MY FIRST OVERLAND BUS IN CHINA WAS HEADING TO JIUZHAIGOU NATIONAL PARK

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“Once I asked my friend who has lived in China for 3 years “what is the most beautiful place in China that I should come?” He definitely answered “The most beautiful place in china that I’ve came is Jiuzhaigou National Park”

The statement that always running on my head to made me finally decide to put it on my bucket list. I departed from Guyuan, Ningxia Province where I accidentllay went to this place (read the story how did I go to the wrong direction).

Fifteen hours passed, I arrived in Guangyuan railway station. The station was pretty huge and new, there was also English and chinese sign board. I got off of the train and followed the sign board to Long-distance bus terminal where located on the next of the railway station. There were couple of buses on the bus terminal. The ticket counter sign board was in chinese and no English. I asked to some officer and showed my google translate told them that I wanted to buy ticket to Jiuzhaigou. One of the ladies pointed out to the locket counter, as I walked to that direction, there was another lady yelling so loud just 5 meter away from my ears “Jiuzhaigou !! Jiuzhaigou !! come follow me !!” I followed her just because she spoke English. She asked me to pay for 90 rmb for one ticket but I didn’t get the ticket, she just told me to go inside of the bus and sat on the front.

The bus to Jiuzhaigou

The bus ride took 6 hours with 20 minutes stop for lunch time. During that 6 hours, we stopped two times for toilet stop, this was also my first time to deal with

public toilet in China which always make me want to throw up everything on my stomach every time I remember those horrible experiences.

The view from my window seat from Guangyuan to Jiuzhaigou

When you travel in China especially the remote area, you should getting used to the public toilet where we exactly pee together in the same room which only divided by 50 cm partition between the holes and have to pay 1 rmb for the manual hole (what I mean manual is only a hole not the squad WC or those kind of WC machine) that never be flushed ! YESS A HOLE THAT NEVER BE FLUSHED OR DON’T HAVE FLUSH !!

Well that’s the fact that recognized me boldly….
“HEY WELCOME TO CHINA !”

The bus that took me to Jiuzhaigou

The bus departed at 11.00 am and will stop at Jiuzhaigou bus terminal which is 40 km away from Jiuzhaigou National park or Pengfeng Village (the area where there are some hotel and hostel located). I read on some travel online sources that from Jiuzhaigou bus terminal, you just can tell the driver to go to pengfeng village and pay extra 10 rmb, but then the driver didn’t take that route. Lucky me, I met a british couple, and the guy spoke chinese very well. So I asked them to go together to Pengfeng village. We took a sharing car and pay 40 rmb for each.

Pengfeng Village

The area where so many hostels located named Pengfeng Village. It’s only located 15 minutes walk to the Jiuzhaigou National Park entrance. I stayed in Friendship hostel which has good reviews and good rates in booking.com and hostelworld.com. I got my bed in a dorm and again felt safe when found someone speak English. There were Jerome (Taiwanese who speak both English and chinese), Caroline (Chinese who speak both as well), Rebecca (American), and Isolina (Chile) being my roommates. The moment finally I can do the verbal communication after didn’t talk for the past 3 days.

Having dinner together with my new roomates Caroline and Jerome !

Every night in Friendship Hostel, there was a short brief introduction about the National Park by the owner named Robbie. It was really helpful as I didn’t have any idea about the park before. Robbie told me that there was 2 ways to explore the national park and 1 day is enough to cover all of the things. He also told us that we should book ticket in advance to avoid queue on the spot. We just needed to pay extra 5 rmb to get the ticket in advance. The hostel also provide a car to drop us to the park at 06.00 am. So, the day after we got in and arrived in JiuZhaiGou National Park.

HOW TO GET THERE :

FROM XI’AN TO JIUZHAIGOU
– Take the train to Guangyuan Station
– When you get off of Guangyuan Station, follow the direction to long-distance bus terminal where located next to the railway station (the sign board are in english and chinese, so dont worry)
– Buy the ticket to Jiuzhaigou for 90 rmb on the ticket counter (just say jiu-zhai-gou, or show them this chinese language (九寨沟)
– The bus will stop at the city center of jiuzhaigou which is 40 km from Jiuzhaigou national park.
– When you get off of the bus, there will be so many people asking you to go to Jiuzhaigou national park. Take the sharing car for 40 rmb/each, just show this chinese language to the driver or say Jiu Zhai Gou (九寨沟) , or if you already have the address of your hostel, show the chinese address. It will take around 1 hour to go to pengfeng village.

FROM CHENGDU TO JIUZHAIGOU
– You also can reach Jiuzhaigou from Chengdu with bus for 8 hrs ride.
– The bus go 3 times in a day
– It’s better to buy at the hostel you stay, just ask the reception desk, and they will buy it for you.
– The cost is 150 rmb for one way ticket, and the bus will stop directly in Pengfeng village.

ACCOMODATIONS :
I stayed in Friendship hostel which has good reviews and good rates in booking.com and hostelworld.com. The staffs speak English so fluent, and there was an electric bed to make it warm, as the weather in Jiuhaigou would be around 4-6 celcius in daytime and below 4 at night. The rates is 60 rmb/nights. Foods are all delicious !! they serve western and chinese foods as well.

NEXT POST : BACKPACKING GUIDE TO EXPLORE JIUZHAIGOU NATIONAL PARK IN ONE DAY TRIP

Cheers,
Kadekarini