Jiuzhaigou, literally the Valley of Nine Villages, 400 km from Chengdu City, China, is considered the heaven on earth with snow-capped peaks, green stretches of pine forests, many multi-level waterfalls and colourful lakes. Because of its charm, a leading outbound travel company in Vietnam is launching a low-price tour with a lot of attractive promotion programmes to this dreamland. The tour price ranges between VND12 million and VND14 million a person for 5-6 day options.
Chinese has a saying that whoever sets foot on Jiuzhaigou does not want to look at any lake on earth because all the exquisite beauty of nature seems to boil down to this place where 108 lakes look like clear mirrors charmingly nestled along the ravine stretching over 5 km in Sichuan province, southern China.
Previously, departing from Hanoi to Chengdu, travellers had to fly past Guangzhou to Nanning. But now, the travelling is extremely convenient. They can go from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou by car or by air. At present, Vietnam Airlines is operating direct flights to Chengdu to meet the travelling demand of customers. The flight time takes some three hours, with three flights a week on Wednesday s, Fridays and Sundays, departing from Hanoi at 12:10 pm and Chengdu at 4:15 pm.
Tours to Jiuzhaigou are usually operated by travel companies in cooperation with landscape sites near Chengdu like Emeishan (Mount Emei) - one of four most beautiful mountains in China, Leshan Dafo (Giant Buddha of Leshan) - the tallest stone Buddha statue in the world, Zhuge Liang Memorial Temple, Panda conservation site, and Dujiangyan irrigation system- an irrigation infrastructure built in 256 BC during the Warring States Period of China by the Kingdom of Qin. Jiuzhaigou also has many lakes in Jiuzhaigou primeval forest like Twin Dragon Lake, Sleeping Dragon Lake, Swan Lake, Grass Lake, Arrow Bamboo Lake - shooting location for world-famed Hero movie, Panda Lake, Panda Waterfall, Five-Colour Pond, Pearl Shoal, etc. The entrance fee is 220 yuan (equivalent to VND725,000) a person and sightseeing fee is 90 yuan (VND300,000).
Pham Tien Dung, Director of Golden Tour & Convention Centre, said: You should arrive in Jiuzhaigou the night before you start visiting the site because you can use the whole next day for discovering it. Currently, some outbound travel companies in Vietnam have very professional tours with reasonable prices (ranging between VND12 million and VND14 million per person for 5-6 day tour, depending hotels and attendants). They also offer gifts in kind, ticket discount, etc for customers. Golden Tour & Convention presents an international insurance package worth VND630 million for each customer.
Dining in a fresh cold air on the upland, you can enjoy specialty dishes like Tibetan stewed beef, mushroom soup with beef, carrots with beef and potatoes with beef. You might not be familiar with unique tastes of Tibetan cuisines but in an amusing atmosphere, joined by Tibetan dancers, you will feel the unforgettable unique flavour of the foods.
Although there are many economy hotels in Jiuzhaigou, you should carefully study and book rooms before starting the journey to avoid unexpected price hikes, said Mr Dung. If you find it hard, you can ask tourist companies to do it for you. Daily room rate is 200 - 400 yuan a day, depending on quality and days of the week.
In addition, in July and August, daytime temperatures are 15-24 degrees Celsius but it is quite cold at night. Thus, travellers should prepare warm clothes to discover Jiuzhaigou. Remember to bring camera to shoot unforgettable moments of life.
Thu Huyen
Vietnamese
