I flew from Hong Kong to Chengdu and took an airport bus to the city. It was hard to get a taxi and I was stuck on the street for a while. I finally got on the taxi and checked in in my hostel- Traffic Inn. The staff were nice and the rooms were clean and tidy. However, they could not really answer my questions about my travel plan in Sichuan as they have not been a lot of those places. They did not know the connection of the buses and so on, but they are willing to help.

http://trafficinnhostel.com/en/contact/

After settling down at the hostel, I got the SMS of Emily (my secondary schoolmate) who happened to be in Chengdu with my another friend- Sue (my university schoolmate). So, we went to have the super famous Sichuan hotpot with their co-workers.

As usual I could not take any spicy food, so I mostly took those food from the outer ring. The inner bloody red circle looked very scary, but I tried a bit anyway. It is something you must do in Sichuan. Right?

When I walked by other tables, they all have the red one in the outer ring, my god!!!

Thanks Emily and Sue for buying me this as my birthday dinner. You are so sweet!!!!

I was whole day on the bus. It took me 10 hours from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou(九寨溝), but I was not bored at all. I was reading books, watching movies with my iphone, sleeping and seeing the mountain turning yellow and red. It was quite an enjoyable ride and the Chinese couple sitting at my back were singing some classic Chinese songs together with very nice voices.

Once I got off from the bus, a lot of people from different hostels approached me. As I had my hostel booked already, I just went straight to my hostel in the nearby village.

hostel website: http://www.57jzg.com/

I met a very nice Hong Kong man-Mr Cheung in the hostel and he was telling me that he spent 3 days inside Jiuzhaigou. He was very enthusiastic and tried to tell me all the best time and best spot in the park. 

I wonder how could he live inside Jiuzhaigou as it is actually illegal for tourist to live there. He told me that the Zang village inside Jiuzhaigou do take the individual tourists, just could not do it openly. The management knew about it and they turned their blind eye on it as it is the livelihood of the Zang village. He gave me the name card and told me how to get there. (I have the contact, ask me if you want)

After talking to Mr. Cheung, I had a full plan for Jiuzhaigou and he helped me on some decision as he has a lot of information.

I was waken up very early with my shaking bed. Later I realized that it was a mini earthquake in the area. It reminded me the experience of my friend who were traveling in Jiuzhaigou during the terrible earthquake. Luckily she came home safe finally.

It was quite expensive to get the park pass and bus ticket, totally RMB$260 for a day. It was totally worth it though. Jiuzhaigou in Autumn was absolutely amazing. 

I got off from the bus at Shuzheng zhai（樹正寨） to find my “illegal” home-stay hostel. I followed the map the Hong Kong man drew me the night before and found the host. They arranged me a room and reminded me to come back before 5pm as some of their guests were forced to get out of the park with all other tourists during the door close.

Once the mist was gone, I could see the beautiful mountain behind Shuzheng zhai with the yellow, red and purple vegetation covered. My autumn wonderland started from here.

The shuttle bus ran non-stop in the park in 3 routes: Shuzheng gou (樹正溝）, Rize gou （日則溝） and Zechawa gou （則查洼溝）. Every route had their main lakes and specials to see.

There are both bus road and wooden path for you to walk along the lake. I highly recommend the wooden path because of the following reasons.

1. It was much quieter than the main road and you could get to feel the real beauty of Jiuzhaigou
2. There were much less tourists and less crowded
3. There were a lot of unseen which you could see from the wooden path, but not the main road
4. The paths were all flat and easy to walk the whole way and they were all connected

After listening to other backpackers’ advice, I did not follow the 3 routes one by one. Instead, I kind of running around as some lakes were specially beautiful under the angle of sunlight in certain time of the day.

After I settled down at Shuzheng zhai, I first got the shuttle bus to go all the way to the forest (原始森林) which is at the end of Rize gou, then slowly walked along the path to the Swan Lake (天鵝海）.

Then I took the bus back to the middle point and changed bus to the end of another route- Long sea (長海）. Walking from Long sea to Five colour lake (五彩池）was very enjoyable. When I got to the Five colour lake, I almost could not believe the colour of the lake in front of me. However, I slowly get used to this “unbelievable” when I stayed longer in Jiuzhaigou.

