*I haven't been a tourist here in a long time, but here's a post based on an email I put together for my brother's best friend who asked for summer San Francisco visit recommendations...
FYI summer is cold in SF. As Mark Twain is famously misquoted, "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" (apparently he never said that). The rest of the Bay Area though, Peninsula and South Bay, Marin and Napa/Sonoma Counties up north, are all wonderful and sunny and summer-like.
Big picture, you probably want to think about what you want to do on the weekend… everywhere is crowded on the weekends in the summer, but wine country is probably less pleasant with a lot of people. Just make sure you check with the wineries about what days are off (a lot of them have Monday or Tuesday as their day off). Same with Muir Woods or Point Reyes, better without a lot of people.
San Francisco
It’s probably easiest to stay closer to downtown and the touristy areas, lots of more options. There is a new chain of trendy “W”-like hotels that are reasonable priced, they’re at www.jdvhotels.com. Clift is another boutique hotel. Probably want to stay away from anything near Moscone (big convention center), not too close to Union Square but around is fairly central.
I hear Alcatraz is pretty cool (again would avoid on weekend), and probably worth walking around Fisherman’s Wharf. You can drive down Lombard St (the zigzag road). Walk around the Castro and Haight area, fun shops, more east village-y. The Mission has the great Mexican food (actually all around) and fun shops and bars. Go up to Pacific Street, highest point of that side of city and great views. If you want to be healthy, go for a run on the Embarcadero or over by the Marina along Crissy Field, really pretty and great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Blazing Saddles is a bike company, all around SF, and you can rent bikes for the day. I would take one day and bike over the Golden Gate over to Marin County (other side of the bridge) and down the hill to Sausalito and Tiburon, which are super cute towns there (kind of like waterfront Darien ish). Great place called Sam’s which is really popular for day time boozing, a lot of SFers will take the morning ferry on a weekend day and hang out on their patio all day. Town has nice restaurants and shops too. There’s a ferry that goes back to SF so you don’t have to climb the hill back to the bridge and SF
Eating and Drinking
San Francisco and the Bay Area are fantastic for eating and drinking. There's a great range of dining options, from food trucks to Michelin stars, and every ethnic cuisine out there. SF has great fine dining, the Mission is known for best Mexican, and I think the South Bay has the best Asian.
Look at Yelp for dining options, it's very robust here. This is my SF favorites eats post, and all of my Yelp reviews are here.
Here's a quick list of places for cocktails by location. I haven't been to all of these, but here's the SF Cocktails Yelp list.
• Bourbon and branch, Rye – Civic Center/Tenderloin
• Rickhouse, Burritt Room – Union Sq
• Comstock Saloon, 15 Romolo – both near Columbus Ave/N Beach
• Prospect, Bar Agricole – SOMA, nicer bars
• Maven, Blackbird, Churchill, Alembic – Lower and Upper Haight
• Armory Bar, Elixir, Locanda, El Techo – Mission, Armory is a little risque but my new favorite
Here's a good list of places to get beer.
Wine Country
Napa and Sonoma are actually kind of far apart and a little different, so you can pick one or other, or you can spend one day in each (though I think two days of wine tasting might be a bit much). Napa is the more famous of the two, with more wineries and more recognizable wineries. Pretty easy to get around but probably more commercialized and slightly more expensive. Sonoma has some cute downtown areas and good wineries that are more chill, but harder to get around since it's more spread out. Here is a Sonoma & Napa post with more details
I highly recommend that you get a car to take you guys around for a day. You can either drive up that morning, check in and have the car meet you, then spend night there, or come up in afternoon, have a nice evening, booze all next day, and spend night (I would do latter if expenses work out).
I think there is a range of nice hotels (Fairmont in Sonoma) to more bed and breakfast types that are in downtown Napa and Sonoma, which would put you closer to the restaurants and stuff.
You can also rent a house if you have more people, or just want the option to cook for more than one night stay. http://www.vrbo.com/ is a good search site for rentals.
Two car services I'd recommend that I've used.
