Huanglong National Park (9-29)

April and I left on Saturday for our visit to Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong National Parks, which are known as Fairylands. Friday night we stayed at a hostel in Chengdu so we could catch our 7:40 AM bus. In the evening, we treated ourselves to a fried chicken meal at Dicos, which is like a Chinese KFC. The bus left close to on time. After an hour getting out of the city, we were in the countryside.

Not long afterwards we reached the mountains, which were continuous for a few hours. They are on both sides of the road, 

and the road goes through many of them in tunnels that range in length from 500 meters/.3 miles to just over 5000 meters/3 miles. 

We drove along the clear river for most of the trip. (Thanks to April for taking photos on the way back. Explanation later.) 

On the way back, April learned that we went through two earthquake zones, one of which included the serious 2008 earthquake which was near the area. It was a lovely trip. Every two hours the bus stopped for a toilet break. The toilets were in cubicles with a wall and an opening to enter the cubicle. You squatted over a trench going the length of the room. During one stop we were also told to eat. A buffet lunch was available for 24 yuan ($4). We decided to try it. It wasn’t especially good, but it was food.

Nine hours—356 km/221 miles of winding road up and down and around mountains—after leaving Chengdu we arrived at the bus station in  Pengfeng village/Jiuzhaigou, more than ready to get off the bus. April, who speaks Mandarin, asked where the hostel is and was told it’s not far. So we decided to walk since we wanted the exercise. During the next few days this walk became very familiar. After several minutes, pedestrians are channeled away from the road to walk through the long covered market. At this point, April asked for directions again, and we were pointed the opposite direction, but that didn’t seem right; so onward we trodded. The path then goes through parking lots and a small covered market and more parking lots before joining a sidewalk along the road. Since there were several hotels in sight, April asked again where our hostel is, and the man pointed the opposite direction—toward the bus station. It was then time for a taxi. The driver drove us back to just past the bus station, and we realized that the hotel was too nice to be ours. It turned out that the name of the hotel is the same as the name of the hostel, the difference being the last word. That also explained why people pointed us in two different directions. He then called the hostel for directions and drove us there. It is very close to where he had picked us up.

After dropping our bags off in the room, we headed back down the road for a walk. We picked up grilled sweet potatoes for dinner, since we’d had a late lunch and weren’t very hungry. Due to the high altitude (2000 meters/6560 feet), I was walking slowly and I had a very slight headache, not painful but annoying. I was just glad those were the only symptoms I had. The headache disappeared by Monday, but I continued to walk slowly when going uphill.

We decided to go to Huanglong on Sunday before the huge crowds arrived for the holiday. The receptionist told us that the bus leaves at 6:30. When we arrived and purchased a ticket, it was for 6:50. As I had thought, he was giving us the time of the first bus. Because of the holiday, buses, really minibuses, were leaving every ten minutes. The drive took three hours. After two hours, a man who was like our guide got on the bus. He collected money for the tickets and cable car and purchased them when we arrived at the park. A woman selling medicine to prevent altitude sickness also got on. April and I decided to purchase it (50 yuan/$6.30) as a preventative, as it couldn’t hurt. The instructions were to take two of the vials before going up and three before descending, as it’s worse going down. When we arrived, we were told to be back at the bus at 3:10. It was good that April understood the directions. Neither of us became ill during the day either as a result of the medicine or not being affected by the altitude. Who knows?

First we took a minibus to the cable car up the mountain. The alternative was to walk both ways. Altitude at the top is 4000 meters/13,000 feet. (It’s 3000 meters/10,000 feet at the entrance.) That’s higher than I’ve been for a long time. The path down is planks; so it’s easy to walk, but I was slow due to the altitude. We descended along the side of the mountain for about an hour. Then we arrived at the scenic area.

Huanglong is known for its colorful travertine (formed by calcium deposits) pools. They were truly amazing. They are more impressive than those at Pamukkale in Turkey or at Yellowstone. As we walked around the Five-Colored Pond, we could clearly identify the different blue and green shades. It was truly awesome.

After walking around and enjoying the colorful ponds, we headed downhill. We decided to stop at a rest area for some noodles for lunch. With the altitude, I felt like I needed some food for energy. April ordered us rice noodles with some green vegetables, which were quite good. Having real food, not just snacks, felt good. After eating, we used the toilets, which were nice. Then I realized that my camera wasn’t hanging around my neck. I’d left it on the chair at the restaurant. Of course, it was no longer there and no one nearby knew anything about it. I was irritated with myself for being so careless. Upon thinking about it, I realized that it was a result of being a little light-headed from the altitude and walking and not being used to having the camera outside my bag. I always kept it in my purse, but since I was using a backpack, I wore the camera bag around my neck. Since I was used to it being in my purse and I was a little tired and light-headed, I didn’t think to scan the area after picking up the backpack. Oh, well. Someone got a good deal—the good camera, two memory cards, and six rechargeable batteries. That turned out to be a costly lunch. Fortunately, I was with April and was able to get her photos of the first part of the day. After walking for a couple minutes, I remembered that I have the camera on my phone and decided I might as well start using it. The extra memory card I’d purchased when I bought it became well worth the money on this trip, as I was able to continue to take photos (not as good as with the camera, but at least it worked). I do enjoy the process of taking photos. It makes me see things differently and helps me remember them more completely.

After lunch, a couple from the bus told April that we needed to hurry back because it was still a long way down and we had only about 70 minutes to get to the bus. So the walk down was fast, too fast to really enjoy all the amazing scenery. 

But we did quickly enjoy more travertine pools 

and a lovely waterfall. 

And trees growing in the water in the marsh area. Since it was all passed so quickly, I was glad to have photos to help me remember it all. We arrived back at the bus right at 3:10, and we weren’t the last ones, as the couple arrived a few minutes later.

At the back of the valley there is a mountain that is 5000 meters/16,400 feet and has snow on it. It made a beautiful background.

The weather was gorgeous all day—sunny, blue sky. It was a perfect day to be in such a beautiful place. We were hoping to see some autumn colors. Although we were too early for the main colors, we did see some trees starting to change to yellow. At the higher altitude there were more of these yellow trees.

On the way back to the hostel, we stopped at the Jiuzhaigou ticket office to purchase tickets for Monday. At both parks, I was able to get the age 60-69 discount, which means that I paid half of the regular price. Nice. We also purchased tickets to the cultural show.  Since we were the first to purchase tickets for Tuesday’s show, we were able to select good seats. Nice. Again, because we’d had a late lunch and didn’t want much food, we picked up some quick food—grilled corn on the cob—for dinner.