Planning a Sichuan Trip

A friend announced in late July that she will be visiting Jiuzhaigou in October 2013. Yes, she is planning to visit the fairy land of Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan. She asked me for some suggestions on planning her ten day trip there and here are my suggestions, which I hope would also benefit other readers.

1.    Chengdu
1a.    Map of Traffic Inn Hostel and Xinnanmen Bus Station.

  

1b.    Map of Traffic Inn Hostel and Jinjiang Hotel Metro Station.

1c.    Recommended Hostel: Traffic Inn Hostel
The phone number is +862885450470 and the email address is traffic.nihao@gmail.com. It also has a website at http://www.trafficinnhostel.com. You can read more here also.

Traffic Inn lies on Linjiang Zhong Lu (Zhong Lu = Middle Road). Its address is given as No. 6 Middle Linjiang Road ( 武侯区临江中路6号) in my hotel booking confirmation slip.  The gps location is Latitude 30.64513, Longitude 104.07270 (N 030° 38.708, E 104° 4.362).

Do not confuse Traffic Inn Hostel with Traffic Hotel.

Why stay here? It has English speaking staff, is close to Xinnanmen Bus Station which is the hub to all the attractions in Sichuan, is close to the restaurants and convenient stores, is easy to get a taxi at Xinnanmen Station side entrance and is close to a metro station (Jinjiang Hotel metro station).

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(Click to enlarge)

1d.     Recommended Places to Visit or Do
The following are all in Chengdu. You only need about 1 - 2 hours at each place. Go there in the afternoon/ evening after you return from your outstation trips.

• Stroll along the park beside Jinjiang River and soak in the atmosphere of Chengdu. It is also a good place to watch people.
• People’s Park (人民公園) - Go there and have a feel of the Chengdu tea culture. I went there but did not stop for tea. I would make a rather odd figure sitting alone sipping tea. 
• Wenshu Temple (文殊院) - It is famous, but temples being temples, I think you will have enough of the temples already. Anyway, go for the garden within the temple ground and the street food outside.
• Chunxi Road (春熙路) - This is Chengdu's shopping district. I am not into shopping and did not come here.
• Jinli Street (锦里街) and Wuhou Memorial Temple (武侯祠) - Jinli is an ancient street but because of the extensive renovations, it is more modern than old. It is also too neat and clean for me! Jinli Street and Wuhou lie side by side. Give Wuhou a miss. I find it boring.
• Kuanzhaixiangzi (宽窄巷子) - Like Jinli Street, it is more modern than old. Go there if you have nothing better to do in Chengdu.
• There are of course many other places like Dufu Cottage, parks, etc. but they were not in my own itinerary and so I could not recommend them.

1e.     Recommended Food   
My Chengdu friend in PNG (he has since returned to Chengdu) recommended a few must-eat food. However, I did not try them all, partly because I feel squeamish about some of them and because I did not know how to order them. This was what he wrote:

• Intestine Noodle 肥肠粉 (Fei Chang Fen)
• Rabbit Head兔头 (Tu Tou). This is a cold dish. Try it if you are not squeamish about eating rabbit.
• Spicy Beef with Stomach Slice夫妻肺片 (Fu Qi Fei Pian)
• Spicy Chicken Salad 棒棒鸡 (Bang Bang Ji) - also written as Bon Bon Chicken. Tasted ok. This is a famous cold Sichuan dish.
• Zhong Dumpling钟水饺 (Zhong Shui Jiao)
• Hot Pot火锅  (Huo Guo) - Tasted ok. This is the favorite dish of Chengdu folks and the representative Sichuan food.
• Baked Meat Pie 锅盔 (Guo Kui)
• Dan Dan Noodle 担担面 (Dan Dan Mian) - This was very good and highly recommended. It is quite famous too.
• Pig Blood and Pig Inside 毛血旺 (Mao Xue Wang)
• Boiled Fish with Chili水煮鱼 (Shui Zhu Yu)
• Spicy and Pepper Bean curd 陈麻婆豆腐 (Chen Ma Po Dou Fu) - Numbing and spicy. I hate the numb feeling in my mouth. Give it a try. This is after all a very famous Sichuan dish too.

