Late Autumn in Jiuzhaigou National Park

Two weeks after arriving in Sichuan we finally wandered into its premier tourist attraction.

This was to be the highlight of our Chengdu Circle Route, a full day of bus-assisted hikes along some of the world's most beautiful lakes and waterfalls. But it was also exceptionally crowded even in the off-season, not to mention bone-chillingly cold even for a Canadian.



This was where I fell sick after exhausting myself on a frosty afternoon. The price for these photos was the agony of waiting for our delayed flight the next day at a head-pounding elevation of 3500m. Altitude sickness and fever proved to be a terrible combination.



But it was all worthwhile. Along with the ancient city of Langzhong and the Tibetan villages of Western Sichuan, Jiuzhaigou was among our main reasons for spending our entire 18 days in Sichuan Province alone. This place is beyond legendary among domestic Chinese tourists, for all the right and wrong reasons.



To all Chinese travelers Jiuzhaigou is largely synonymous with 1) breathtaking alpine lakes and 2) logistic nightmares. This is one place EVERYONE tries to avoid during national holidays, yet still gets impossibly crowded every May 1 or October 1. It's also in the middle of nowhere, a 9 hour trip away from either Chengdu or Xi'an. Flying in isn't much fun either as the JZH airport, still 2 hours away by taxi, ranks as one of the top 15 highest elevation airports in the world. That's bad news for lowlanders like ourselves.



We too mulled over the bus vs. airplane debate until we found a cheap flight (RMB 1000!) from JZH via Chengdu to our next destination of Macau. We also softened the 9 hour bus ride with stops at the lesser-known but equally breathtaking Huanglong National Park and the ancient citadel of Songpan.



After numerous revisions our itinerary was finalized: Dujiangyan - Songpan (long distance bus; RMB 98; 5 hrs) - Huanglong (hired taxi; RMB 500 to Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou; 1.5 hrs) - Jiuzhaigou (same hired taxi; 2 hrs) - JZH airport (hired taxi; RMB 200; 2 hrs) - Chengdu (air) - Macau (air).



By sheer luck we arrived on the first day of the so-called low season, when the entrance ticket dropped by a whopping 64% overnight. As the Law of Demand would have it, masses of Chinese tourist swarmed the entrance at 08:00 and we barely squished ourselves through to the ticket booth without a black eye.



After 30 minutes of queuing for tickets and another 20 at the bus terminal, we boarded one of the national park buses in the direction of the Virgin Forest. Having seen enough alpine forests in Canada, we decided to skip the far end of Rize Valley and got off early at Arrow Bamboo Lake.



09:15. Our first image of Jiuzhaigou was the perfect, mirror-like Arrow Bamboo Lake on a chilly morning, fallen trees suspended in its crystalline water. The crowds and the grueling bus rides had all been forgotten.



09:28. We could have walked downhill towards the Panda Lake, but decided to take the bus and save our legs for latter hikes. The lakeside was filled with armies of tourists as all buses seemed to be delivering visitors from the park entrance to this side of the valley in the morning.



It would have been possible to hike the planked trails from Panda Lake, down the Panda Lake Falls and reach Five-Flower Lake during summer season. We arrived in November however to find the connecting trails closed for maintenance, and we took the short bus ride again to our next stop.



09:58. Five-Flower Lake was expected to be the highlight of the Rize Valley, and rightly so. It is such brilliantly colored lakes that has made Jiuzhaigou one of the premier attractions to the country's 1.3 billion citizens.



We followed a group of Chinese hikers uphill for a panorama of Five-Color Lake. The climb turned out quite effortless despite the elevation of 2500m, or perhaps we had effectively acclimatized after spending much of the past two weeks between 2000 and 3000m in Western Sichuan.

11:00. The thundering waterfall at Nuorilang was likely the most impressive we've seen in China (we considered visiting Hukou a few years back, but never made it that far). Surprisingly it was also the least crowded of Jiuzhaigou's major sights during our visit.



We purposely skipped lunch to gain more sightseeing time, which in retrospect wasn't the smartest of ideas. We could have taken advantage of the buffet lunch at the Nuorilang tourist centre at the reasonable price of RMB 68, but we chose to spend our time hiking the trails around the Nuorilang falls.



12:40. A 20 minute hike following a long bus ride from Nuorilang took us to arguably Jiuzhaigou's trademark sight. Located at the far end of the Zechawa Valley, the Five-Color Pond was easily the most spectacular -- and most congested -- locale within the national park.