Sona Bedrosian at Private Limousine Service
1-866-866-7788
1-707-843-4114
Katie at Sonoma Sterling Limo
1-707-542-5444
Btw you can also do wine or cheese tasting locally. The Cheese School of San Francisco is one in SF
Other stuff
Definitely plan some hikes, there’s great nature in the Bay Area. Muir Woods is a park with redwoods in Marin County. Bunch of parks and hikes though
Here are some sites I’ve collected through the years
http://www.parks.ca.gov/parkindex/
http://kevingong.com/Hiking/index.html
http://www.redwoodhikes.com/Bay%20Area.html
Muir Woods is great, that’s the redwoods. Nice hikes in there, and there’s a great little bar in the middle of it, should definitely stop to get a beer there. The NPS sites are pretty good for finding parks and hikes.
Another favorite of mine is Point Reyes. Even if you don't love oysters, but it is super fun to bring a picnic, wine/champagne and chill out with raw or grilled oysters for an afternoon. You want to get charcoal too (or buy some there). Bring cards or board game, really a lazy time. These are the two places. Hog Island you need a reservation, virtually impossible on weekends, and Tomales Bay is first come for picnic tables. Here's a NY Times article on Point Reyes being the next Martha's Vineyard.
You’ll have to pack a lunch for half of the hikes, and for Point Reyes. Also wine if you want. Blue Fog in Pacific Heights (north end of SF) has great sandwiches
All across the Bay Area is awesome golf. Here are my favorites.
Finally, depending on when you are coming, you might be able to catch the weird SF events… Bay to Breakers just happened (half marathon with naked people and beer floats…) and Urban Iditarod was a few weeks ago (people are the dogs, shopping carts with kegs are the sled, path is, well the streets of SF). There are some great street festivals and stuff in the summer. Here’s a SF site for official events. Being the home for the company, Yelp is pretty big out here too.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟
May 2010Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟 means "Valley of Nine Villages" and is a beautiful national park and world heritage site in the Min Shan mountain range, Northern Sichuan in South Western China. It's famous for the fantastic aqua and green lakes and waterfalls
Their English website is actually quite good for the important details
http://www.jiuzhai.com/language/english/index.html
Here are my photos on Picasa. Some of Ryota's photos are embedded on this post
We stayed at the Sheraton Jiuzhaigou Resort -- I think it was previously something else and Sheraton took it over. Best thing about it is that you can stay there for 3000 starpoints per night, which is ridiculously little if you know SPG. The hotel was fine accommodation and had decent staff. There are two restaurants, a pan-Chinese and more buffet and Western style place that is always filled with the tour groups.
The most interesting thing about the hotel is in the late afternoon when guests are arriving, there are dancers dressed in traditional Tibetan costumes who greet you at the entrance and then dance in the lobby. Now if you are coming off of a bumpy two hour van ride with a splitting head ache, this is less enjoyable of a performance, but still nice touch.
Jiuzhaigou
Jiuzhai Valley is anywhere from 1,990m (6,529 feet) to 4,764m (15,630 feet) above sea level. You do feel the elevation at times and you have to balance drinking enough water with not wanting to use the bathroom.
We had an enormous Sheraton buffet breakfast at 6:30 AM, hearing that there's not a lot of food inside of the park grounds (they were right). It was a bit rainy so we got fleece hats (great purchase to keep your head warm) and a 5 rmb poncho, and cabbed the 5 min to the park entrance.
Entrance fees during peak season are pretty steep at 220 rmb plus the 90 rmb for the full day bus pass (which you need). All cash btw. We got there early enough, but not at 7 AM open so there were already tourists.
The park is shaped like a 'Y' with the entrance at the bottom of the stem (to be accurate, it's an upside down 'Y' with the stem facing north). There are buses to the base of the 'V', and then along each branch which are the more interesting parts. The left (west) fork that goes to Swan Lake has more attractions. The way the guidebooks tell you to do it (and I agree) is take the bus all the way up to the top of one fork, then walk down to Nuorilang junction (the intersection) and take a bus to the other side.