My friend forgot to mention Spicy Diced Chicken with Cashews/ Peanuts宫保鸡丁(Gong Bao Ji Ding). This is also a very famous Sichuan dish. Like Ma Po Dou Fu, I hate the numbing sensation.

2.    Recommended Attractions outside Chengdu
Before flying off to Chengdu, keep yourself fit for the long walk at Jiuzhaigou.

• Jiuzhaigou National Park (九寨沟) - This should be the highlight for all visitors to Chengdu. See the separate section for Jiuzhaigou below.
• Huanglong National Park - I did not go there, mainly because there wasn't any public transportation to Huanglong. There was also no accommodation in Huanglong. With a big group, sharing the cost of a van makes it lighter on the pocket.
• Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛) - This is the largest Buddha in the world. Impressive. Don't miss it. Either climb it or view it from the river. I would suggest that you hire a van to Leshan Giant Buddha, leave your luggage in the van and climb the hill to see Giant Buddha. Then take the same van to Baoguo Village and spend a night or two at Teddy Bear Hotel.
• Emei Shan (峨嵋山) (Shan = Mountain) - If you are buying your bus ticket at Xinnanmen to Emei Shan (the city, not the mountain), make sure that the ticketing officer does not issue you a Meishan (嵋山) bus ticket. Meishan is a totally different destination. On reaching Emei Shan (city) take a taxi to Baoguo Village. Buses going to the three Emei Shan (mountain) bus stations of Wuxian Gang, Wannian and Leidong Ping depart from Baoguo Village bus station. Recommended hostel: Teddy Bear Hotel in Baoguo Village. Read this post from Teddy Bear Hotel
• Dujiangyan (都江堰) and Qingcheng Shan (青城山) (Shan = Mountain) - You can do Dujiangyan and Qingcheng Shan on the same day. Take the metro (= MRT) to Chengdu North Railway Station. From there, take the CRH high-speed train to Dujiangyan. Go to the bus station which is just outside the train exit. Do not be tempted by the cheap offers from the female touts waiting there. Take the public bus to Dujiangyan. The CRH train/ bus station setup at Qingcheng Shan is similar. Read more here
• Panda Research Base & Breeding Centre (成都大熊猫繁育研究基地) - This is after all the home of the cute panda. You cannot miss this. Take a taxi and go early before the feeding time at about 8:45 a.m. Besides the panda, you can find the red panda (firefox), swan, koi, peacock and rose garden within the centre. You can spend half a day here.
• Sanxingdui (三星堆) Museum - This was in my itinerary but I decided to skip it after considering all the hassles of changing buses. Sharing a van with your group members should make it convenient to go and bring down the cost.
• Luodai Ancient Town (洛带古镇) - Go if you like old towns and if you still have the time. There are also a lot of tasty snacks sold here. You can still see locals selling stuff the old ways and dressed in their everyday attires. I much prefer Luodai to Huanglongxi Ancient Town. Half a day here is good enough. Buy your bus ticket at Xinnanmen.
• Huanglongxi Ancient Town (黄龙溪古镇) - Although it is billed as an old town, there is not much "old" traces left. It is more modern than old. Skip it, unless you have nothing else to do.

3.    Jiuzhaigou National Park
3a.    Overcoming Altitude Sickness
I do not really know whether Hong Jing Tian is effective or not. Y, a native of Sichuan, advised me to take it. Indeed, I did not feel any headache while I was in Jiuzhaigou but then again, 3,099 metres elevation at Long Lake or 2,929 metres at Primeval Forest may not have the negative effect on me. On the way from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou, the altitude actually reaches 3,505 meters above sea-level at its highest elevation. That is higher than Vietnam's Mount Fansipan (elevation 3,143 metres). Prevention is better than cure, so I bought myself Hong Jing Tian and took it two days before the trip to Jiuzhaigou.

3b.    To Fly or Take a Bus?
Is it better to fly or take a bus to Jiuzhaigou? I think you should at least take the bus once. The journey will take 10 hours with a slow driver and less with a Formula One driver overtaking other vehicles on mountain roads. The route between Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou is quite scenic. You will pass through Wenchuan, Songpan, etc. The bus ride is very comfortable. If you are prone to travel sickness take a travel sickness pill or two.