It was only the previous morning when we visited a different Five-Color Pond at the nearby national park of Huanglong. I still can't decide which pond was my favorite, but Jiuzhaigou's version was definite the more colorful of the two.



We spent at least 45 minutes here despite being surrounded at all times by swarms of multinational tourists and their umbrella-waving guides. I never thought I would come across a lake bluer than Moraine Lake of the Canadian Rockies, and yet here it is, on the opposite side of the world.



14:10. The return bus dropped us off at Rhinoceros Lake for the final segment of our hike, a series of marked trails and vehicular roads along the Shuzheng Valley. At this point we had little idea how long the hike would take and where we could catch the bus back to the park entrance, but we weren't too concerned as we're in the company of dozens of Chinese hikers.



The planked trail generally followed the lakeshore of Rhinoceros Lake towards Tiger Lake. As we had no proper lunch on this day we fueled our hike mostly with the Yak Meat Jerky we purchased earlier at Mount Siguniang.



14:30. Arrival on the shore of Tiger Lake. This had to be one of our slowest flat hike as we practically stopped every few steps for photos. The distance from Rhinoceros Lake to the far end of Tiger Lake was supposed to be 800m; it easily took us 30 minutes.



14:50. Arrival at Princess Lake, just upstream from the Tibetan village of Shuzhengzhai. The fallen trees were so clearly visible through the turquoise glacial water that it probably could have been mistaken for a coral reef ... had the climate been 25 degrees warmer.



15:05. A glimpse of the Tibetan village across from the opposite side of the Shuzheng Waterfalls. We originally planned to stay overnight (though not officially permitted) with one of the Tibetan homestays at this village, but had to abandon the idea as we had an early afternoon flight to catch the next day.



15:20. By the time we reached the Three-Level Waterfalls I had already hit the wall of my energy reserves. We had no food remaining, and only a few sips of bottled juice to last us for the rest of the hike.



15:35. We reached the lovely Sparkling Lake in the warm glow of the afternoon sun, yet I had to utilize all layers of my clothing. While we later estimated our hike to be no more than 12 km for the day, it felt so much longer in the cold and without a proper meal.



16:05. Less than two hours before the park's closure and we've only reached Double Dragon Lake. There were no bus stops in sight however, and we had to hike another three kilometres to the Bonsai Shoals. It was after 17:00 when we finally made it back to the park entrance, at which point I already felt the shivers of an imminent flu coming on.



At least we had room heating and 24 hours hot water back at our hotel, unlike our previous experience at frigid Songpan. We had much to thank the friendly manager at Meijing Shangwu Hotel, for giving us a comfy room after Jiuzhaigou Grand Hotel suddenly cancelled our reservation a few days prior to our arrival. For fellow travelers looking for a clean hotel within walking distance (15 minutes, or hop on a quick taxi) to the park entrance, Meijing Shangwu Hotel is a good choice especially when rooms go on sale at ctrip.com or elong.com.



For dinner on our first night we took advices from the locals and headed to the cluster of restaurants on Bianbian Jie. We sat down at this little family restaurant called Chuanwei Jiachang Caiguan, our eyes on the curious local ingredients rarely available elsewhere ...



One such ingredient was the so-called Walnut Flower with a hard, chewy texture reminiscent of seaweed stems. We ordered two dishes of the seasonal wild mushrooms and ended up with a bill of more than RMB 150. Not cheap, but in line with expectations for a tourist town.

Bill for Two Persons

Clear Broth of Wild Mushrooms	RMB 28
Stir-Fried Walnut Flower with Pork	RMB 56
Braised Tibetan Chicken with Wild Mushrooms	RMB 68
Rice x 2	Free
TOTAL before tips	RMB 152 (CAD$27.1)

On the second night we found a local branch of the famed Longchaoshou, one of the most recognizable Sichuanese restaurant franchises. We did order the signature dishes of Longchaoshou (Long's dumplings) and Laitangyuan (Lai's Glutinous Rice Balls), and was disappointed with both. Worse yet, with the pictured dish I confirmed my intolerance of a peculiar Asian ingredient ...

Garlic Stems. This wasn't the first time and I've always suspected, and now it's been confirmed. I'm actually fine with garlic, but the stems give me serious indigestion and stomach pain. My flu symptoms soon became full-blown as well, and it wasn't a fun night for me nor for my wife.

