After a 30 hour train ride from Beijing to Chengdu, and with our passports once again locked away at the PSB for visa processing, we took the bus ten hours northwards, to Jiuzhaigou National Park. I’d seen pictures from the park with scenes so gorgeous that I assumed they had to be photoshopped. But the mountain scenery, beautiful waterfalls and impossibly turquoise-blue lakes certainly lived up to expectations.
We shared the park with urban Chinese dressed head to toe in North Face hiking gear, which I guess is the look for these things — but in this case was by no means necessary. In return for an astronomical admissions fee (310 rmb, 260 for students), roads have been paved all the way up to each of the scenic spots, raised wood paths have been built along the lakes and across the waterfalls, and shuttle buses drive visitors out to the lakes and then back to the restaurant and shopping centre where the roads meet. The valley is named after the nine Tibetan villages that lie there, and when the final touches were put to the park, most of the villagers were reportedly forced to move out, with a few staying on to work as park attendants in their now brightly painted former homes.
The whole park is very tastefully designed, and Chinese parks seem to be particularly good at building wood or stone paths along lakes and mountains in a way that makes them almost completely blend into the background. A part of me felt that seeing these lakes and waterfalls after having earned the privilege by hiking to them, rather than simply being driven there by bus, would have made the views seem even more breathtaking – but at the same time, this type of tourist infrastructure makes the views accessible to so many more people, including people who wouldn’t have the time or ability to see them otherwise — and there’s still lots of open wilderness in northern Sichuan, like in the area around Songpan, were travellers really do have to earn their views, so maybe losing this park to the tour groups is ok. I wonder if the Tibetans who were moved out of their villages felt the same way.
Clouds roll over a mountain overlooking Arrow Bamboo Lake
Following the narrow wood road
Turquoise waters in the Five-Coloured Pool
Waterfalls and a former village
Some logistics for fellow travellers: Guidebooks recommend starting early, ideally at 7am, when the park gates open, which is good advice – both to escape the tour groups and to catch the beautiful views of clouds clinging to the mountain in the early-morning light. Best route in my opinion is to take the bus all the way up to Swan Lake (天鹅海), get off briefly to look at the view, and then get on the bus again before it leaves to go back down to Arrow Lake (箭竹海) (Swan Lake was closed off when we were there, and the walk down from the top is very long). From Arrow Lake, you can walk all the way down to the Nuorilang Waterfall (诺日朗瀑布) along the wooden path across from the road, which takes around 3 hours. Most tourists just get off at the scenic spots and then get back on the bus, so for most of the walk, you’ll have the very peaceful path to yourself. There are lots of food options at Nuorilang, both expensive and cheap-ish. And after lunch, you can either take the bus up to the Five-Coloured Pool (五彩池) and Long Lake (长海) and back, or just begin the walk down towards the entrance from Nuorilang, which is also very beautiful. There are several points along the road back where the bus stops to pick people up, so it’s you can easily walk until you feel tired and then cross back over the lakes to take the bus back.
VERY BEAUTIFUL!