If you decide to take the bus to Chengdu from Jiuzhaigou, make sure you buy the bus ticket on the day you arrive in Jiuzhaigou. Print out the accompanying photo below with the ticket office name on it and show it to the taxi driver. Getting bus tickets during the peak season in October is bound to be difficult at the last minute.

3c.    Accommodation in Jiuzhaigou
Initially, I thought of looking for a hostel only upon my arrival in Jiuzhaigou. However, Y advised me to book a room before I arrived. She said that it could be difficult getting a room during the peak season. The hotel rate was very high, until the last week of October. At that time, the price offered by Starway Snow Lotus Hotel had dropped to the level of the budget hostel and so I decided to take it. The down side was the staff at Starway could not speak English and it was two kilometres to the park entrance. Therefore, I have no recommendations to make on where to stay in Jiuzhaigou (more precisely, Zhangzha Village)

3d.    Recommended Scenic Spots in Jiuzhaigou.

If you have two full days (7:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.), you can cover all the major lakes and waterfalls. Start your day at either Primeval Forest in Rize Valley or Long Lake at Zechawa Valley. If you don't have two full days, then take the Rize Valley first and cover the rest with whatever time left you have. You need to walk a lot to take in the sights.  

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Buses will not simply stop because you flag them down. They stop to drop off/ pick up passengers only at the bus stops.

My suggestions:

Rize Valley

• Primeval Forest - don't spend too much time here. Walk to Grass Lake, and on the way you will catch your first glimpse of the colourful stream. Take the bus if you are short of time.
• Grass Lake - Average scenery.
• Swan Lake - Average scenery. Take the bus to Arrow Bamboo Lake.
• Arrow Bamboo Lake - if the water is calm and the sky blue, you would be able to take very beautiful photos of the lake
• Arrow Bamboo Falls - Don't miss this.
• Panda Lake - Average scenery
• Panda Falls - Don't miss the fall.
• Five Flower Lake @ Five-Colored Lake @ Colorful Lake @ Peacock Lake (not to be confused with Five Color Pool, which is near Long Lake at Zechawa Valley). This is the most beautiful lake in Jiuzhaigou. It was drizzling when I was there. The water and the sky was less than perfect for photography but the pictures still turned out alright.
• Pearl Shoal - Beautiful scenery
• Pearl Shoals Waterfall - Don't miss this. I missed this because I walked along the road-side trail. Instead of making a similar mistake, walk on the jungle-side trail.
• Mirror Lake
• Nuorilang Falls - this is one of the grandest falls. It lies 210 meters to the center of the "Y", i.e. the Nuorilang Central Station/ Tourist Center. Try to make it to Nuorilang before 3:30 p.m. I reached there when the sun was right behind the waterfall and it was very difficult taking good photos. Use the road-side trail.

Zechawa Valley

• Long Lake - It is quite nice but taking photos during late morning (about 11:00 a.m.) is frustrating because you will be pointing your camera right at the sun. That is the time when it rises above the mountains in the horizon. It is better to come earlier in morning or go late in the afternoon. Walk to Five Color Pool.
• Five Color Pool - The water is amazingly clear and blue. It is incredibly beautiful but if the sunlight is too strong, the reflection will make it difficult to take good pictures. Take the bus to Zechawa Tibetan Village.
• Zechawa Tibetan Village - You can't avoid coming here because you will be asked to alight here by the bus driver (during mid-day only??). Walk to Nuorilang Central Station/ Tourist Centre.
• Nuorilang Central Station/ Tourist Centre - Here, there is a huge building housing restaurants and souvenir stalls. Buses going to the different valleys are not centralised in one spot at this station but at different bus stops within the station ground. Take the bus to Shuzheng Lake/ Tibetan Village and give Rhinoceros Lake and Tiger Lake a miss.