長海

五彩池

Again I jumped on the bus from Five colour lake and went to the middle point. There I started with Langri waterfall (朗日瀑布）to Xiniu sea (犀牛海). The path was super beautiful and quiet. I love it!!!

朗日瀑布

I had my lunch sandwich on this path just by sitting next to the water and looking at the mountain. It was an unforgettable moment.

犀牛海

The beauty of walking on the wooden path is that you can see the lake in between those colourful trees.

As I had to get back to Shuzheng zhai before 5pm, I took a reverse walk around 3pm from Penjing beach (盆景灘） all the way to Shuzheng Zhai. This time, I walked along the main road and decided to walk on the wooden path the next day on the same route.

Penjing beach is not a beach but a shallow river which got some small tree stand out in the middle of the water. It looks like the art of Bonsai in China.

I asked about the toilet and people pointed at this “bus”, so I went to have a look. It was actually a very advance toilet with these green bag rolling inward every time you use the toilet, very hygienic and convenience. The only problem is that it is not environmental friendly at all.

Following the main road, the Penjing beach was behind and I saw the Reed sea (蘆葦海). It looks exactly as its name. It is a sea of reed.

Then it was Shuanglong sea (雙龍海）, Huohua sea （火花海）, Wolong sea （臥龍海）, Shuzheng sea （樹正群海） and Shuzheng waterfall（樹正瀑布） one after the other. They are all stunning.

樹正群海

樹正瀑布

It was almost 5pm when I got “home”. The electricity was off and they said it has been that way for few days, hopefully it will be functioning well again at night. I was worried with my camera battery. Luckily, it went back on before dinner.

Had a nice dinner cooked by the host. This “illegal” accommodation was excellent. I also met a Taiwanese family during the dinner and had a nice chat about the park.

Once I got out from my “home”, there was a staff waiting outside and asked me to pay for the bus pass again. He was polite and he even arranged a bus to take me. I asked him how does this system works? You all know tourists are illegally staying at these hosts and you are just waiting for us paying for the bus pass each morning. He said it is not his department forbidden the locals take tourists, so they cannot do anything. All his department cares is that people pay for the bus pass each day. Also, because the tourists paid for the bus pass, the department had the responsibility to arrange the bus in the very early morning. So, this is their logic.

With this logic, I got “my” bus to take me to Mirror Sea (鏡海）to start my day.

I tried to get to Mirror Sea before 8am because I heard that you can only see it as calm as a mirror before the wind comes. I was not lucky, the wind comes too early. However, Mirror Sea is still beautiful.

Then I took a bus to Bamboo Sea (箭竹海）to finish the rest of that route. It was the most beautiful part in Jiuzhaigou and I took it the whole way with the wooden path.

Bamboo Sea is next to Panda Sea. I guess Bamboo is the food of Panda, so it was called that way. It is a large calm lake with a beautiful waterfall right next to it.

箭竹海

箭竹瀑布

I did not understand why Panda Sea (熊貓海） was called when I saw it on the bus the day before. Later, I found that you can only see its dark light lines on the wooden path. It looks so amazing with those lines flowing on the lake. By then, I finally understood why was it called Panda Sea!

熊貓海

熊貓海

The Pavo River (孔雀河道） was a magic. The blue was exactly as Sapphire and it got the shape of a Pavo. I wonder how could a river possibly make all those different colour and features of lake. HOW??????????

This is Pavo Lake. Sorry my photo did not show it well enough to show its beauty. However, you could still see its blue and the Pavo neck. It is totally natural with its minerals deposition.

On the way from Pavo River to Five flower Sea (五花海）with the beautiful small waterfall along the wooden path.

 It was very crowded at Five flower Sea as most of the package tour comes here. It is very famous with its own colour and all those reflected colour from the forest.

It was absolutely beautiful, but I hate the crowd, especially for those who only concern with a photo of their head in front of the lake. They did not have 1 second staying calm and enjoying the beauty of the nature. They are crazily taking photos to prove that they have been there. WTF!

五花海

五花海

五花海

五花海

五花海

The tree which soaked under these water will slowly get a white layer around itself.

五花海

五花海

五花海

五花海

五花海

五花海

Is it a joke? It is a sign for human or the animals to read?

