Our initial plan was to do a Yangtze river cruise starting in Wuhan and terminating in Chongqing, taking at least 5 days and more money than we were willing to spend. When we had met up with Winnie, his review of the 3 gorges cruise was not as enthusiastic as we had hoped. For that reason we decided to forgo it although still looked into going overland to visit the lesser 3 gorges, but ultimately scraped that idea because it would require 6 days of travel and equal nights accommodation.
Instead, we got a bus back to Shanghai and that same night boarded a train to Chengdu, in Sichuan province, lasting a ridiculous 37 hours.
Despite the brakes failing on the first bus, we quickly got a replacement double-decker bus and watched Kung-Fu movies the rest of the way. We dropped off our bags at Blue Mountain on the Bund hostel where we had stayed before leaving for Huangshan.
Hilariously enough, Helinä was still there and was still in bed when we had arrived in the afternoon. We woke her up and proceeded to grab a bite at McDonald's and bought some supplies for our marathon train ride that evening.
Unfortunately, our train was delayed for 2 hours and I killed time by writing my blog while curious Chinese men would read (attempt to) over my shoulder while making disgusting noises and hocking up phlegm.
Even though the train ride was 37 hours, it still passed relatively quickly and provided me a chance to catch up on my blog and get some reading done.
We arrived in Chengdu in the afternoon and quickly booked a bus ticket to Jiuzhaigou National Park in northern Sichuan.
We only stayed one night at the comfortable Traffic Inn (redcliffinn.cn) before embarking on yet another extended journey.
The road from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou was absolutely stunning: numerous, towering snow-capped peaks; trees shimmering with golden leaves; sprawling autumn forests of red, orange, yellow and green.
We even saw some downed bridges and vacated houses from 2008's devastating earthquake, having claimed 88,000 lives and effecting 33 million people (almost the population of Canada!)
It is amazing that after only 4 years, it is quite difficult to see its lasting effects. Someone should hire the Chinese relief effort and construction crews in Haiti. Just saying...
The surrounding jagged mountains were dotted with many minority villages such as Tibetan, Naxi and Hui; each wearing their brightly-colored traditional costumes.
On the roads, we passed horses, mountain goats and a few fluffy yaks: a staple of Tibetan culture.
After passing the idyllic village of Songpan and its mountain-top temple, it was only 2 hours until we arrived in Jiuzhaigou.
The tranquil, picturesque country-side leading up to the national park was quickly forgotten as we passed scores of tour buses and thousands of tour groups. The Sichuan capital city of Chengdu looked calm compared to this supposed natural wonder.
A man from our hostel, the damp and over-priced Hostel C met us at the bus and escorted us to the hostel.
Despite the teeming rain greeting our arrival to the park, we were still confident in the forecast we had been following.
The next morning, we went for breakfast at 6am and were joined by Etienne and Carla from South Africa and Jonas from Denmark. The five of us crammed into one car and were brought to Jiuzhaigou's front entrance.
We managed to get tickets quite quickly utilizing Chinese-learned pushing techniques and we used our Quebec Driver's licenses as student IDs because the Chinese cannot read French, and made our way into the park at a discounted price.
Jiuzhaigou means nine villages valley, for the nine Tibetan villages in the region. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and World Biosphere Reserve and home to some of the most stunning natural scenery in China. Because of this, it attracts 1.5 million visitors per year, sometimes getting as many as 50,000 per day! Ah yes, the tranquility of Chinese Nature.
We took the shuttle bus to the Primeval Forest but realized if we started there we wouldn't be able to explore the rest of the park by foot. We hopped on another bus and got off at Panda Lake.
Even though the sun had not yet reached the valley from behind the towering, snowy peaks, it was still easy to see the water and its surreal turquoise colour. We continued past the Panda falls until we reached another lake for the sunrise.
The calm, still water perfectly reflecting the picturesque mountains; the autumn colours in graceful transition and the relative silence made this a special moment in the park.
Surprisingly enough, because most Chinese tourists only use the shuttle buses to get from one scenic spot to another, we were able to walk pretty much alone for most of the day along the wooden paths in the forest, making the experience rather unique in touristic China.
We continued until we reached the Pearl Beach Shoal (a very wide river running down the side of a mountain) and Pearl Beach waterfall.
As we descended, we passed more phenomenal scenic spots like Mirror Lake, Nuorilong Falls, Rhinoceros Lake and Tiger Lake.
After walking along the western route for most of the day, we took a shuttle bus to the eastern side terminating at Long Lake.
Long Lake is the largest lake in Jiuzhaigou and also the most isolated. Despite its isolation, it is one of the highlights of any visit to the park and consequently inundated with thousands of tourists.
We still managed to get some unreal pictures before joining the queue towards Five Coloured Pool.
Thinking that the Five Coloured Pool was an amusement park ride based on the amount of people waiting in line to see it, we quickly realized that it was worth the wait.
The Five Coloured Pool is a crystal-clear lake, shimmering in various shades of blue, green and turquoise; with vibrant green trees surrounding it. You would think it was a movie star by the sheer amount of people taking pictures of it (Jiuzhaigou is actually featured several times in the Jet Li film Hero).
While I was snapping some of my own pictures, a girl crams in beside me with her iPhone and holds the phone as far over the water as she can. As I'm about to leave, I lower my right elbow, hitting her outstretched arm, making her lose her grip of her phone and she drops it into the crystal-clear water below us. The clarity of the water allowed us to see the phone sink to the bottom and mock us from its watery grave.
I say sorry in English and Chinese and that it was an accident and there's nothing I can do. She is noticeably and understandably upset but we can't properly communicate to each other. She finds someone who speaks some English and demands I give her 2000¥ (360$), saying that the phone cost 5000¥. I said once again that I'm sorry, it was an accident but I'm not giving her any money. With the thousands of people pushing their way through to take pictures (herself included), accidents are likely to happen.
She whimpered behind me and followed us until she realized I wasn't budging on my resolve.
Obviously feeling guilty, I wasn't as enthusiastic for the remaining sights in the park, but we spent our last few hours admiring the lakes, shoals and waterfalls back towards the entrance gate.
Jiuzhaigou truly is like heaven on earth, with its stunning landscapes and otherworldly colours. But like the biblical version of heaven, with good and beauty, there also exists evil and ugliness, and that Chinese girl is probably always going to remember that bearded, white devil who dropped her expensive phone into the crystal lake at the nicest place that she or that white devil has ever seen.
Amen.
gorgeous pictures of the water! look at the BLUE! wow. too bad you destroyed a girls livelihood whilst taking such magnificent photographs. juuust kiddingggg... ;)
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