Shuzheng Valley

• Rhinoceros Lake - Give it a miss, whether you have the time or not
• Tiger Lake - Give it a miss, whether you have the time or not
• Shuzheng Tibetan Village - If you have never been to a Tibetan Village, spend a little time here. You will also find that most of the houses have been turned into souvenir shops. Cross the road to Shuzheng Lakes.
• Shuzheng Lakes and Waterfalls - Do not miss this. Walking from the lakes to the falls is a really amazing experience. The water crushing over the many small falls is amazing and beautiful. The main Shuzheng Waterfall is just average in scenic beauty. Take the bus to Sparkling Lake.
• Trail between Sparkling Lake and Double Dragon Lake - Walk along the path linking the jungle- side trail and the road-side trail and you will be rewarded with the gel-like look of the water flowing down from Sparkling Lake to Double Dragon Lake.
• Double Dragon Lake to Reed Lake - If you have the time, walk along the jungle trail from Double Dragon Lake to Reed Lake. The walk is quite long and the scenery slightly above average at certain portions of the walk. There were not many people on the trail when I was here.
• Reed Lake - during autumn, the tall reed has all turned brown.
• Bonsai Shoals - average beauty and the last stop.

You can read more about Jiuzhaigou here, here and here.

Happy Jiuzhaigou trip and post lots of photos on FB when you are there!

Baoguo Village and Teddy Bear Hotel

Baoguo Village is basically the base camp for Mount Emei. This is the location where the bus station to Emei Shan is situated. It is also the home of Teddy Bear Hotel but where is Baoguo Village?

In my original plan, I would travel from Xinnanmen Bus Station in Chengdu to Leshan City in the morning to visit Leshan Giant Buddha. After the visit, I would travel to Baoguo Village in the afternoon and stay overnight in Teddy Bear Hotel. Early the next morning, I would go to Mount Emei and stay another night at Teddy Bear if I like Mount Emei. However, I was not sure how I could get to Baoguo Village from Leshan City. Which bus station in Leshan City should I go to? Were there regular buses and where do I get off to find Teddy Bear Hotel? How do I get to Mount Emei from Teddy Bear Hotel? This was information which I could not find on the web.

Fortunately, I found some information at Traffic Inn. At the lobby/ reading corner, I found flyers from Teddy Bear Hotel, with instructions to guests on how to get to Teddy Bear Hotel from Leshan City and Emei Shan City. You can find the same information on Teddy Bear Hotel website at http://www.teddybear.com.cn/faq_en.htm. I did not know about this website until I saw the flyers.

As a summary, visitors going to Teddy Bear Hotel should go to Baoguo Village. From Emei Shan City Bus Station, take a taxi to Baoguo Village. You can also take an unlicensed shared van (mian bao che) for RMB5 per passenger but it is at your own risks. I am not sure whether there are buses going into Baoguo Village but the bus from Baoguo Village Bus Station to Leshan Xiaoba Bus Station that I took stopped at Emei Shan City bus station for a minute or two to pick up passengers. It is possible the same is true for buses coming in the opposite direction.

For those coming from Leshan City, they should take the bus from Leshan Xiaoba Bus Station to Baoguo Village. I understand there were two other bus stations so make sure you are the right bus station.

Baoguo Village has just one main street, stretching from the village square to the entrance archway. After your taxi or bus enters the entrance archway, you would see a row of shop houses on the left. Teddy Bear Hotel lies one block before Baoguo Bus Station but because it does not face the main street, you are likely to miss it. It is at a side street.

Wherever you are dropped off in Baoguo Village, you would not get lost. From end to end, it is only about five minutes' walk. Just stay on the main street and watch out for the Bus Station. Teddy Bear Hotel is just one block away, between the bus station and the entrance archway.

The direction map from Teddy Bear Hotel. Click to enlarge

The relative positions of Emei Shan City and Baoguo Village. Click to enlarge the map

Click to enlarge

The following is a sequence of photos, starting from Baoguo Village Square until the Baoguo Village entrance archway.

This is the main street in Baoguo Village.

I bought my steamed buns here

Behind the building is the bus parking area

You might miss Teddy Bear from the main road as it is on a side street

 

Teddy Bear Hotel

I must really applaud Andy and his team for providing such excellent service to its guests. True to its promise of assisting guests in finding the hotel, Bella who worked at the reception came on foot to my rescue when I called. The tout whose van I boarded had decided to take me to another hostel even though I told him I wanted to go to Teddy Bear Hotel.

Traffic Inn and Xinnanmen Bus Station

Xinnanmen is known as the "Tourists Distribution Center" while Traffic Inn is a popular backpacker hostel in Chengdu. For backpackers, these are a perfect match, a cheap place to stay with English speaking staff and close to the bus station with destinations to all the popular attractions such as Jiuzhaigou, Mount Emei, Leshan Giant Buddha, Dujiangyan Irrigation System, Mount Qingcheng, etc. These are all World Heritage Sites.