Also, there is little signage to point to it, but cut across the water to find the
walking paths that are on the other side of the lakes from the bus road. It's a beautiful hike on wooden platforms and is soo much less trafficked and quiet (the tour groups seem to get off at the crossing points and back on the bus, rather than walking, missing the best parts of the hike).
We started with the Swan Lake side (btw sit on the left side of the bus up to Nuorilang, then right to get the best views). We went all the way to the top and had braced for the 18 km hike down, until we were denied by the park guys who (we think) told us that the first part of the trails weren't ready yet. To be fair, I think the parts that were maintained were incredible.
So we took the bus back down about 8 km and hopped over the bridge to the walking path at Arrow Bamboo Lake. Next one is Panda Lake, which has cool inlets that have carved the banks along the waterway. Aqua blue and very clear water.
After Panda Lake is a big bus stop and another crossing point that is congested with tourists. It does have some amazing photo ops though, well placed. The Multi Color Lake is next, with amazing green moss that you can see at the bottom (the water is really incredible clear) and many points along the bank to stop and snap photos.
From there you are with tourists the rest of the way. Pearl Shoals Waterfall is spetacular and there are steps along the side. It is a short walk to Mirror Lake and to the Nuorileng Water fall where there is the bus stop to go up other branch to Long Lake or back down to the entrance.
By that point it was past 1 PM and we were HUNGRY, having crackers and a Luna bar since the start. We did stop for a snack (two tea eggs for me, Oreos for Ryota), but again would recommend packing some real food if you go, there is surprisingly little substantial food inside the park.
We hopped on the bus to the right (east) branch to Long Lake at the top. It started raining again and we were both exhausted so we did a few mile walk down to the Five-Colored Pool, and hopped back on the bus home.
Huanglong 黄龙
May 2010
We took an early morning flight from Chengdu (CTU) to Jiuhuang Huanglong Sichuan Airport (JZH). It's a 45 minute hop and the view over the mountains is spetacular. I'm not sure if we were flying low or the mountains are just that tall, but it is a little scary. The airport is at 11311 ft / 3448 m, yikes!
The airport is small and new, ie they are still partially under construction. There is a "airport bus" booth right at the exit, and we asked for the C-package of JZH-Huanglong-Jiuzhaigou so we could stop at Huanglong. 100rmb each. Luckily my travel buddy speaks some Mandarin -- we were told to wait until they had 6-7 people to fill a bus. The flights come in threes or so from Chengdu, ChongQing and Beijing, so took about 45 min before we actually left in the mini bus (15 ppl capacity with 10 ppl and luggage)
Drive to Huanglong
The drive to Huanglong from the airport is about an hour and probably 30 miles, but incredibly bumpy as most of the road is still under construction. Highly recommend emptying your bladder before the ride as it was quite painful without having done so.
The road winds through mountains and canyons and really quite beautiful. There are small settlements on the side of the road. Sichuan is close to Tibet so you see prayer flags and Han influences.
Huanglong
We arrived around 10 AM and got tickets for the park (240 rmb) and the ascent on the gondola (80 rmb). We had 5 hours to return to the van in the parking lot at 3:00, i.e. ride up and walk down. Our van had a Chinese threesome then rest were Japanese -- luckily one Japanese couple, being long term Shanghai expats, understood the Mandarin instructions to get back to the bus (until then we went back and forth if we were to be back in 3 hours or at 3 o'clock...)
The ride up was uneventful, but we quickly found that 3000 m of elevation is pretty high and we had to take it pretty slow. We had heard in advance that it was early in the spring and that there had been a drought, so some of the lakes might not have the aqua water that makes them so famous. We did the hike up to the temple near the peak and were a little disappointed, as we saw cool looking but dry lake beds.
However, as we walked up the extra route to the peak, we were met by beautiful and surreal looking blue pools that cascaded down towards the temple. We sat on the platform ledge and enjoyed the amazing view for a
while, then continued our walk to the overlook where you can see all of the pools.
