Mom is still not feeling well. The tour itinerary will return to Chengdu (成都) in 2 days, so mom and dad opt to stay there and rest as she is still very sick, and the change in altitude will probably only make things worst. The altitude of the areas we'll be going to in Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟) will be around 3000m. They tell me to go on with the group or it will be a waste. We have an early 5:30am. wake up call as we have a morning flight to Jiuzhaigou. I hop on the bus having not slept at all. Our Chengdu tour guide, Ling Ling, warns us of the dangers of altitude sickness and how a guide succumbed to difficulties. I was thinking I would be able to handle it, but after no sleep and her scare tactics, I decided to get the Chinese herbal altitude medicine just in case. For 90 RMB, we get 10 vials of medicine that comes with tiny straws.
A 45 min. flight turns into a 3 hr. ordeal. This is normal as Jiuzhaigou has many weather delays. I feel the effects of altitude as I'm pulling our luggage off the conveyor. My heart is beating fast. In preparation for afternoon trekking, we're offered tanks of oxygen. The aunties buy one each.
We arrive and have lunch first.
We arrive at the Huanglong Scenic Area (Yellow Dragon Valley)(黃龍). The yellow-ness of the rock and mineral formations makes it look like a yellow dragon winding down the mountain. The usual route is riding up the mountain in a cable car and then walking back down through all the sites. The walk would take 3-4 hrs. and since we arrived so late from the flight delay, there's no time to do that. Also, most of our group is too tired to do the full trek anyways. The aunties opt to just stay at the entrance building and have tea. They send me off with a tank of oxygen to explore. There are lots of colourful pools of water, waterfalls and weird rock formations made from limestone deposits. I make it almost halfway up the trail before I have to go back down to meet the group.
We stay at the Intercontinental Resort Jiuzhaigou Hotel. We enter into a huge atrium with shops and bars. The space is grand, but aside from our rooms, there's no heat.
We shiver through the dinner buffet in our coats and then Auntie Lucy helps me to call mom and dad in Chengdu. She speaks the best mandarin out of all the aunties. After several frustrating chats with the hotel operator, we finally get word that they're fine.
