Advertisement
Published: August 7th 2007
Edit Blog Post
When the bus left Songpan bus station we were the only 2 passengers on it and, on arriving in Jiuzhaigou, we immediately found a dirt-cheap suite equipped with a futuristic multi-jet shower featuring a radio and array of blue lights. I couldn't help suspecting the gods had given us this good luck because of an impending shafting.
Like many areas of natural beauty, Jiuzhaigou did not look its best with drizzle and overcast skies. Such was our fate for much of our 2 days there. The park is one of the most expensive attractions in all of China - quite possibly THE most expensive, as a cursory flick through the RG showed that it comfortably exceeded the entry fees of more famous sights such as the Terracotta Warriors. There is a hop on/hop off bus service around the park, which rather cheekily isn't included in the ticket price - given the size of the place, you can't really avoid using the bus but it seems as though the tickets are never checked.
The park itself is in a rough Y-shape, with the entrance at the bottom of the shaft and the midpoint at a place called Nuorilang, about 14km
from the entrance. Trails branch east and west from Nuorilang, each about 18km long. Most of the interesting sights are on the branches, but on the first day we decided to do the hike from the entrance to Nuorilang. The path paralleled the road and was mainly a wire mesh-covered boardwalk. We met virtually no-one on it.
Though Jiuzhaigou has mountains and forests in abundance, the main draw in summer is its water, which very clear and, in certain lakes, pleases the eye with various pastel shades of blue and green, courtesy of tourist-friendly algae. The lakes on the stretch to Nuorilang possess evocative names such as Double Dragon Lake and Sleeping Dragon Lake, but the romance is shattered at Shuzheng Village where a Tibetan settlement of tat shops, all looking as though they were painted yesterday, overlooks the wide but shallow Shuzheng Falls.
From Shuzheng onwards, we encountered many more tourists, most of them domestic. We plodded past Tiger Lake and Rhinoceros Lake before reaching Nuorilang, whose falls are one of the highlights of the park.
By this stage it was late afternoon, and we figured we'd only have time to drop in on Five Coloured
Pool on the western branch before the park closed. The buses had stopped running that way but a park official helpfully laid on one especially for us, with an English-speaking guide. Five Coloured Pool was small but featured a vivid palette of marine colours that we'd seen in many photos of the park online.
On day 2 we caught the bus straight up to Panda Lake on the eastern branch. The sun deigned to put in an appearance around lunch-time. Realising that, due to reflections, we'd need to be at a decent height above the water to really see its blueness, and with none of the official viewing points being elevated, we tried walking along the road to a suitable spot. Our first attempt at this was met by a security guard shaking his head and wagging his finger but the 2nd was successful. Interestingly there was a boardwalk at the point we got to (Tiger Mouth) together with 2 members of staff, but no legitimate means of getting there. I think these 2 employees knew they had the cushiest jobs in the park and therefore pretended we weren't there.
After taking a few photos, we trooped back
down to the bus stop and, after a couple more lake and waterfall stops, headed out of the park.
Dull but possibly useful info Getting there: Take a bus from Songpan to Jiuzhaigou (just one, I think, at 6AM), costing 28 yuan and taking about 2.5 hours.
Stayed at: Don't know the name of the place - I think it was affiliated to the Garden Hotel, and was about 100 yards away from it heading away from the park. Cost 120 yuan for a double. Would stay here again.
Notes: i. Entry to the park is 220 yuan, which is valid for 2 days (you'll need to get your ticket embossed with a photo if you plan to stay for both). The bus ticket is 90 yuan per day, but the tickets never appeared to be checked (probably due to the sheer volume of guests).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.452s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 48; qc: 156; dbt: 0.2923s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.6mb
Stephen Paul
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
awesome!
Looks so amazing, I saw a PBS show on these lakes years ago and have always wanted to visit. Great post, the lakes look mesmerizing!