of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain


4,506 meters above sea level, actually i feel lack of oxygen. I was a bit blur during that moment, have to rely on the canned oxygen bought from the tour guide


Yunnan, the province of mountains


I didn't climb up the staircase to the higher ground. Firstly, lack of time; secondly, I don't wanna faint on halfway






A cup of hot ginger tea has never been so satisfying after spending 40 minutes outside where the temperature was below 0°C


It's time to leave

After we came down from the Snow Mountain, the tour guide brought us to the tourist spot not far from the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.




Lan Yue Gu （蓝月谷）, or known as the Valley of the Blue Moon. The tour guide said that, it's called Lan Yue Gu is due to when the light of the Moon shines on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the light will be reflected by the snow on the mountain to the valley, thus, it was know as Lan Yue Gu


A waterfall near the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, this is my favorite shot of the whole trip


Jiuzhaigou National Park （九寨沟） has the lake with 5 different colors, but the lake at the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain also has quite a nice view, though it just has 3 colors within the lake


The Lake of the Blue Moon （蓝月湖）, I guess it's the same as the Valley of the Blue Moon


Gan Hai Zi （甘海子）, it's a huge grassland located at the East of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain


The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

After that, we went to the visit the worshiping place of the natives - the race of Nakhi （纳西族） known as Yu Shui Zhai （玉水寨）. There're nothing much to see over here, so just a few random shots over here.


Cherry Blossom


Saw a yak in Yu Shui Zhai again

Next, we went to have our lunch. The restaurant is known as Ma Bang Cai （马帮菜）. Ma Bang are the traders with horses that carried their good to trade through the Ancient Tea Route （茶马古道）.

The Ancient Tea Route was a network of mule caravan paths winding through the mountains of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It is also referred to as the Southern Silk Road. From around a thousand years ago, the Ancient Tea Route was a trade link from Yunnan, one of the first tea-producing regions: to India via Burma; to Tibet; and to central China via Sichuan Province. In addition to tea, the mule caravans carried salt.

It is believed that it was through this trading network that tea (typically tea bricks) spread across China and Asia from its origins in Pu'er county, near Simao Prefecture in Yunnan (Wikipedia)


The restaurant that's selling the dishes of the ancient Ma Bang


Chicken cooked with potatoes, carrots and radishes




Roast duck


Deep fried brinjal






I like pumpkins, but this dish of pumpkins is more like a dessert to me, just not my taste





Some random shots outside the restaurant after my lunch.