Our trip started in Chengdu, the capital city of Szechwan Province. As known the world over, the Szechwan cuisine is indeed hot and spicy. A lot of dishes are prepared with hot pepper that will literally numb your tongue; it is that hot. The Szechwan opera was something special that shouldn’t be missed either.

It snowed the night before and due to weather conditions, we could not go to Huanglong or the Yellow Dragon but instead we visited Munigou or Valley of Shakyamuni, scenically similar to Huanglong but at a slightly lower elevation with easier access. The scenery there was absolutely breathtaking. We were the first group to get there and the snow cover was untouched.

Jiuzhaigou or the Valley of the Nine Villages, is famous for its many waterfalls and was the shooting location of several movies. From Chengdu you have to pass nine hairpin curves to go to Jiuzhaigou. The valley is dotted with lakes and pools of various sizes filled with crystal clear water but blue reflecting water.

On the religous end, we visited the Giant Budha in Mount Leshan, now the largest in the world after the one in Afghanistan was so wastefully destroyed. Mount E'Mei is another religous mountain in China where under very rare atmospheric circumstances you can see Fo Guang or Budha's Bright/Light from the top of the mountain. Too bad, the fog was so thick and did not lift at all the entire day when we were there.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy the images. Please feel free to drop a line or two.