March 8, 2012
-
Sichuan Day 3: Jiuzhaigou (E)
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.
