March 8, 2012
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Sichuan Day 5: Jiuzhaigou-Huanglong-Songpan (E)
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.
