7 day trip around Sichuan
Replies: 5 - Last Post: Dec 19, 2012 5:21 PM Last Post By: restlesshobo
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7 day trip around Sichuan
I will be arriving in Chengdu on Dec. 29th late at night and I will need to fly back to Beijing on Jan. 6th in the morning. I posted about this before, but I'm pretty sure I want to change my itinerary for this trip. I keep reading about how aggressive the monkeys are on Emeishan. I am really against beating animals and the sites I keep finding mention getting a stick to fend them off, no photos and walk away slowly, etc. Just doesn't seem too safe. Maybe it isn't as bad as they make it out to be? Regardless, I really want to check out the Tibetan villages more than Emei and Leshan now. People on here will probably be telling me that the roads will be blocked and it will be dangerous. I have read peoples' blogs on other sites and seen their photos of places like Danba and Tagong in the winter time and they both look beautiful and these people look like they are having a great time. I'm wondering if this itinerary seems possible in 7 days(Dec. 30th - Jan. 5th):Day 1: Chengdu panda research facility half day + Face changing opera/hot pot at night (overnight bus/train/van to Rilong available?)
Day 2 & 3?: Siguniang (overnight to Danba)
Day 4: Danba (overnight to Tagong)
Day 5 & 6?: Tagong grasslands
Day 7: head back to Chengdu
Day 8: fly back to Beijing
I know I will need a decent amount of time to get from place to place and the road conditions are already bad even with winter aside I know. I want to try to save money on hostels and hotels by traveling from place to place overnight and sleeping on the way. Is this possible? I might be willing to either hike Siguniang for a day rather than 2 days or just possibly skip Danba? Tagong looks amazing, so if it is possible, I really want to visit there. There has to be someone on this site who has been to this region during this time right? I would appreciate anyone's help with this.
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I had a trip in 2012.10 on Chengdu- Danba- Ba Mei- Tagong- Xin Du Qiao- Kangding- Yading.....O...ops, first of all, it is a l......o.......n...g time when I hiked at Emeishan from Baoguo Si- Jin Dǐng (the summit). I still remember it is April. At Xi Xiang Chi, an aggressive monkey hit me to check am I hided some food in my body.
Bear in mind that, don't try to 'getting a stick to fend them off'. Also, in April, beyond Xi Xiang Chi, it has snow due to high altitude.
Back to your itinerary, I took bus on Chengdu- Danba.
At Chengdu's 'Chadianzi' bus station (metro#2), bus leaved at 06:30, cost RMB148pp. It via Ya'an, Tianquan, Luding, Guza (has a checkpoint), Jin Chuan Canyon and arrived at 21:00.
Danba- Ba Mei- Tagong
I took a shared mini Van. At the main street, there are a lot of driver will ask you. It is a scenic road.
My trip is Danba- Ba Mei, cost RMB40, traveling time is 3.50H. I had stop here to visit Huiyuan Temple, Pagoda Group and the largest 'prayer wheel' in Ganzi.
I skipped the Ba Mei Stone Forest.
Ba Mei- Tagong
At Ba Mei's parking lot, there are a lot of driver will call 'Tagong, Xin Du Qiao....'. It cost RMB20 to Tagong, traveling time is 1hour.
You can stay in the town, or inside the Golden Pagoda, or the inn that faces the Golden Pagoda.
I choose the inn (bear in mind that all common rooms are facing the Pagoda) because the view is amazing.
Tagong worth stays one whole day. I visited the Golden Pagoda, Temple and grasslands. Besides that, the 'Ge Ri Ma Zha Xi Temple', 'Xikang Fojiao Xian Mi Jiang Xiu Xing Long Da Seng Yuan', the 3 holy hills and an unknown temple are worth.
Tagong- Chengdu
Not sure, there is a bus but non-stop at Tagong.
I took shared Van at the square which in front of Tagong Temple. Cost RMB20 and the traveling time is 1 hour.
The shared Van also head to Kangding, may be you go there and change bus to Chengdu. In Kangding, there are a lot of bus to Chengdu (from 06:00~15:00) and Chengdu North Railway Station (06:00~11:30)
FYI.
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@Sophia1986 - I have a lot of warm winter clothes prepared for the trip. Have you been to Sichuan during the winter before?@Loveland - By long time...do you mean like 2 days or more to hike all the way to the top? Since it will be really cold, I might hike just halfway up to get some great photos and then bus or cable to the summit. That way I would save a lot of time and avoid being attacked by monkeys. How hard did he hit you? Did the monkey kind of tap you or did it throw like a punch at you? That is crazy.
So in April, it takes the whole day to bus to Danba...sounds like it might take me even longer since there will be snow. Where exactly is Huiyuan Temple? Is it on the way from Danba to Tagong? If so, I would be interested in visiting there. I know you didn't go to Tagong directly from Danba, but how long would it take you think? I am not interested in seeing the Ba Mei stone forest, so I would want to bus directly from Danba to Tagong.
I don't think I will have enough time to go to Kangding...unless I skip some places. Should I skip Danba and possibly Siguniang to give me more time to visit Tagong and Kangding? What places did you enjoy the most during your trip? Thanks for your detailed post. Have you ever been to Sichuan during December/January before?
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The Giant Buddha of Leshan is absolutely amazing. Definitely get there on a day trip from Chengdu.I would advise going north to Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou. If you have the budget, fly to Huanglong. I took a rather miserable 12-hour bus ride from Chengdu to Songpan, which is a cool little town. The following day it was a few more hours to Huanglong, then another bus from there to Jiuzhaigou. Despite the bus ride, it was the best trip of my 4 years in China.
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I want to save my trip to Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong for the autumn because there will be a lot more color than during winter. Yeah, I will definitely check out Leshan. Did you check out any other places that I did or didn't mention? What other places would you suggest? I really need to check out at least a few Tibetan villages while I am there.
