National Day - Jiuzhaigou

National Day holiday is October 1st in China and it's one of two week long holidays where the entire country is free from school/work at the same time.  Usually we try to get OUT of the country in order to avoid the nightmare which is inevitable when 1.3 billion tourists are on the move.  This year we had hoped to go to Laos or Cambodia with Stacey and Derek again, but due to the guys last minute notice on work schedules it didn't work out.   SO, we ended up going to Sichuan province which unfortunately had a devastating earthquake hit earlier this year, but because of that disaster the tourists were few and far between, which was (selfishly) fortunate for us.

We flew into Chengdu, the capitol of Sichuan and then headed to Jiuzhaigou the next morning.  Due to a total freak incident, perhaps because we were the only foreigners at the entire airport, we ended up in first class - both of us for the first time ever.  This enjoyable experience was shortlived however, due to the fact that the flight was only 45 minutes long.  Oh well, it was great to be jet-setters for a brief stint.  

Flyin' in style

Jiuzhaigou has a famous National Park which is absolutely breathtaking.  In a country where environmental concerns have not been at the top of the priority list, it was amazing to see a place so well preserved and protected.  We spent the day hiking various trails and being overwhelmed by the range of colors present in nature.  Northern Sichuan's elevation is between 3000 - 4000 meters, so we were feeling some of the effects with shortness of breath and headaches.