Thursday, May 12, 2011

.Jiuzhaigou National Park

Our fourth day in China was my favorite as we visited Jiuzhaigou National Park. The park is very beautiful, with multi colored lakes and some beautiful reflections of the surrounding mountains.

The park is very large and we were not able to bring our rented van inside, so we used the public buses that operate in the park. The buses themselves were fine, but our fellow passengers seemed more than willing to knock over anyone in their way to get a seat. I managed to make a few Chinese guys unhappy. The first starting saying something to me in Chinese when I blocked him from getting on before me. More precisely, I held my arm against the bus so he couldn't shove his way through and knock over my kids who were standing right in front of me and between him and the bus entrance. At one stop, there was a man who was trying to reserve a seat for his friend with his jacket. As there were no other seats, I indicated that Nalin was going to sit there. He shook his head to tell me no. At that point our guide started berating him a bit, and he relented. It was a good thing for him, because I was more than willing to sit on his coat and put Nalin on my lap.

Despite my lovely fellow site seers, the park is very nice. We could have probably spent a few days there, particularly if it were just Tim and I.   In the morning we drove by this beautiful lake that reflected the mountains named Rhinoceros Lake.  I really wanted to take some photos there, and the guide said that we would return later in the day. As the time approached, he told me that the reflection might not be there as it is often more windy in the afternoon.  I was a bit annoyed but hopeful.  Rhinoceros Lake was one of our last stops, and fortune was with us, because the reflection was really beautiful.  I spent about thirty minutes taking photos.

Another fun part was when Tim, the kids and Sine rented Tibetan costumes for photos by one of the multi-colored lakes.  I think the cost was four or five dollars each, and we used the costumes for a good twenty minutes.

At the end we were doing some shopping.  Jacob found a Tibetan blade that he wanted to buy.  It was surprisingly cheap, about $30.  I mentioned something to the guide about it, and he told us that we would not be able to take it out of the country.  The Chinese government doesn't allow the exporting of Tibetan blades.  I'm just glad that we found out before he bought the thing.

Below are just a handful of the photos.  I was really happy with the shots of the lake with the Tibetan flags in the foreground.  Most people were taking photos on a wooden deck about seventy-five yards to the right of me.  I found a path with a ton of the prayer flags and followed it.  I was able to use some of them in the shot.  Its nice to get a shot that's somewhat different than every other shot.

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