Then I moved toward Pearl Beach (珍珠灘） and Pearl Beach Waterfall （珍珠灘瀑布）.

The small stone was rapidly hit by the water flow. So, it created a scene as the water is jumping around and with the help of sun, it looks like pearl.

珍珠灘

Pearl beach waterfall is a very large “piece” of waterfall connected to Pearl Beach. It totally got the feeling of the waterfall in Chinese martial art novel. It was one of the most beautiful one I have ever seen. Again, photos really could not show how it is. You have to be there listening to its powerful sound and looking at its water.

珍珠灘瀑布

These four lady are a group of a dance society. They love to pose in the photos. I love their colour and smiles.

Afterward, I took the bus and back to Penjing Beach (盆景灘) which I walked on the main road all the way to Shuzheng Zhai the day before. This time, I took the whole way in wooden path and I see a different kind of beautiful scenery.

On the Reed Sea (蘆葦海）, I could walk between the reed when I take the wooden path.

It was raining in the mid-way. The lake got some decoration with the raindrop. How wonderful!

I picked up my bag and left Shuzheng Zhai. How could I get a better birthday gift than this natural treasure- Jiuzhaigou?

If you ever heard that: You do not need to go to Huanglong (黃龍）if you have been Jiuzhaigou (九寨溝）, please do not listen to this bullshit. Huanglong is a different kind of beauty with its special minerals.

I took a bus from Jiuzhaigou to Huanglong. On the way to Huanglong, the driver asked if any of us are going to Songpan (松潘）on the way back. I raised my hand and they said they will drop me off at the closest point and there will be car waiting for me. What a developed tourist area.

I took the cable car up the the top of the mountain.

Due to the altitude difference, Huanglong was in its winter while Jiuzhaigou was still in its autumn.

I could see the Huanglong temple (黃龍寺) when I was walking on the path at the top.

Huanglong is special with its Calcite deposit. This yellowish mineral created a big piece of yellow sand slope in Huanglong in front of the snow mountain.

Behind the Huanglong temple is the very famous Wucai Pool (五彩池）.

When I saw this, I knew it is exactly the place I wanted to have lunch at. So, I took out my sandwich and enjoy it right in front of these colourful pools.

Travertine is a form of limestone. With the help of the water, it created steps with the rock. The magic is that different pools/steps in Huanglong got different colour, from light green changing to blue.

The total length of the travertine is 3.6 km and it is thought to look like a huge golden dragon wheeling through the snow-capped mountains of the valley. The main landscapes are travertine banks, amazingly colourful ponds and travertine waterfalls and caves.

Met a Sichuan boy who traveled alone on the way downhill. He said even he lives so close to all these beautiful landscape, but it is his first time to travel in Sichuan.

 It started snowing in my second half walk in Huanglong. Huanglong looked even more beautiful with the light snow.

I had to make my way back to the bus before 3pm, so I was almost running in the snow at the end. When I got on the bus, the driver said that we had to leave as soon as possible as they may block the mountain when the snow got too heavy.

People who come in the winter could not get into Huanglong as the snow is too heavy and it is not safe to get in. So, my time was about the end of the season that is still allowed to go in. Lucky me!

Then with my bus dropped me off at Chuanzhusi (川主寺), there was car waiting at the spot to take me and other tourists to Songpan （松潘）.

Songpan is 2300 years old. It was an important military town since Tang dynasty and it was protected with the high wall and 7 important gates. 3 gates are still well maintained now. It got an interesting stories of the marriage between a Chinese Princess and a King of minorities group for the peace of war, so it got a statue of the couple at the main gate of Songpan. Songpan also got a mixture of races because of different incidents in the history including the building of the wall and the war between minorities and Hans around that area.

