Huanglong Park 黄龙

Huanglong  Park 黄龙

After Chengdu, we continued on to Huanglong.
Huanglong or literal translation of "Yellow Dragon" is a series of cascading yellow pools.
It is also a World Heritage site.
The distance from Chengdu was far enough that we took a short flight to Huanglong airport.
Highly suggest getting a window seat!

At Huanglong airport, there was supposed to be buses that run to Jiuzhaigou national park.
However, most tourists were on tour groups and there were not enough people to warrant a bus.
Both of us had to pay lots for a taxi or take our chance with the next arriving flight of pax.
Fortunately, there was a lone Japanese guy who was also going in the same direction and the three of us shared a taxi to Huanglong and then to Jiuzhaigou.
Cab ride cost about 600 RMB total which we pay at the end of the ride.

After about an hours ride, we arrived at Huanglong.
We bought a cable car ticket to the top and hiked our way down.
The forest really looks similar to the ones in the Pacific northwest, those alpine type forests.

First view of the Huanglong pools.

The air was very fresh and because of its high altitude(3200 meters or 10500 ft) and climbs, there were oxygen rooms along the way.
Along the way, we met a group of young Israelis as well as two more young Japanese men.

These Chinese porters never fail to amaze me.
They bring huge amounts of stuff strapped on their backs and walk up the mountain.
There are porters like them all over scenic tourist mountains across China.
Some even have chairs where tired people can get carried up the mountain. :)

It took us about 3 hours to get up and down the mountain.
We then set off for Jiuzhaigou, about 1.5 hours away.