Northern Sichuan – Breathtaking beauty

From Chengdu we took the bus to Songpan.  What was supposed to be a 7-8 hour ride turned out to be 13 hours because of roadwork.  That sucked.  So we pulled into town at about 8 at night and we immediately tried to organize our next day’s activity, horse trekking.  Very few tour groups come through here so this town has much more of an independent traveller’s vibe, and almost all of them come here to get on a horse for a few days.  We talked to the trekking company and we decided, due to limited time and the slightly cold weather, to do a one day trek instead of the most common 3 day one to Ice Mountain (which sounds like a place where some evil storybook witch would live).  The next morning we hopped on our horses and headed into the valleys.  It was pleasant ride on a sturdy horse, ending at an authentic Tibetan monastery.  I say authentic because this one was not catered to travellers, nor did it charge an admission fee to enter.  The young monks there were eager to show Di and me around and were hoping we would want to learn about Tibetan Buddhism.  It was a truly genuine exchange and we really enjoyed it.

The next day we hired a driver to take us a couple hours away to Huanglong national park.  I had been before and I remembered it as being one of the most beautiful and unique places I had ever seen so I really wanted to return with Di.  What makes Huanglong special is its travertine landscape, similar to Pamukkale in Turkey.  Unlike Pamukkale however, China has done a fantastic job in conserving Huanglong’s natural beauty by not allowing people into the travertine pools.  These naturally-formed terraced limestone pools fill with water which overflows into the next pool, and this continues all the way down for 3.6 km’s.  This connected collection of yellow limestone pools is supposed to look like a golden dragon weaving through the valley, hence the name Huanglong (which means yellow dragon in Chinese).  Each of the many pools is a different shade of crystal clear water, from deep blues to pale yellows to bright turquoises.  As I reread the words I have just written, I realize that I the writer can’t even form a mental image of Huanglong with my lousy description, so it really is best if you just check out the flickr pictures so you understand what I’m talking about.  To be honest even the pictures don’t do it justice.  Anyways, from the park entrance to the top is 3.6 kms, so Di and I hiked the full 7.2 km loop.  As we were hiking up the brilliantly maintained boardwalk (and I mean immaculately maintained as workers clear fallen leaves about 2 seconds after they’ve hit the walkway) I realized that we were the only ones going up, even though we saw a lot of people at the entrance gate.  I clearly remembered the last time I was in Huanglong there were a lot of unlucky Chinese workers who had the job of carrying tourists up in sedan chairs on their backs for a minimal fee, but this time there were none.  I found out the reason why when we got near the top; there is now a brand new gondola that takes tourists who are willing to pay (which evidently was everyone except us) almost to the summit.  So most opt for the ride up and then they walk all the way down, and since we got there early in the morning most tourists hadn’t started to walk down yet.  It’s a shame really as the hike is not too difficult and it’s stunningly gorgeous, but I’m not complaining as it’s practically impossible to find some quiet time in popular Chinese tourist destinations.  As Huanglong’s location is about 3500m above sea level, some people start to feel the effects of altitude sickness.  What the park has done to help people with this issue is provide free oxygen huts all along the trail which is pretty impressive if you ask me. 

After Huanglong we reunited with our waiting driver who then drove another couple hours to get us to the jewel of the Northern Sichaunese crown, Jiuzhaigou, where we stayed the night.  Jiuzhaigou literally means “Nine Village Valley” in Chinese as the valley contains nine Tibetan villages.  Obviously the guy who named this place was full of creative genius.  Like Huanglong, Jiuzhaigou is a UNESCO World heritage site.  Lame name aside, it’s a nature reserve that has the finest collection of multi-coloured lakes, streams and waterfalls that I’ve ever seen.  Admittedly it’s super expensive, at 310 yuan which is approximately 50 USD (far more than it was 6 years ago) but that doesn’t seem to limit the number of Chinese tourists who come.  Supposedly there were over 12000 in the park the day we were there, a far cry from the 5000 they received in the whole of 1984, the year the park opened for tourism.  The park road is shaped like a Y, so our game plan was to take a bus up to the very height of the left arm early in the morning, make our way back to where the road forks, and then bus up to the top of the right arm before walking all the way back down to the bottom.  At the height of both arms of the Y are big lakes, and water flows down from them into a series of lower lakes, all connected by waterfalls, streams and rivers.  The Chinese government has done an amazing job with providing an army of shuttle buses that runs the circuit between the lakes, and a fantastic boardwalk that connects the lakes as well.  The Chinese tourists love to ride the buses to a lake, hop out and take a picture, and then get back on the next bus to go to a lower lake where they can repeat the exact same process.  This makes for very crowded buses and lakeside bus stops, but a virtually empty boardwalk.  Again, no complaints here as we basically were hiking alone on said boardwalk, occasionally running into the odd Israeli or French couple.  The lakes are all different shades of turquoise, blue and green.  A fight scene in the famous movie “Hero” starring Jet Li and Tony Leung was filmed on the water here at Jiuzhaigou.  Though some are quite deep, you can still see to the bottom of the lakes most of the time as the waters have the clarity of Di’s dream diamond (I stress the word ‘dream’).  The connecting waterfalls and rivers have the power, grace, and beauty of a dancer with skills the exact opposite of mine.  A lot of the time the boardwalk is set directly above these streams, which makes for really enjoyable hiking.  In addition our timing was impeccable as much of the valley was covered in different hues of red and yellow due to the leaves changing colour.  We were able to stick to most of our game plan, which resulted in us hiking for over 30 kms.  It was a long and tiring day but definitely worth every sore muscle.

Though Jiuzhaigou’s landscape does look a lot like the Rocky Mountains back home, it’s its collection of multi-coloured lakes and waterfalls all in close proximity to one another that sets this place apart from anywhere else.  And Huanglong really doesn’t have an equal on Earth for its unique karst landscape and vivid limestone pools.  We’ve been travelling for about 8 months and have seen an innumerable collection of beautiful places, but this part of Northern Sichuan has to be near or at the top of the list for me.  It’s probably second on Di’s list for things of beauty, losing out only to the ridiculously good-looking face of the writer of this blog entry.