2300年歷史的松潘，古名松州，四川省历史名城，是历史上有名的边陲重镇，被称作“川西门户”，古为用兵之地。史载古松州“扼岷岭，控江源，左邻河陇，右达康藏”，“屏蔽天府，锁阴陲”，故自汉唐以来，此处均设关尉，屯有重兵。
唐朝时，吐蕃首领松赞干布派者前往长安求婚。使者路过松州，被州官扣押，松赞干布大怒，亲率大兵二十万人入侵，唐都督韩咸战败，唐太宗命史部尚书统军抵达 松州，经川主寺一役，唐军大胜。松赞干布返藏后又遣拾使臣送黄金以求通婚和好，太宗晓以大义，将文成公主嫁与松赞干布，传为千古佳话。

唐朝當時為了修建城牆動用了上萬名的軍隊與民伕，並從西北調集了大量的工匠，那些工匠泰半是回族人，唐朝的松州城整整修建了六十多年才竣工，在城竣工之後 那些回族工匠也在松潘落地生根了，這也是為何松潘有如此多的回民的緣故，現在居住在松潘的回民就是那些工匠的後裔，松潘附近也有不少的藏人，史載文成公主下嫁吐蕃之前，唐朝與吐蕃的關係一度劍拔弩張，吐蕃為了在可能發生的戰爭中取得先機，於是 便派了一支數萬人的遠征軍到松潘附近紮營，沒想到後來唐朝與吐蕃的關係逐漸的修好，文成公主又下嫁了吐蕃，戰爭已經沒有發生的可能了，而回家的路又實在太 遠，最後那些離鄉背井的藏族勇士便在松潘安居了下來，所以今日的松潘混雜著為數眾多的藏族人。

Those gates and wall was still kept quite well, I could imagine how the town was back to the time.

As I mentioned earlier, Songpan got a mixture of different minorities group, so people still dressed in their own way.

I met a Taiwanese traveler who has been traveling all over the world. We had a long chat over dinner and I learn a lot from him.

I stayed at the hostel the horse back company operated for the night to rest. It was cold and I did not have a hairdryer for my wet hair. So, I was invited to stay around the fire in the staff room. The staff was telling me a lot of stories of this old town.

There is an interesting story of this horseback riding company- Shunjiang horse tour (順江馬隊）.
The owner of the company got a few horses and he could speak some broken English. So, he talked to the foreigners in Songpan(松潘）and told them that he could bring them to some beautiful places with his horses. Some foreigners joined him and found that it was really nice. So, they started to tell their friends back home. Slowly, this alternative way of traveling in Sichuan is getting famous. It is so famous that even Lonely Planet write about it. Of course, it brought more and more tourists and so now the company is officially taking tourists with their horse going to the lake, going to the snow mountain, going to the places which usually tour does not go. The staff knows their horse well, they can cook for you, make your bed, set up the tent. They are nice and professional.

I read about this on the internet and decided to join a 2-day horseback riding tour to Mounigou(牟尼溝）with Shunjiang horse tour.

Tel number of the manager of the company: 馬隊經理郭常（13909043513）（0837*7231161）
They also have an office at Songpan, you can ask anyone on the street and they know where it is.

This baby just love sitting on the horse. His dad said that he has to sit on it every day.

As it was quite cold, I was surprisingly the only one to join. My horseman was old but nice. His horse was calm and cute. We started going uphill and climbed over a snow mountain.

Climbing over a snow mountain. As a city girl, riding a horse over a snow mountain was just amazing.

The snow got really really heavy when we were about to arrive Mounigou. We were all wet and cold. So, we hid at the shelter room of the staff house in Mounigou.

I love their traditional hair accessories.

When the weather got better, I got in the park. Mounigou is divided in 2 parts- the warterfal and Erdao Sea (二道海）. As the waterfall was too far for me, I chose to go to Erdao Sea only.

The staff told me that the road to Erdao Sea was under maintenance, so no car could get there on that day. As I am the only one who come with horseback, I am the only visitor in this park today. They worry about my safety, so 2 of the staff were actually walking with me the whole way. They told me the legend of Mounigou and their job. We had a fun time walking in the park together.

At the same time, they are testing the water temperature all the way. They said it is to monitor the health of the river and the whole area.

Legend:

The locals used to “scare the sea” (驚海）to ask for rain. They said even if you speak louder in front of the sea (mean lake), the god in the sea will be shocked and the sky started to rain. However, the god of the sea started to get used to the loud sound. People continued to use other methods. One time, they even put a bomb inside the sea to ask for rain. After that, this “scare the sea” does not work anymore.

Poor lake!!

