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Published: August 7th 2007
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Introduction So after we visited JiuZhaiGou, we were getting more excited about our next and last stop: HuangLong. JiuZhai was beyond our expection by all means. We heard from various sources before and during the trip that HuangLong is a totally unique place to visit, beyond anyone's imagination.
Where is it? So basically the JiuHuang airport stands between JiuZhai and Huanglong. It is 88 miles to JiuZhai from the airport, and 40 something miles to Huanglong. But the road to Huanglong is such a complete zigzag in the mountain, that it will actually take a lot longer to get there (about 2 hours). Another important point about Huanglong is, the elevation is much higher compaired with JiuZhai. So you go up to like 4000 meter above sea level, and than drop down to 2000 meter. Some people might experience high elevation related symptoms such as dizziness, nauseas, stomachache, short of breath et al.
How did we get there? Ok, so I won't bore you with the long version of the story. Basically we made a deal with a mini-bus driver that we will pay him 100 yuan/person, there were supposed to be us and another couple. He will drive
us from JiuZhai to HuangLong, wait there for us, then take us back to the airport afterwards to catch our flight back to Chengdu. He picked us up at 7:00am in the morning, sharp, then went on to pick up the other couple. The only problem was that the other couple were nowhere to be found. Maybe they found a better deal and left. But apparently they didnt' bother to tell this driver. So slight change of plan, since he didn't think he will make enough profit from the two of us, he asked us to ride on another bus that was going that direction. And then we had to find a cab to take us to the airport afterwards. No biggies. We agreed. The other bus had 6 people on it. So off we go.
The sky was overcasted, and before long it started drizzling. When we got there, it was still early, not so many tour buses in the parking lot. Turned out ticket is 200 yuan per person plus 80 lift ticket. There is a small sign pointing to the direction of a shuttle bus stop that will take you to the up-going cable starting point.
From there, you can hike down the hill, which is a lot easier and faster than hiking up. The problem is the sign was so insignificant as if it is not meant to be seen. We almost missed it. If you do miss the bus, you are forced to hike up the hill for 3-4 hours, and then either take the cable down, or hike back the same way up. Lots of people were confused by this strange system and ended up having to take the hard way up even they had bought the cable ticket.
So after we got off the cable, we ended up on the top of the mountain, and started going down. There is only one road down, and all the attractions are along this one and only road. You can see the green-bluish calcified mineral honey comb like pools everywhere. Water cascading down the pools. Since it was a overcasted day, there wasn't much of other colors as we would like to see. I just want to make one tiny point about the signs in the park. I don't know which idiot came up with the system, but every sign in this park is
out of proportion. There was always a big red circle in the middle of the sign indicating where you are, but it gives you no sense of how far away you are from the end. The day was very wet and gloomy. The only thing that can warm people up is the instant noodle they were selling at the food stand, which costs 4-5x their regular prices at the top of the mountain. Hey, the local peple have to make their living somehow.
It took us about 3 hours to come back to the visitor center, which to our total dismay, really stinks due to the odor from the restroom. You really don't need any sign to find it. James gave the park management office a call right at the entrance to complain about the signs and restroom. Considering the kind of price they are charging for entrance, they really should have done a much better job.
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