Fun travels: Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟 National Park in Sichuan

Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟

After Chengdu and Huanglong, we headed off to Jiuzhaigou National Park, another World Heritage site.
Jiuzhaigou is about an 1.5 hours drive from Huanglong.
The drive there reminded me of driving through Canada's BC province to Banff national park.
Lots of great scenery and tall mountains with very little vehicles.

There are a lot of Tibetian influence in this part of Sichuan province.
Tibetian colourful flags are very common and there are also places nearby to go horse-riding, Tibetian pastime.

This is the entrance to Jiuzhaigou and the surroundings.
Lots of trees, mountains, nature, so different from Chinese cities.
Best time to be here would probably be in late spring or autumn.

Chinese national parks are very different from western national parks in the way they handle visitors.
There is basically only one route for visitors to take.
Jiuzhaigou is a two-valley system, so to speak and visitors can go up either one of the two.
We chose the western valley.
A bus would bring us to the top and there are bus stops along the way down where people can drop off/get on. Alternatively, visitors can also walk all the way down, which we did. I dont think we saw other people doing that.
So unlike national parks in the USA/Canada, there are no side trails to branch off.
It is just one straight path down.

Some spectacular scenery on the bus up the valley.

Visitors can rent Tibetan style costumes.
Yes, bargain the price. :)

Following a path down

What really sets Jiuzhaigou apart are its numerous lakes with crystal clear aquamarine water, calm surface that reflects the surrounding mountains.

Some martial arts films were filmed here, including "Hero" which starred Jet Li.
They were flying off the calm surface, setting off ripples in the water, quite the scene.

The picture below with the log is supposed to look like a crocodile.
Well, kind of does look like one. :)

On the way down, there is also a Tibetan style village.

Tibetan drums

I like the decor on this bus. :)

Some "home style cooking" chinese food.
We got around to chatting with the owner who was going to go back home.
Home being somewhere 20+ hours away by bus.
She said that the whole place shuts down in the winter by November as it gets too cold and with very few visitors.

Other than the park itself, there are of course souvenir shop vendors in market stalls along the outside of the park. There is a stream that runs on the outside and hotels and markets are set up along side it.
Try to get a hotel closer to the entrance of the park.

On the main road, there are lots of unlicensed private cars that can take you anywhere along the road for a flat fee of 10 RMB. They just cruise up and down and will honk at people walking the road.
Just flag them down if u want a ride.

Back to Jiuzhaigou airport for a flight to Shanghai.
We almost missed the flight as the Jiuzhaigou airport was a huge mess!
It was jam packed with people everywhere and no queues.
If you do take a flight, be sure to give yourself plenty of extra time.
We were there 1.5 hours before the flight and almost couldnt make it.

There are direct flights during the main tourist season, otherwise, the only direct flights to Shanghai would be from Chengdu.
Some people take a long bus ride to Chengdu from Jiuzhaigou, rather than fly.