The end of the trail was a hot springs which was kept around 22 degree even in winter. The staff said it is the best time for me to try as there was no other tourist. They would wait for me outside to make sure I could go back safely. I tried to take off my pant and put them in the water, it was still too cold for me. So I gave it up. haha!

I went back to the staff house and my horseman told me that we had to stay overnight in this house as it was too cold to set up a tent outside.
So, we spent a night at the horse with my super warm sleeping bag.

Our horses were eating grasses under the sunset at Erdao Sea.

I was originally planning to go back to Chengdu(成都) to take a bus to Xiaojin (小金). However, my horseman told me that I could actually take a bus from Songpan to Wenchuan (汶川） instead as there is bus from Wenchuan to Xiaojin. I would save a half day by doing this.  

However, there is no direct bus from Songpan to Wenchuan, I had to change in the mid-way at Mouxian (茂縣）.

Wenchuan （汶川）was where the earthquake took place in 2008. It has been 3 years ago. I was imagining how would Wenchuan look like when I was on the bus. Still broken? rebuilt? I had no idea.

I heard that there are some tours bringing tourists to those places which were terribly destroyed by the earthquake, which hundreds of people died at. I also heard that those tourists who visited there were speaking loudly, were not taking things seriously. I could not believe a tragedy could become a sightseeing point, a making-money business. It makes me sick and I will never join a tour like this in my life. I had once joined something similar in ground zero at New York, however, their attitude is totally different. The tour guide was trying to explain how was the rescue work and how they felt about the incident. Tourists coming all over the world talked about their impression and point of view toward terrorist attack.

When I arrived at Wenchuan, it was quite late. So, I found a random place to stay next to the bus station and started to walk around the city.

There were a lot of rebuilt houses. It looked like a brand new city in some parts. The new housing even got gardens.

Some of the houses were still waiting to be rebuilt. I also saw some construction site.

I visited the Museum of Wenchuan which is a free Museum built after the earthquake. It does not focus on the earthquake, instead it talks about the long history of settlement in this area. I guess this is to give a good impression of Wenchuan to people, not only the broken one with full of sorrow in the TV.

I saw Dayu’s (大禹) statue in Wenchuan. Later I realized that Dayu was born in Wenchuan.

The only thing I felt really sad is that I have seen all those touristic attractions were rebuilt very well (even none of them are original), but locals houses were not yet all rebuilt. Does it mean the touristic attractions are more important than the people who live there, who suffered from the earthquake? Does it mean: O! we had earthquake, let’s come and see?

I hope I am just being very bitter. I hope it is not true.

From Wenchuan (汶川）, I had a very long bus ride to Xiaojin (小金). From Xiaojin, I took a mini-van to Rilong town (日隆鎮）which is at the foothill of Siguniang mountain （四故娘山）.

I met this young guy on the mini-van. He brought me to a hostel he recommended (I regret to take his advice, I should have stayed at another one instead), he tried to bargain with the horselady for my trip to Changping gou (長坪溝）in the next day. We had a local noodle and showed me where was the internet bar. At the end he handed me a cutter and said: you are traveling alone as a girl, no matter what happen, it is important to protect yourself.
I was shocked but I thank you for his concern.

I love Rilong town (日隆鎮）at first sight. It was sunny, small, energetic and full of minorities’ culture. The air was fresh and it was so comfortable to walk along the street (it was so small that only 1 street existed).

As a town at the foothill of Siguniang mountain (四故娘山）, Rilong town became the gathering point of the backpack traveller and hikers who climb the mountain. A few famous hostels were there which the boss are professional mountain guide as well.

The locals were dancing outside the house for 3 days to celebrate a wedding. They dance day and night.

I am not a mountain hikers, so I planned to visit 2 of the famous valleys- Changping gou (長坪溝） and Shuangqiao gou （雙橋溝）instead of climbing those 4 mountains in the following 2 days.

Someone told me that when he visited Changping gou in Spring (June), his horse was all the way stepping on flowers. It was absolutely beautiful.
I was obviously not there at the best season, but I still enjoyed the scenery of autumn Changping gou.

