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One Day In Jiuzhaigou

One day in Just one day is all it takes to see one of the most beautiful places on earth: Jiuzhaigou National Park in the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. I'd honestly never even heard of Jiuzhaigou, but it truly is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

The Jiuzhaigou valley is part of the Min Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau and stretches over 72,000 hectares. Jiuzhaigou literally means "Nine Settlement Valley" and takes its name from the nine Tibetan settlements there. This was a remote region inhabited by Tibetan and Quiang peoples for centuries and was a little-known area until 1975.  Logging was banned and it became a national park in 1982. An Administration Bureau was established, and the site officially opened to tourism in 1984, with 500 visitors annually. This number increased to over five million as of 2015 and it remains one of the most visited spots in China.

Jiuzhaigou is a nature reserve and national park that originates from the Baishui River area, a part of the Yangtze River. A long valley running north to south, Jiuzhaigou was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and a World Biosphere Reserve in 1997 that belongs to the category V (Protected Landscape) in the International Union for Conservation of Nature system of protected area categorization.

Five-color Pond.

Photos of the lakes and waterfalls in this stunning national park can give the reader an idea of how beautiful the place is, but one really must see how stunning it is. The Pearl Shoal Waterfall exists on one of the tributaries of the Bailong River and is located at an altitude of 2,433 meters and the top of the waterfall is 162.5 meters in width. It has a fall of 40 meters.

The Five Flower Lake has colorful, crystal-clear waters and is known as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. There is a Sparkling Lake that glimmers when the sun rays hit the water's surface. The Tiger Lake has the colors of a tiger's hair when the orange and yellow hues from the tree leaves from the mountains reflect on the lake's crystal-clear waters.

The Double Dragon Lakes are two multi-colored lakes that are side by side, which was formed after the powerful 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The splitting of the lake into two gave this National Park its newest lake.

The Five-Color Pond is one of the smallest bodies of water in Jiuzhaigou Lake but despite its size, it has a richly colored underwater landscape with the brightest and clearest waters in the area. Also known as the Colorful Pond, it sits at an elevation of 3,010 meters and is about 100 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 6.6 meters deep.  It is Jiuzhaigou's smallest body of water but with the most striking blue colors and is known as "the eye of Jiuzhaigou." Being replenished from underground flow, the water does not freeze in winter. Sunlight, algae, travertine, and other factors contribute to its almost unreal colors. There are so many minerals in these waters that it is not potable.

You're near Tibet when you see a yak!

At present, seven of the nine Tibetan villages are still populated. We visited a Tibetan home in Linpo, a village in this autonomous prefecture. Linpo has an elevation of 3,147 meters above sea level and is situated in Songpan County, one of 13 counties administered by the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Seeing Tibetan colorful structures and yaks is a sign that Tibetans live around the area.

We visited a huge and beautifully colored Tibetan home occupied by a Tibetan lady, Zhou Ma, and her extended family of 26. She lives here with her three husbands and three children. She can be seen wearing a belt indicating how many husbands and children she has. She is pregnant with her fourth child. She prepared tea for us right before we went for our Tibetan lunch!

We also went to see a Tibetan cultural show one evening. We may not be in Tibet, but this certainly was close enough!

People who love spicy food will enjoy the food in Sichuan. The place is known for Sichuan chili peppers and those famous Sichuan peppercorns! Though called peppercorns, they are not peppers and are part of the citrus family. These chili peppers and "peppercorns" that give that numbing effect are a primary ingredient in their spicy cuisine, including the world-famous dish, hotpot!

I would not consider this a once-in-a-lifetime experience for now, as I do plan to go back one day and see more sights in Jiuzhaigou, as they continue to build more hotels and prepare for more of their already-large number of tourists.

This is part of the Chengdu- Jiuzhaigou package tour offered by Horizon Travel & Tours Inc., a five-day, four-night tour including land transfers and Manila-Chengdu-Manila airfare starting at US$599 per person.

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Air China's Airbus 320 is the only airline flying directly to Chengdu from Manila. Flights from Manila to Chengdu are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and flights from Chengdu to Manila are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Flights will be increased to 4x a week starting November 2024 (winter season). Visit  https://www.Airchina.Com.Ph/PH/GB/Home.

