Jiuzhaigou National Park

The next day we woke up bright and early and headed to the Jiuzhaigou National Park. The park receives millions of visitors each year, and is supposedly one of the most beautiful places in China. I expected more wooden walkways, but apparently this park was much larger than Huanglong and thus had a different set-up. There is one main road in the park, and it continues up the valley until it splits in two directions; thus, the roadways in the park are a “Y” shape. The only vehicles allowed in the park are shuttle busses, and instead of hiking from one point to the next the shuttle busses operate under a hop-on, hop-off system. You get on and off at different scenic spots. Some, like numerous lakes, involve getting on and off the bus (get off the bus, walk five minutes to scenic spot, walk five minutes back to bus, and ride to next scenic spot) and others involve a little more walking (get off bus at drop-off point, hike along wooden pathways in/around scenic spot, get on bus at pick-up point further down the valley). You rarely ever walk uphill – this is my kind of hiking! The lakes in the park are unspoiled as no boating, swimming or fishing is allowed. Some are a deep blue color, and others were the same bright blue color as the travertine pools in Huanglong. The park also has some unusual landscape unlike any I have ever seen. A foot-or-so deep “river” rushes along the ground, but instead of being condensed into a stream or creek it runs meters and meters wide, sometimes as wide as a half-mile. There are trees and bushes that grow out of the water, so it’s kind of like a forest with a running-water floor. Sometimes the landscape falls off, creating cliffs and hills with magnificent, wide waterfalls flowing over it. Some of the wooden walkways run right through this, so you feel like you are in the middle of it. Others were off to the side, so you could walk above the rushing water with waterfalls beside you. This would definitely have not been possible if not for those wooden walkways. I can see why the place is world famous because of the walkways – it puts you in a location you usually can’t get to in national parks unless you are kayaking down a river. At the prettiest of the lakes there were a bride and groom having their wedding photos taken. They were one of two wedding couples we saw that day, and I’m thinking couples must not get their weddings photos taken on the actual wedding day. They must have to get all dressed up twice – I wonder if they get the pictures taken before or after the big day? Since no one speaks English in Jiuzhaigou I wasn’t able to find out. Apparently I was also a celebrity on this day because people kept wanting to take my picture or take pictures with me, much more so there than any of the other places I have been in China. The novelty quickly wore off and I started making the number “10” sign when the approached me, signaling that they would have to pay 10 Yuan if they wanted their picture with me. It never worked, and people snapped away anyway. It took all day to see all the scenic spots (as well as a touristy Tibetan village) in the park and I would have to agree that it is one of the prettiest places in China (of the 10 or so that I’ve seen). Pictures: The bride and groom; One of the many waterfalls in the park; One of the nine Tibetan villages in the valley. Video: The forest "floor"