I took the shuttle bus from Rilong town to the entrance of Changping gou. There are only 2 ways of traveling at Changping gou- walking or horse riding. If you walk, you can only access to a small part of the area. With the horseman, you can get much deeper. The horse was arranged at the entrance of Changping gou with a set price. Remember not to give the ticket to the horseman before coming back to the entrance. If not, they will just take the ticket and go away. As long as they have the ticket, they could get money from the company.

I was super super lucky to go to Changping gou on a clear day, so I could see the 4 beautiful ladies who turned to be snow cap on the mountain to suppress the devil.

It was a legend:

相传在一个非常久远的年代，日隆镇有个叫阿郎巴依的小伙子与邻寨的一位姑娘结了婚，生下四个十分美丽的女儿。四个姑娘中，最漂亮的要算四姑娘。三个姐姐都十分偏爱和呵护她。不久从外乡来了一个叫麻 尔多拉（也被写为墨尔多）的妖魔，他住在一个山洞里，经常为非作歹，残害生灵。他打听到阿郎巴依有四个漂亮的女 儿，就想将她们占为自己的妻妾。他得知阿郎巴依是樟木寨的护寨人，就十分痛恨，常常在青山绿水的时候，哄骗天河泛滥洪水。为了保卫家园，阿郎巴依毅然同麻 尔多拉展开了长期的格斗。不久，阿郎巴依在与魔王麻尔多拉交战时被魔王巧施阴谋害死，并丢失了让魔王害怕的日月宝镜。四姑娘听到这个消息后十分悲痛，年少 的她决心替父复仇，她走遍嘉绒地区的所有神山，请求它们教给她降伏魔王的方法，她走遍所有的寺庙，学会对付魔王的手段，然后回到日隆关和魔王进行斗争。四 姑娘凭着聪明和智慧几次战胜了魔王，日隆关这个地方又安宁了许久。

　　与四姑娘住在同一村，有个叫央青达尔吉木匠，他与四姑娘自小在一起，青梅竹马，两小无猜。木匠的手艺远近闻名，他雕的花能开，雕的鸟能 飞。他常常以自己的木匠手艺做一些木制东西送给四姑娘，四姑娘也常将自己绣织的腰带和衣物送给他。在一次与魔王的战斗中，四姑娘凭借木匠的帮助将魔王斗得 落荒而逃，从此他们悄悄地恋爱着。

　　可是魔王并不甘心，他欺骗了天上的水母，只要给水母捎个信去，水母就给这里下很大的雨，让这里水涝成灾，老百姓不得安宁。四个姑娘决心 象父亲那样同魔王战斗到底，守卫她们的家园。三个姐姐把年龄最小的四姑娘看管起来，她们怕她斗不过魔王。但大姐，二姐和三姐和她們的未婚夫也先後被魔王制服。四姑娘的三个姐姐一起变成三座大山压在魔王的身上。可是魔王的法力无 边，眼看三个姐姐压不住了，四姑娘夺回了日月宝镜赶到，她摇身一变，变成了一座雄伟的大山，坚实地压在魔王的胸膛上，然后将日月宝镜往空中一抛，让所有的 积雪变成了千年冰雪，把四姑娘冻得十分坚硬，把魔王撵向死亡。最后，她们终于用自己的生命换来了赞拉河水的平静，让这里的一草一木，一山一水都充满着灵 性。

　　当四姑娘与魔王战斗时，木匠正在为从西方来的一位传扬佛法的弟子修建庙宇，当他听到四姑娘变成了雪山后，十分悲痛。他沿着长平沟往上 跑，想见四姑娘最后一面，没想到来到四姑娘仙化的地方，她早已变成了雄伟的雪山。看着圣洁美丽的四姑娘，他淆然泪下，觉得尘世间的事对他已没有什么牵挂。 他忽地变成了一道圣洁的白云，终日围绕在四姑娘的山峰上，以表白自己对四姑娘的钟爱。直到今天，他依然守候在山峰之上，人们要见四姑娘真实的面庞十分不 易，除非有缘，那四姑娘山峰上的云彩才会打开，让人们一睹仙女的芳容。

The biggest one at the left was the youngest sister.

This is called the dead tree beach (枯樹灘）. It looks quite dramatic with all the dead trees staying on an almost dried river.

