Jiuzaigou in four hours and Mianyang, China in a week
It’s that time of the year for my missions to China once more and this time the first segment of the trip is quite arduous. So I got an invitation to go to Mianyang 绵阳 in Sichuan for some talks and work. I’ve never heard of it so some googling helped me discover it was the epicenter of the 2008 big Sichuan earthquake. But more importantly it was a relatively short distance away from the beautiful Jiuzaigou! Now short in massive China is a relative thing but it was doable. However if you are planning a trip, the typical route is to take a plane from SIN to TFU (Chengdu airport) then you take a cab / bus and possibly a train to the Chengdu East Train station, then a high speed train to the newly opended Huanglong station then a cab to your hotel in JZG. So basically I will take a red eye flight to Chengdu then a driver will take me to holiday inn express in Jiuzaigou then rest for the night. Early next morning I’ll go inside the park with the aid of...