Saturday, February 07, 2015

jiuzhaigou (25/11/2015)

day trip to jiuzhai valley... the entrance to the park was not that far from the hotel where we were staying. of course, we still had to take the bus down but it was just about 15 to 20 minutes ride from the hotel. from the parking lot, we walked to the entrance. the local guide went to get the tickets while everyone was busy looking for a toilet.
gosh...the toilet was really really dirty here!!! for an AAAAA tourist destination, it was totally unacceptable. even the locals found it unacceptable. so you can imagine how bad it was lah. thank god someone had those medicated oil which was quite useful to mask the strong smell even if it made the nostrils hot for a while. reminder when going to china: bring a bottle of medicated oil, you won't regret it.

the crowd was pretty thin at this time of the year and it was really a relief. the queues were not long and there was no pushing into the park buses. one can also hire private cars to ferry the group but there was no need at this time of the year.

thank god for the wonderful weather on the day we went. it was cold at first but as we strolled from lake to lake, it started getting very hot. the sky was blue and the sun was out. what more could i ask for??
a local dance near the entrance.

our first stop.

i thought i had reached the alps upon seeing the view in front of me.

this was the crowd on the viewing platform. there was plenty of opportunities to take photos without strangers getting into the frame.

the environmentally-friendly buses used in the park.

second destination.

there were quite a lot of steps and since it had snowed the day before, one had to be very careful so as not to slip and fall. touch wood- well, there was a lot to touch as you can see. lol

i don't know how the name five-coloured pool come about....blue, turqoise, green, yellow and brown?
well, you can't see the yellow here but at spots where the sun was shining on the water, there was actually yellow.

third stop.

it was a very brief stop here. i think this was the top most point because all buses made a u-turn here after dropping the passengers.

fourth stop- the panda lake.

such a calm calm day and i was already sweating profusely at this time.

fifth stop.




we stopped slightly longer here and enjoyed some time basking in the sun. love how they had laid the floor board without cutting down the trees. holes were cut on the board to allow the trees space to grow.

sixth stop by bus.....it was a long walk down to go to the waterfall from here, but no one was complaining as the view was simply magnificent.



we walked all the way down to this fall.

one of my favourite photos. love how the water just broke and flowed down on the raised roots of the trees.

tiger lake.

shuzheng waterfall.


this is how this place got its name- the stone mill above.
did not go inside to check the place out. i think it was used to sell souvenirs now if my memory served me right.



yup....that's the end of the journey at jiuzhai valley. we ended the trip at about 5p.m. i think. then it was to dinner and then cultural show.
next post: shots from the cultural show.

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