A trip to Szechuan - Part 2

On our third day in Szechuan, we left Chengdu to climb Xinling Xueshan 西岭雪山. The locals thought that we would take the cable cars up the mountain and pointed us to take the bus to the cable car terminal. Later, knowing that to hike up the mountain, we needed to get to Chadiping 茶地坪, there were some hiccups and it eventually took us 5 hours to get from Chengdu to Chadiping.

At the foothill of Xiling Xueshan, this pagoda marked the start of a roughly 6 hour climb of about 1800m.  It was 11am when we got there and it got dark soon after 5pm. We had no time to take a rest but climbed all the way up in one go.






We passed a few buildings like this enroute.  I thought they were desserted and no longer in use.  When we climbed to the top, then we realised these are in fact hostels providing accommodation to mountain climbers. At the time of our visit, there were no guests as the earthquake had devastated the tourism industry.





Very steep climb but scenic


We eventually got to a hotel or hostel or a hut, whatever you call it, and called it a day.  The condition of this hostel was very similar to those desserted hostels we passed on our way to the summit.


This is our "hotel room", dearer than the room we paid in Chengdu.  Anyway, this was the only hostel in operation on this side of the mountain and we had no other choices.


This is a very befitting graffiti in our room.


The next day, we left early and climbed further up to Yingyang Boundary 阴阳界 at 3150m.


We passed a few avalanche sites caused by the earthquakes.




A route map of the mountain ranges


On our way to the cable car terminal.


We took the cable car down the hill.  This side of the mountain features a ski resort. Though I took some photos there, I do not think it is worthwhile sharing.

By night, we returned to Chengdu and this is a photo of the Wenshu Yuan Alley

大姐，四川不是这样拼的。Sichuan。请尊重中文用语习惯。Please be cautious and respectful on the use of Chinese PINYIN.

Goddiao 发表于 2013-3-16 12:22
大姐，四川不是这样拼的。Sichuan。请尊重中文用语习惯。Please be cautious and respectful on the use of ...

Why would this become an issue of disrespect? Think about these:
- Peking duck (not Beijing duck)
- Cantonese (not Guangdong hua or Guangdong ren)
- Yangtze River (not Chang Jiang or Yang Zi River or Yang zi Jiang)
- Mount Everest (not Zhu Mu Lang Ma Feng)
- The Good Person of Szechwan (by Bertolt Brecht) (not The Good Person of Sichuan)
- Dr Sun Yat-sen (not Dr Sun Yixian 孙逸先)
- The Rape of Nanking (by Iris Chang) (not The Rape of Nanjing)
- Tibet (not Xi Zhang)
- Munich (vs München)
- Cologne (vs Köln)
- Burma (vs Myanmar)
- Rangoon (vs Yangon)

Yes, there is a convention of usage.  Szechuan or Szechwan are not wrong.  They are just not customarily being used in China these days.

感谢分享

bulekuler 发表于 2013-3-18 09:12
感谢分享

Thanks. I hope we will all engage in sensible discussions.

ceciliachiu 发表于 2013-3-18 10:42
Thanks. I hope we will all engage in sensible discussions.

Thank you for your sharing. What's your impression of Szechuan? I have not been to my hometown for almost five years, wondering if many changes have taken place. I would recommend Jiuzaigou, if you had any chance. Regards.

那个涂鸦好有趣....

btw dont bother yourself to those losers who being retarded and disrespecful.

rock6lei 发表于 2013-3-21 23:04
Thank you for your sharing. What's your impression of Szechuan? I have not been to my hometown for ...

My first trip to Chengdu was in the early 90s.  My impression of the city was really good because in those days many old buildings were still there and being used by the people.  In my trip in 2008, Chengdu looked more grandiose but lost its vintage. Historical buildings are now in the hands of the rich or businesses. I reckon this is a price paid for by many developing cities.  

In this trip, I also saw Huanglong, Jiuzaigou, Songpan and Mt Emei.  Will post more photos when I have time.

My impression of Sichuan (to be politically correct these days) has always been good and I am sure I will go back and see more places there in future.

coastwind 发表于 2013-3-22 00:34
那个涂鸦好有趣....

btw dont bother yourself to those losers who being retarded and disrespecful. ...

Yes, I found the graffiti so funny that I had to take a shot.

Please do not label anyone loser or retarded.  We all have a right to express ourselves. We may have different opinions but as long as we keep the discussions rational and civilised, that is perfectly fine.  I am fine with Goddiao pointing out the current spelling of Sichuan. Szechuan was the spelling which I learnt from school (long, long time ago, probably before your time, ha...ha...).

I want to reiterate that that I use English in the forum is not because using English would make me feel superior. It is purely because it is too time consuming for me to input Chinese characters on a computer. For my family members and friends in HK, we all use English to write to each other (except for my mom who is illiterate). I will write in Chinese for work and if I have to but certainly not for irrelevant people who left nasty comments in this forum.