Horizon Travel & Tours, Inc. Is located at 490 Potenciana Mansion, Sta. Monica St., Ermita, Manila. For inquiries, call landlines 5328-3381 / 5328-3385 / 5328-3388 / 8521-3224 / 8521-2586 / 8523-8637 or mobile numbers 0917-807-2538 / 0998-857 -7017 / 0917-817-8686 or email [email protected]. Check out https://www.Horizontravel.Ph/.

Follow me on Instagram @pepperteehankee.

Spanish Startup Exoticca Raises A €60M Series D For Its Tour Packages Platform

The type of overseas trip where you need multiple hotels, flights, activities, transfers, transport methods, and guides has traditionally been undertaken by travel agents. Since there's no real-time pricing for such complex offerings, travelers have few other options. Spanish startup Exoticca set out to crack that nut and has now raised a €60 million Series D round led by Quadrille Capital.

The market for multiday tour packages is very large, but it's one of the last areas of the travel industry to be digitized. Exoticca's platform connects flights, hotels, meals, transfers, transportation and local companies. This makes it simpler to book these more complex packages and reduces costs by as much as 30%, the company claims.

Exoticca also claims to have more than doubled its sales year-over-year since 2015 and now operates in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Mexico and Colombia through a network of travel and non-travel online and offline partners.

"The package tour was invented by Thomas Cook two centuries ago and has really not evolved in that time," said Exoticca CEO Pere Vallès. "We're bringing a model that is more digital, that allows us to sell these types of products online, that is more flexible, but has also some big advantages when it comes to cost and price."

Exoticca competes to some extent with Tourlane, a planning and booking platform that helps travelers research and buy multiday tours online. Tourlane has raised $101 million to date.

However, Vallès said that Exoticca doesn't "see them as competitors. They have a different model, which is more based on a marketplace. They don't offer real-time pricing."

His company is focused on "value for money," Vallès said. "And this leads us to a customer that is middle class and upper middle class." He added that 75% of Exoticca's business is in the U.S. And Canada, "so it's Americans and Canadians traveling to the 70 destinations that we offer," from the company's headquarters in Barcelona.

He said the objective is to expand into Latin America, the Middle East, India and China.

In a statement, Alejandra Duran Gil, partner at Quadrille Capital, said: "Exoticca's strong financial foundation and the team's exceptional execution are at the heart of our investment thesis."

Also participating in this round were new investors, including All Iron and ICF and existing investors 14W, Mangrove, Bonsai, Sabadell and Aldea.

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Explore South India And Visit Two Jyotirlingas With IRCTC's Affordable Tour Package

As the monsoon season approaches, many people plan to travel with their families or friends. IRCTC has introduced a special tour package that offers a unique opportunity to explore South India and visit two Jyotirlingas. The "Divya Dakshin Yatra with Jyotirlingas" package is a 8-night and 9-day journey that starts from Secunderabad in Hyderabad and takes tourists to various destinations in South India, including Kanyakumari, Tanjore, Trivandrum, Rameshwaram, Madurai, and Tiruvannamalai.

The tour package includes visits to two Jyotirlingas, making it a spiritually enriching experience. The journey will be undertaken on the Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train, which will depart on August 4, 2024. The package is priced at an affordable Rs 14,250 per person for the economy class, which includes food, accommodation, and breakfast.

This IRCTC tour package offers a unique opportunity to explore South India's cultural and spiritual heritage. Tourists can visit ancient temples, historical sites, and scenic destinations while enjoying the comfort of a train journey. The package also includes visits to two Jyotirlingas, making it a rare opportunity for spiritual enthusiasts.

The tour package is designed to provide a hassle-free experience, with all meals, accommodation, and sightseeing arrangements taken care of by IRCTC. The train will return to the starting point after completing the 9-day journey, making it a convenient option for tourists. Don't miss this opportunity to explore South India and visit two Jyotirlingas at an affordable price. Book your tickets now and embark on a memorable journey. Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz: The Unbeatable On-Screen Couple of Bollywood's Golden Era Naseeruddin Shah Celebrates 74th Birthday: A Look Back at His Controversial Statements Nawazuddin Siddiqui's Inspiring Journey from Watchman to Bollywood Star

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