Travel in China

Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong Natural Reserves

(August 2003)

Northern Sichuan is famous for its natural parks, very popular among Chinese tourists but quite difficult to reach (although this has changed since October, when a new airport was opened).

We did it the "hard" way: 10 hours of bus from Chengdu, taking our chances with the restaurants and toilets along the way. The arrival in Jiuzhaigou was actually more shocking than the drive: after hours of mountains and small villages, the town of Jiuzhaigou is a concrete agglomerate of huge hotels, ready to host tens of thousands of tourists during high season. And this is right outside the gates of what is considered one of the most beautiful natural reserves of the country.

Jiuzhaigou is famous for its scenery: the water of its lakes contains minerales that give a unique nuance of colours, best appreciated on a sunny day. Of course, when we were there it was raining. Nonetheless the colours were incredible!

There are some major drawbacks to Jiuzhaigou: the entrance fee is the first (145+90 RMB for one day = approximately 25 EUR, which is incredibly expensive for China). Even more disappointing are the crowds of Chinese tourists around the main scenic spots and the bus transportation system within the park. The official buses are the only mean of transportation permitted within the park. They are loud, crowded and very, very polluting!

Luckily, not many people walk the trails connecting the lakes, which makes it possible to enjoy nature in a Western fashion (that is to say: not among hundreds of noisy people and vendors, or in a queue waiting for the bus).

click on a picture to enlarge it / clicca sulle foto per ingrandirle

The drive from Jiuzhaigou to Huanglong is very pleasant, thanks to a brand new road that passes some interesting Tibetan villages and a wonderful scenery.

Compared to Jiuzhagou's abundance of hotels, Huanglong doesn't offer much choice for accomodation: most groups visit on a day trip from Jzg. The park is much smaller and you can hike the whole circuit in half a day.

The trail goes up to 3,700m and the Chinese seem to be pretty scared by the altitude: many of them buy huge pillows with oxygen, just in case... The altitude is no problem to us, but it is raining (so, what's new?). Too bad for us: the colours of the water terraces are half as vivid as they use to be on a sunny day. Nonetheless, as in Jiuzhaigou, the scenery is breathtaking and even with the rain the blue pools against the yellow rocks (Huang Long = Yellow Dragon) make it worth being here.

click on a picture to enlarge it / clicca sulle foto per ingrandirle

On the way back to Chengdu we stopped in Songpan, a small Tibetan village we found very attractive.

To see pictures of Songpan, click here.

To read more about this trip go to Changzhou Chronicle pt.8