Bill for Two Persons

Cucumbers in Minced Garlic	RMB 18
Tea-Smoked Duck	RMB 48
Stir-Fried Yak Meat	RMB 57
Long's Dumplings in Chili Oil	RMB 15
Lai's Glutinous Rice Balls	RMB 11
Rice x 2	RMB 6
Plate Set x 2	RMB 4
TOTAL before tips	RMB 159 (CAD$28.4)

The best food we came across in Jiuzhaigou actually came from the anonymous roadside eatery right beside Meijing Shangwu Hotel. These Glutinous Rice Balls with Black Sesame Filling were some of the best we've had in China, and the breakfast staple of Steamed Baozi wasn't bad either.

My best recommendation for restaurants in Jiuzhaigou is ... skip formal restaurants and pick one of these little roadside eateries frequented by taxi drivers. While you won't likely find any culinary miracles in this dusty tourist town, cheap and authentic mom-and-pop joints are still abundant.

Bill for Two Persons

Glutinous Rice Balls with Black Sesame Filling	RMB 8
Steamed Baozi x 10	RMB 10
TOTAL before tips	RMB 18 (CAD$3.2)

Late Autumn in Huanglong National Park

This turned out to be one of our favorite places on our 18-day trip of Sichuan. Huanglong completely blew us away with some of the most unique and spectacular scenery in China, or anywhere else for that matter.


Granted, our expectation of Huanglong was toned down when fellow travelers recommended visiting Huanglong earlier in our itinerary before the supposedly more impressive Jiuzhaigou. This was supposed to be Jiuzhaigou's little brother, and we honestly didn't expect such world class scenery.



It was a world of turquoise and white, a 4km long promenade of glacial water cascading down half-frozen waterfalls and opaque limestone pools. Combine this unearthly landscape with an elevation as high as Lhasa, Tibet, and we're in for a memorable hike.



We did visit Jiuzhaigou the next day, and Huanglong was no less breathtaking (pun intended) in our opinions. To put things into perspective, the hike was said to be 4 hours up and down; we spent about 4.5 on the downhill alone, deliberately slowing down for photos and for breath at this high altitude.



The photos below documented our visit of Huanglong National Park on November 15, for anyone planning to visit this alpine paradise this late in the year. Just two days later the only accessible road would be blocked due to heavy snowfall, and the National Park would soon officially close until next April.



We began our day from the medieval walled city of Songpan, the main transportation hub in Northern Sichuan. Buses to Huanglong were discontinued in the off-season, and we resorted to hiring our own private vehicle for Huanglong and the subsequent transfer to Jiuzhaigou in the late afternoon.



Of the 6 different drivers we hired over our 18-day trip, Ma Shifu was among the 2 drivers I would wholeheartedly recommend. A semi-nomadic yak herder in his former life, Ma Shifu came from a Hui Muslim clan in multi-ethnic Songpan and grew up having these mountains as his own backyard. On this day we would traverse the mountain saddle known as Xueshanliang, a typical alpine ridge adorn with Tibetan prayer flags and rock piles.



08:45. At 4000m above sea level we stopped for photos, a sea of clouds beneath our feet stretching as far as the eye could see. While the skies were clear at this altitude, Ma Shifu knew how quickly road conditions could change and warned ominously of a chance of snow. His prediction would come true in less than 48 hours as we would be delayed flying out of the local airport.



09:40. Ma Shifu dropped us off at Huanglong and promised to pick us up in the afternoon. We arrived on the last day of the ropeway's seasonal operation, taking advantage of the quick ascent and mitigating against overexertion at high altitudes. The entrance ticket would be cheaper by RMB 140 (CAD$25!!) the next day, but we would receive the same discount visiting Jiuzhaigou. I'd rather visit Huanglong while the ropeway was still in operation.



11:00. Our first peek of the Five-Coloured Pond came after 50 minutes on a well-maintained planked trail. According to timestamps on our photos we would spend a full hour here, yet it was hardly enough time to appreciate the 700 calcified pools of various hues from yellow to turquoise to emerald green.



The menacing presence of oxygen bags for rent along the trails was a sober reminder of the present danger of altitude sickness. This was precisely why we opted for the ropeway -- the highest pools were accessible via a 3km walk on level ground, instead of a taxing 4km climb at the treacherous elevation of 3600m.



