Danilovecats - U.K

Upon retreating to our room for the night, we were expecting another crap nights sleep as has been the process so far. How pleased we were to find Jiuzhaigou to be the quietest place we have stayed and we slept undisturbed until 9am, when the maid awoke us by unlocking our door and letting herself in!

Today we went round the Juizhaigou scenic reserve, which was breathtaking but bizarre at the same time. There were so many Chinese tourists; it was like Disney World for the Orient, but without any rides. Jiuzhaigou literally translates to "Valley of Nine Villages" and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. At its highest, it is 10,710ft high and the altitude is quite draining. We have got over any sickness after being a week at this level now, but you do tend to be short of breath quite easily because of the lack of oxygen and there is always a lingering headache.

The entire Jiuzhaigou reserve is about 240 sq miles, full of alpine mountains, waterfalls and Tibetan villages. Beneath the snow capped mountains there are almost 100 bright blue lakes lining the valley floor. The lakes are said to be 'broken slivers of the Tibetan Goddess Semo's vanity mirror' - actually it is due to copper deposits. But still, they are very pretty.

The remote region was originally inhabited by various Tibetan and Qiang tribes for centuries and was not officially discovered by the government until 1972 (not sure how they missed it, it being the size of Manchester to Bham squared!?). Extensive logging took place until 1979, when the Chinese government banned such activity. They then made the area a national park in 1982. The site officially opened to tourism in 1984 and is now an extremely popular attraction for the Chinese. I believe the area has inspired numerous famous poets and artists over the centuries, which we could appreciate once we were there. There were again virtually no westerners around, only about 3, who ignored us - as usual.

The entire day, we constantly had people taking our photo or following us with video cameras. I was under the impression the Chinese were a reticent, demure race - not so, it transpires. There was no ignominy with literally grabbing us as we walked past, to pose in their photos or sidling up to us while we took in the views, while one of their party took photos. These scenarios usually resulted in the whole group taking it in turns for a photo with us, while we stood bemused unable to escape. Lizi got rather tired of this after the 30th time and so I was left to satisfy the photo demand solo.