When I was talking to my horseman about the earthquake, he told me that he was at the rescue team in Wenchuan (汶川）.
I said: How could you get there as all the roads were cut after the earthquake? It is very far from Wenchuan.
He said: I walked there. Wenchuan is just behind this mountain.
I said: How long did you walk?
He said: I walked for 2 days non-stop with some of my friends who grow up in the mountain as me.We knows the mountain road, we could make it.

There, a hero in front of me. I know there are tons of them around me in this trip too.

We took a break here and I had a cup noodles for lunch. I bargained with my horseman for paying him extra to ride to Mulvzi (木驢子). I heard that it is the most beautiful spot in Changping gou.

Mulvzi (木驢子） was not as beautiful as I expected, but I knew that it was a wrong season to go anyway. It was nice to be alone in a grassland in front of the snow mountain though.

On the way back

It was so cold that those water on the tree branches turned to be ice.

Red stone beach

dark red stone

Light red stone

I was very hungry when I got back to town, so I tried this corn cake made by the locals.

They were still dancing for the celebration in town at night. This time, with a grilled pig!!!

I had a deep sleep at night. When I woke up and opened the door of my hostel, it turned to be a white world. Then I realized that it was snowing whole night. The whole Rilong town became shiny white. I was excited and brought my camera to capture the white.

When I was taking photos, I saw a few people taking photos at the same direction. One of them politely said hi to me. We started to talk. He was from a group of 5 which hired a car and a tour guide to travel around Sichuan. I asked him if it is possible for me to have breakfast with them as all the breakfast restaurants were closed for the snow. He said it was not a problem. So, I met all his friends for breakfast.

During our breakfast, they started to talk about China airline and stuff like that. I guess they work for the airlines, so I told them I am a cabin crew of Cathay Pacific. 3 of them said: haha! we are the Taiwan engineer of Cathay Pacific!!!!

What a coincident! I met my co-workers in a foothill down of Siguniangzhan in Sichuan.

Obviously the 4 who has red jackets are from my company, haha!

After having breakfast with them, I went to Shuangqiao gou (雙橋溝） alone to start an amazing day.The scenery of Shuangqiao gou was one of the best I have ever seen in my life.

I was waiting for the shuttle bus to get in the park for a long time. They said I was the only one who came, so they gonna wait until others were here. I was pissed after 30 mins wait and insisted to walk in by myself. They said the snow is too deep for me to walk, so they finally drove me in.

As I was the only one on the shuttle bus, I actually got a private driver and a private guide. I brought me a lot of convenience later.

On the way in, all trees were covered by snow. The beauty cannot be described by my poor English.

I got off from the bus time to time to walk on the snow and took photos. It was a completely white world with very very beautiful landscape.

When the wind blew, the snow on the tree fell like snowing.

I told them that I would like to walk on the wooden path by myself because the scenery was so nice. They worried about me with the deep snow, so they decided to wait for me at the end of the trail. In case I did not come out in 30 mins, they would come and get me out.

The guide told me a lot of interesting legends about Siguniang mountain, including the grandmother, mother and father of those 4 beautiful ladies.

Love the reflection

My guide (by accident), she looked normal while I looked like someone from the South Pole.

It looked like a bird mouth, isnt it?

All lakes got a thin icy cover.

We met another group of staff, so we immediately started our snow fight. It was fun!!!

We passed by a temple and the guide asked me to make a wish after walking clockwise for 3 rounds around the temple.

I had a good time with my driver and guide. To thanks them for waiting for me at the end of the trail, I bought them lunch. We had some local food at a small house in the park.

The pattern of this natural wood was amazing.

After lunch, I told them I would like to have another walk by myself. I did not want them to wait for me again, so they could drive the car back and I just gave them a call when I finished my walk.

At the end, I was picked up by another shuttle bus while I was walking along the village.

When I was back to Rilong town, I had dinner with my Taiwanese co-workers. They said they got space in their car to take me to Danba（丹巴）with them. I was sooooooo happy as I always wanted to go to Danba, just for the fact that there was no public transport to go, so I did not put it in my plan. With the coincident of meeting them, I got a chance to go there.

For the convenience of joining them the next day, I moved from my hostel to theirs.
They lived in a famous hikers hostel and the wall were all written by the hikers or the flags of the group which successful climbed to the top. 

I especially like this one!