Before my trip to Chengdu, I had been searching for detail information about them. There was hardly any useful material on them in English. I had wanted to know their relative locations as I was wondering whether I need to take a taxi to travel between the two locations or they were located close to each other such that I could easily reach one from the other on foot.

I was also wondering whether they were in an isolated part of Chengdu that finding eateries would be a chore or they were located in a busy area with plenty of places to find my meals. These were unanswered questions before my trip to Chengdu.

This post is to help those who has booked into Traffic Inn know more about the surrounding area, including Xinnanmen Bus Station.

Traffic Inn is not Traffic Hotel
I read confusing articles concerning Traffic Inn and Traffic Hotel. There was an article saying that Traffic Hotel was its former name and has now been renamed as Traffic Inn. There were also articles saying that Traffic Hotel is distinct from Traffic Inn, giving the impression that they were at two differing locations. The implication of this is the taxi drivers might send their passengers to the wrong destinations because of the confusing names.

Traffic Inn and Traffic Hotel are in fact two separate building at the same location, linked together by a short staircase and walkway. Traffic Inn building lies behind Traffic Hotel but its reception office is visible as you walk to the main entrance of Traffic Hotel.

Traffic Inn
I stayed in private rooms without an adjoining bathroom. On the three occasions I booked into Traffic Inn, i.e. on arrival from Kuala Lumpur, after coming back from Jiuzhaigou and after coming back from Baoguo Village, I stayed in three different rooms. The rooms were all on the ground floor. Electric blanket was provided on the third occasion but the air conditioner was not working properly. There was no hot air. The shared bathrooms and toilets were outside the accommodation area. This was my first experience staying in rooms without a bathroom.

Traffic Inn phone number was +862885450470 and the email address was traffic.nihao@gmail.com. The website was http://www.trafficinnhostel.com.

The hostel provides free wifi.

Relative Location of Traffic Inn to Xinnanmen Bus Station

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Traffic Inn lies on Linjiang Zhong Lu (Zhong Lu = Middle Road). Its address was given as No. 6 Middle Linjiang Road ( 武侯区临江中路6号) in my hotel booking confirmation slip.  The gps location was Latitude 30.64513, Longitude 104.07270 (N 030° 38.708, E 104° 4.362).

Xinnanmen Bus Station parking lot is next to Traffic Inn. There was only a brick wall to separate these two addresses. I did not know this at first. On the morning after my arrival, I went in search of Xinnanmen Bus Station. Just as I walked out to Linjiang Middle Road from Traffic Inn and upon turning right, I saw buses inside the compound of Fiesta Thai, a Thai Restaurant. At an adjacent lot, there were many buses there. I walked into the parking lot through the entrance (which was also an entrance to Fiesta Thai), thinking that was the entrance to Xinnanmen ticket office. After lingering around for a while looking for the ticketing office, I left when I could not find it.

To find the Xinnanmen ticket office, turn right at Linjiang Middle Road as you exit from Traffic Inn/ Hotel. As you walked past the bus parking lot, you would see the side of a big modern building without entrance on your right. Through the glass wall, you could see people inside. That's the Xinnanmen Station passenger waiting/ departure hall. Continue walking until you reach the road junction and there, right next to you on the right would be the entrance to Xinnanmen ticket office and the passenger waiting/ departure hall.

Xinnanmen bus station also has an Information Counter with an English speaking officer at the waiting/ departure hall. It has left luggage facilities too, though I did not use it. In the same building to the left of the entrance was the Chengdu Tourist Information Centre. From there, you can get a free tourist map with both Chinese and English written on it. The young officers manning the counter speak better English than most Chinese.

Xinnanmen Bus Station
It has long distant buses to all major tourist destinations. It was the reason why I chose to stay at a hostel close by, in this case Traffic Inn.

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(Click to enlarge)

I have read posting from bloggers saying that they needed help to buy the bus tickets when they queued up in the wrong line at Xinnanmen. Communicating with the ticketing clerks to explain the requests was next to impossible.