Further down on the walk, the pools were more dry unfortunately, but it was a pleasant day and a nice hike. We saw a few more crystal clear pools of water and imagined what the calcified lake beds would be like with more of it. The dry water fall was pretty cool actually.
There are well-maintained wood platforms for the entire length of the hi
ke since the ground and pool walls are pretty soft (though didn't stop some of the Chinese tourists from tromping around for photo ops).
We made it down by 2:30 or so, and grabbed some snacks (I love the tea eggs, hard boiled in tea!) On our way for two hour drive to Jiuzhaigou...
We took an early morning flight from Chengdu (CTU) to Jiuhuang Huanglong Sichuan Airport (JZH). It's a 45 minute hop and the view over the mountains is spetacular. I'm not sure if we were flying low or the mountains are just that tall, but it is a little scary. The airport is at 11311 ft / 3448 m, yikes!
The airport is small and new, ie they are still partially under construction. There is a "airport bus" booth right at the exit, and we asked for the C-package of JZH-Huanglong-Jiuzhaigou so we could stop at Huanglong. 100rmb each. Luckily my travel buddy speaks some Mandarin -- we were told to wait until they had 6-7 people to fill a bus. The flights come in threes or so from Chengdu, ChongQing and Beijing, so took about 45 min before we actually left in the mini bus (15 ppl capacity with 10 ppl and luggage)
Drive to Huanglong
The drive to Huanglong from the airport is about an hour and probably 30 miles, but incredibly bumpy as most of the road is still under construction. Highly recommend emptying your bladder before the ride as it was quite painful without having done so.
The road winds through mountains and canyons and really quite beautiful. There are small settlements on the side of the road. Sichuan is close to Tibet so you see prayer flags and Han influences.
Huanglong
We arrived around 10 AM and got tickets for the park (240 rmb) and the ascent on the gondola (80 rmb). We had 5 hours to return to the van in the parking lot at 3:00, i.e. ride up and walk down. Our van had a Chinese threesome then rest were Japanese -- luckily one Japanese couple, being long term Shanghai expats, understood the Mandarin instructions to get back to the bus (until then we went back and forth if we were to be back in 3 hours or at 3 o'clock...)
The ride up was uneventful, but we quickly found that 3000 m of elevation is pretty high and we had to take it pretty slow. We had heard in advance that it was early in the spring and that there had been a drought, so some of the lakes might not have the aqua water that makes them so famous. We did the hike up to the temple near the peak and were a little disappointed, as we saw cool looking but dry lake beds.
However, as we walked up the extra route to the peak, we were met by beautiful and surreal looking blue pools that cascaded down towards the temple. We sat on the platform ledge and enjoyed the amazing view for a
while, then continued our walk to the overlook where you can see all of the pools.Further down on the walk, the pools were more dry unfortunately, but it was a pleasant day and a nice hike. We saw a few more crystal clear pools of water and imagined what the calcified lake beds would be like with more of it. The dry water fall was pretty cool actually.
There are well-maintained wood platforms for the entire length of the hi
ke since the ground and pool walls are pretty soft (though didn't stop some of the Chinese tourists from tromping around for photo ops).We made it down by 2:30 or so, and grabbed some snacks (I love the tea eggs, hard boiled in tea!) On our way for two hour drive to Jiuzhaigou...
Chengdu 成都
May 2010
The two day stay in Chengdu was the front half of a mini Sichuan vacation over the five-day Shanghai May Day holiday (especially long to honor Expo opening for which i wanted to get out of town).
I arrived on a warm Thu evening. We were recommended the Jin Jiang Hotel by one of my local colleagues as "English friendly" and nice. It was indeed both, and also the first five-star hotel in southern China with a host of dignataries who have stayed there. Not bad for 822rmb per night (~$120 USD). The hotel is near Sichuan University which was an interesting walk around the campus, as well as some high end shopping and some good food along the river.
We got up super early on our first day and took a 50rmb cab out to the Panda Reserve. They open at 8am and highly recommend that you aim to arrive by then. The tours start arriving about an hour later and I think the pandas decide to avoid the annoying voices by sleeping around then (well, whatever their motivations, they are less active later in the morning). It's a 58rmb fee at the gate.
