Thorn Tree travel forum

2.5 week Sichuan itinerary--help please :)

Hi, I’m planning a first-time trip to Sichuan this fall with my boyfriend (it’s never to early to start planning, right? :) I’m new to The Thorn Tree and am a first-time poster, although I’ve spent a lot of time reading others’ posts about this region. Based on that and some initial planning, I’ve put together a rough itinerary that I’d love to hear some feedback on, and I also had some questions.

Some background first: I’m Chinese and can get along fine on Mandarin. I haven’t done too much travel in China other than climbing Huangshan and Huashan, but do plan to come back to other regions. I like scenic outdoorsy stuff, but am not exactly into days on end of hiking with packs :) And I need to be back in HK by the night of day 19 (10/25). So, here goes:

Current itinerary:
Day 1 (10/7): Arrive in Chengdu early evening
Day 2: Bus to Leshan, day at Dafo, go to Emei that night
Day 3: Hike 2/3 to top of Emei, overnight at temple
Day 4: Make it to summit and see surroundings, overnight at summit temple
Day 5: Sunrise at Emei and descent, busride back to Chengdu
Day 6: Day in Chengdu, including Sanxingdui museum, evening flight to Songpan
Days 7-9: Horse trek
Day 10: Bus to Huanglong, day there, and get to Jiuzhaigou that night
Days 11-12: JZG (I know, I know… get to the park at the crack of dawn :)
Day 13: Bus back to Songpan, flight back to Chengdu, evening in Chengdu
Day 14: Bus to dam, get to Wolong that evening
Day 15: Half-day at Wolong, start busride to Siguniangshan
Days 16-17: Siguniangshan
Day 18: Long trip back to Chengdu, rest of evening in Chengdu
Day 19 (10/25): Fly back to HK via Shenzhen

Additional questions:
1. Is a Songpan horse trek really worth it? (I know Weilong loved it, but I've also read some really really bad reviews on the web). If so, how many days is a reasonable minimum-—can I just do 2 instead of 3? I’m definitely going to Jiuzhaigou, so I’m passing through Songpan anyway, but I just don’t know if this is really amazing, or whether the 2-3 days can be squeezed out and put elsewhere.

2. How many days do I really need at Emei? I intend to hike all the way up from Wannian Si, but am not sure whether I need 2 days for the ascent. LP says 1 day up and 1 day down is fine, but then again, I climbed to the top of Huashan in 1 day, and it was so exhausting as to not be so enjoyable. I like hiking, so I’ve been debating whether it’d be nicer just to take my time and enjoy the scenery along the way up (that, and/or take the longer, Southern route).

3. Is there a way to get from Emei to Wolong that’s easier/faster than going back through Chengdu?

4. My current itinerary includes Siguniangshan, partly b/c I’d thought Wolong was a not-to-be-missed (now I’m not so sure, based on Chengdude’s posts about the Breeding Center just outside Chengdu). But it still looks/sounds pretty beautiful. Though I’m not sure it’s worth it, or even what there is to do there… can I just go and hike the area on my own, or do I need to do this as part of a tour? Any advice would help, since the books/internet don’t offer too much practical info on this place.

5. Now, here’s the really big question… if not Wolong/Siguniang, what should I do instead? Without it, I have 6 extra days, possibly even more if I scale back Emei or take out the Songpan horsetrek (I can also fly from Chengdu to wherever I go next if not to Wolong). I know the options are almost limitless—-Lhasa, Yunnan, Guilin, etc., but I’d always thought it was better to see an area/region more completely than just hopping about all over the place just to get the highlights. I'd also hate to get somewhere, and find that I just didn't have enough time to see as much as I would want (although I guess that's inevitable anyway :) I feel pretty confident that I’ll come back to Yunnan, so I’m tempted to put off Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, and TLG til I can do the whole thing more completely (hopefully same for Tibet), in which case… maybe Yangshuo and Longsheng on my way back to Shenzhen? Unless people feel like 6-7 days really is enough for the Yunnan area. I really just don’t know. Only areas I’m not interested in are Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai (no offense... just been there already). Everything else is game.

Thanks so much… these forums have been super-helpful in planning. And of course, I’ll report back everything from the trip (still so far away!! :(