Thin oxygen didn't prevent the construction of a series of shrines to venerate the Yellow Dragon that allegedly transformed into these sparkling pools and waterfalls. Appearing on most postcards is the so-called Huanglong Ancient Temple which, despite its serenity most of the year, would host a boisterous fair attracting thousands of Tibetans, Hui Muslims and Han Chinese alike every summer from hundreds of miles away.



11:50. We stopped for a snack break in front the Rear Temple. The open square would be perfect for Tibetan Circle Dances during the temple fair, which is held at midsummer rather than during Chinese New Year as is the custom in most of the country. There is simply no road access to this remote corner of the Tibetan Plateau in February.



12:20. We took a glimpse of the Middle Temple and its collection of statues passed down from the Ming Dynasty. Curiously the temples seemed partially Taoist (hence the legend of the Yellow Dragon) and partially Buddhist (hence the Hall of Arhats), which added to the intrigue on this line of religious divide between Tibetan Buddhists from the southwest and Hui Muslims from the north.



12:40. The spread of calcified pools narrowed as we approached the Flamboyant Pond. Only a handful of locations in the world can boast travertine pools of this massive scale, and Huanglong is arguably most obscure compared with Yellowstone and Pamukkale.



12:50. At Azalea Pond we approached the halfway point of our descent. Having spent a week elsewhere on the Tibetan Plateau, and perhaps aided by the Tibetan Rhodiola that we had been taking as herbal supplements, we fortunately did not feel any symptoms of altitude sickness.



13:00. Arrival at Mirror Pond, which wasn't so mirror-like on this frosty day.



13:10. On the way to Bonsai Pond we passed several Tibetan villagers selling various incenses and snacks. Our lunch on this day consisted mainly of the yak meat jerky we purchased at Mount Siguniang, and we would have no proper meal before arriving at Jiuzhaigou that evening.



One reward for visiting in this frigid season was the view of these lovely frozen ponds throughout the length of the creek. Sadly we were likely among the last groups of visitors to enjoy this rare sight, as we would hear of the National Park's seasonal closure from a taxi driver just two days later.



13:30. Leading towards the bottom section of the creek was a giant cascade of glacial water down a gentle slope known as Seven Miles of Golden Sand. Late arriving visitors could still be seen puffing and climbing in the direction of the Five-Coloured Pond, 3.5 hours from gate closing.



13:40. Arrival at the pale blue Lianyan Pond, now three quarters of the way down from the top.



The temperature was below freezing even under the warm afternoon sunshine, and for the first time we had to utilize every layer of clothing available in our backpacks. But it was all worthwhile arriving in the most beautiful time of the year, when half the ponds had frozen into a magical translucency while the other half remained brilliantly crystal blue.



14:00. An array of half-frozen waterfalls guided our descent on the last stretch of the hike. In a momentary lapse of judgment I followed behind several Chinese visitors and treaded across a thin sheet of ice to access a frozen waterfall, which was incredibly risky in retrospect as everyone could have collapsed into the freezing pond.



14:10. At last we reached the Welcome Pond at the bottom of the valley, nearly 4.5 hours after setting out from the cable car station. The downhill route was probably doable in 2 hours without stopping, though 4 would be realistic IMHO with spectacular scenery almost every step of the way.



Ma Shifu was already expecting us near the entrance, eager to bring us back across the 4000m mountain pass while the ever-changing weather was still cooperative. The sea of clouds from the morning had largely dissipated for now, only to return within the next 24 hours to blanket the plateau with more snow.



On our way back Ma Shifu shared fascinating stories of yak herding in his younger days, of highway banditry in this isolated corner of 21st Century China, and of the power of (surprisingly!) matriarchal clans among his tribe of Hui Muslims. You could tell the straightforwardness and honesty of this man from his sense of responsibility in his work, and I would have no problem recommending him to fellow travelers who are able to communicate with him in Chinese.



We bid farewell to Ma Shifu at a teahouse north of Chuanzhusi, where he handed us off to a Jiuzhaigou-based driver to take us to our destination. Our private vehicle from Songpan to Huanglong to Chuanzhusi to Jiuzhaigou cost a total of RMB 500 including waiting time, which I found quite reasonable for 180 km of winding mountain roads. The next day we would take on the longest hike of our trip, at the world famous valley of Jiuzhaigou.