Pandas might be the cutest animals ever, and I just wanted to take one of the cubs home with me. They do have a pretty mundane lifestyle of eating, eating, sleeping, and eating (about 20 kg of bamboo per day) but they look so good doing it. There is a museum and also an... interesting... film about the research center's work around panda reproduction... it's in English and you'll learn a lot, worth the 10 minutes.
Panda Cub Feeding Time
The two day stay in Chengdu was the front half of a mini Sichuan vacation over the five-day Shanghai May Day holiday (especially long to honor Expo opening for which i wanted to get out of town).
I arrived on a warm Thu evening. We were recommended the Jin Jiang Hotel by one of my local colleagues as "English friendly" and nice. It was indeed both, and also the first five-star hotel in southern China with a host of dignataries who have stayed there. Not bad for 822rmb per night (~$120 USD). The hotel is near Sichuan University which was an interesting walk around the campus, as well as some high end shopping and some good food along the river.
We got up super early on our first day and took a 50rmb cab out to the Panda Reserve. They open at 8am and highly recommend that you aim to arrive by then. The tours start arriving about an hour later and I think the pandas decide to avoid the annoying voices by sleeping around then (well, whatever their motivations, they are less active later in the morning). It's a 58rmb fee at the gate.
Pandas might be the cutest animals ever, and I just wanted to take one of the cubs home with me. They do have a pretty mundane lifestyle of eating, eating, sleeping, and eating (about 20 kg of bamboo per day) but they look so good doing it. There is a museum and also an... interesting... film about the research center's work around panda reproduction... it's in English and you'll learn a lot, worth the 10 minutes.
There are several zones where the Giant Pandas live, divided by age. The adult and sub-adult pandas basically sit and eat. There was one active "sub-adult" at 8:15am but I don't think we saw one that wasn't eating or sleeping for the rest of the time.
Panda Cubs playing in the nursery
The nursery was SOOOO cute. The babies are much more playful and active, nipping and roughhousing each other and falling off of things. This one baby would climb to the top of his ladder, then slowly and tenuously make his way down, head first, hanging by one or two limbs for dear life. We also saw the aggressor of a play fight with his brother backfire as he went rolling down into a ditch (he was fine).Panda Cub Feeding Time
The keepers came out to feed them around 9, 9:30am. They are really like human toddlers, vying for attention and affection. Some eat out of bowls and one baby lay on his back with a bottle.
The Lesser Panda is just that... They look kind of like overgrown reddish hued raccoons and not as interesting as their greater rotund cousin. But they're there, stop by for a look.
After the Panda Reserve, we came back to town and had our first Sichuan meal at Chen's Ma Po Tofu. Sooo yummy.
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/chens-ma-po-tofu.html
We decided to walk off lunch (also because it is impossible to get a cab in Chengdu) and head over to Wenfungshen, an shopping street recreated to look like old Chengdu. Not so much shopping, but we stopped in one of the tea shops for a lazy hour over 12rmb tea with the locals who were hanging out and playing mahjong. Very nice.
After a few beers at Sim's, we walked over to ChongQing QinMa Hotpot for a taste of the fiery Sichuan hot pot. Absolutely delicious. Video and details over on food blog
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/chongqing-qinma-hotpot.html
After a chill morning (and some work), we walked along the river to look for Long Chao-shou 龙抄手, recommended to via Facebook post.
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/long-chao-shou.html
We walked to Tianfu Square, which has the requisite Mao statue in front of the Science and Technology Museum, then to People's Park. It was May Day, a national holiday, so many families out for the day. Made for fun people watching.
The highlight of the day was definitely the cooking class we had signed up for at Sim's. I put the details under the food blog, but definitely check it out. Videos for how to make Kung Pao Chicken 宫保鸡丁, Fish Flavored Eggplant 魚香茄子, and Ma Po Tofu 麻婆豆腐
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/2010/05/sims-cozy-garden-hostel.html
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