Along the journey to Jiu Zhai Gou, we visited a Taoping Qiang Village, 羌寨.
The village has history about 2000 years, with only about 98 families left staying in these traditional Qiang style houses made of solid stones.
It is like taking geography lesson travelling to Jiu Zhai Gou via buses. Along the route, it is like revising my secondary geography lessons, seeing the mountain valleys, river meanders, all the nature's works that we used to learn in our textbooks coming alive. I would strongly encourage geography students to travel this route to practically experience what is being taught. It will surely leave deep impression in their mind and help them score As in their Geo exam.
I could still recall 10 years ago when we 1st visited Jiu Zhai Gou when its tourism just started to develop. The roads were still bumpy stone roads & they were narrow, barely enough for 2 buses. 1 wrong judgement, off you go down the cliff to the rivers. I could recall praying hard then while travelling:P. Now, with the emphasis & development of tourism, the roads are well-developed roads that we see in city area & the tunnels are also well-built. Really must salute to the Chinese for their development.:-)
Thick snow as we travelled higher up the mountain and our bus had to stop to put chains on its wheels to create fiction to travel on the slippery snowy roads. We also took the opportunity to take some snow pictures during the break.
On our way back, we stopped at this spot to take some pictures with the beautiful white mountain ox. With RMB5, you could take pictures with the ox & even ride on it under the supervision of its owner.
It is common to see the skeleton of the Ox's head :-( as a decor in front of houses etc. To them, it is an auspicious decor.
Beautiful scene it is, some parts of the river started to defrost as the weather got warmer on our return journey.
It is certainly a different experience to travel in winter. Personally, I would still prefer Autumn weather & scenery.
Beautiful flowers had been arranged along the street. The white & purple cabbage-like flowers are unique. I wonder what they are called. I had forgotten to ask my local guide.:P
Our visit to National Treasure of China, Pandas at Chengdu: 成都大熊猫繁育研究基地 Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Could you imagine that the new born panda is pink in color & only size of a finger?
The research centre has quite good environment. I would have mistaken it as entering S'pore Zoo as they created a very cosy playground environment for the pandas.
I didn't know that Pandas can actually climb high trees until this visit, did you spot one at above picture?
They are forever busy munching their bamboo shoots. 
Does above resemble shape of a flower?
From waterfall to rapids to lake, a good geography lesson 
Tibetan houses & shops along the lake, did you notice something familar on the door for those been to the "Om" retreat? 
Stupas in front of a cultural village
It's a pity we don't have much time to explore further as our tour is only a day here at Jiuzhaigou.
Does the ice on the right resemble many piglets drinking milk and a small elephant? 
Can you identify LingZhi in the picture?
Beautiful lakes they are, it is really worth our effort to travel all the way to admire the beauty of Jiuzhaigou fairyland.
Our 1st destination is this 诺日朗瀑布 NuoRiLang Waterfall where we took many beautiful shots. If you look carefully, the water in the waterfall had actually frozen to ice. So, you can see different natural ice scuplture according to your imagination.
Our tour guide went in search of our missing tour mates who could not bear to leave the beautiful place:P
Actually, the place is even more beautiful in Autumn. I recall snapping more than 1000 shots in Jiuzhaigou with my friends 10 years ago using film cameras. If Digital camera was available then, we could have snapped more:P
The village has history about 2000 years, with only about 98 families left staying in these traditional Qiang style houses made of solid stones.
It is like taking geography lesson travelling to Jiu Zhai Gou via buses. Along the route, it is like revising my secondary geography lessons, seeing the mountain valleys, river meanders, all the nature's works that we used to learn in our textbooks coming alive. I would strongly encourage geography students to travel this route to practically experience what is being taught. It will surely leave deep impression in their mind and help them score As in their Geo exam. 
Thick snow as we travelled higher up the mountain and our bus had to stop to put chains on its wheels to create fiction to travel on the slippery snowy roads. We also took the opportunity to take some snow pictures during the break.
On our way back, we stopped at this spot to take some pictures with the beautiful white mountain ox. With RMB5, you could take pictures with the ox & even ride on it under the supervision of its owner.
It is common to see the skeleton of the Ox's head :-( as a decor in front of houses etc. To them, it is an auspicious decor.
Beautiful scene it is, some parts of the river started to defrost as the weather got warmer on our return journey.
It is certainly a different experience to travel in winter. Personally, I would still prefer Autumn weather & scenery.