Queuing up in the wrong line was either a thing of the past or not true. You can queue up at any line (except the right-most line which was for "return ticket") to buy your tickets to any destinations because the whole ticketing system is computerised. In addition, you can buy the tickets in advance too. In my case, I bought my one-way Jiuzhaigou ticket three days in advance. If you just mention the destination to the ticketing clerk, she would assume that it is for the same day travel and for the next bus leaving the station. For destinations with frequent buses such as Luodai, the time stated is not the departure time of your bus but the departure time of the last bus. Using this ticket, you can take any bus any time up to the last departing bus. I learnt this lesson myself when I got confused with the departure time stated on the ticket to Luodai. Compare my tickets to Jiuzhaigou and Luodai.

If you need help reading the ticket, go to the waiting/ departure hall where an Information counter is located. Try to ask the less-than-friendly officer on duty to help. She might speak some English, just enough to help you understand.

The security procedure at Xinnanmen was not as strict as those at Chengdu North Railway Station. After getting your ticket, proceed to the passenger waiting/ departure hall to the left after coming out from the ticket office (directly in front of the main entrance). If you are carrying baggage, you will need to have it screened like at the airport. Then, proceed to the gate stated on your ticket and wait. When you see fellow passengers proceeding to the gate close to departure time, say 10 minutes, just follow them. If it is not your bus, the ticket inspectors manning the gate will stop you and ask you to wait. Just don't feel embarrass when you are stopped. I was embarrassed three times at the Leshan Bus Station while returning to Chengdu. Luckily, I have thick skin, toughened over the years. Once you are through the gate, follow others and go to your bus and take your seat. If no seat number is assigned, you can sit anywhere, just not the seat beside the driver. That seat is reserved for the conductor.

For public buses returning to Xinnanmen, the drivers would stop at a bus stop nearest to Xinnanmen Bus Station and not at the station itself.

On most of my trips, the buses stopped at the bus stop close to ABC Bank at Linjiang East Road. On the map, I marked it as S1. These happened with the buses arriving from Huanglongxi and Luodai. In the case of the bus arriving from Mei Shan, it stopped near Home Inn at the end of Shiqi Street. The only bus that stopped very near to Xinnanmen (or rather to Traffic Inn) was the bus arriving from Jiuzhaigou (or was it from Leshan? I could not remember!).

Vicinities of Traffic Inn and Xinnanmen Bus Station
During my stay at Traffic Inn, I would always walk to Shiqi Street to look for my breakfast and dinner. South F North N Restaurant, the steamed bun shop, the Muslim Lanzhou La Mian shop, Wonton King Dumpling King Restaurant and the street vendors were all located here. So was the pharmacy where I bought the Hong Jing Tian traditional medicine to prevent high altitude sickness. There were convenient shops, gift shops and hotels here too.

If you want to catch a taxi to Jinli Street, Kuanzhaixiangzi Alley, etc., you should wait at the side entrance to Xinnanmen Station, which I marked as X2 on the map. Taxis arriving at Xinnanmen Bus Station would drop and pick up passengers here. Flagging down a taxi on the main road would be an utterly wasteful effort. Taxis on the road would 95% of the time be carrying passengers.

If you intend to take the subway or MRT to Tianfu Square, North Railway stations or Wenshu Monastery or other destinations on the MRT Line 1 and Line 2, you should turn left after exiting to the main road (Linjiang Middle Road) from Traffic Inn. Walk until you reach the first bridge you see (on Renmin South Road). Then, turn right and walk straight along Renmin South Road until you see the Jinjiang Hotel C1 Entrance. It is barely 50 meters away past Minshan Hotel. There is another entrance designated as C2 Entrance a little further away. These entrances are on the Minshan Hotel side of Renmin South Road. On the Jinjiang Hotel side of the road, the entrance is designated as B Entrance. Just walk on the pavement. You wouldn't miss them because they are right on the pavement.

Buses numbered 303 are parked on the side street beside Minshan Hotel. 50 metres further away is the MRT C1 Entrance. On the other side of Minshan Hotel are a few tourist agencies housed in the CITS building.

Both Minshan Hotel and Jinjiang Hotel MRT Entrance C1 are about 10 - 15 minutes on foot from Traffic Inn.