A walk in the park (along with a zillion others)

Today is the big day, both in terms of being a possible highlight for the trip and also in terms duration. We had a Chinese breakfast at the hotel before being run to the park entrance at 0800, arriving there some 20 minutes later. The guidebooks recommend being there for 0700 to avoid the crowds but I don’t know how effective that advice is as the groups in the hotel have breakfast at 0530 and get going soon after that!

Crowds seemed to be everywhere but the ticket area wasn’t too bad because most people come as a tour with pre-booked tickets. Queues for the many entry turnstiles were long but it moved reasonably fast; likewise for the queues for the shuttle bus once we got past the turnstiles.

Jiuzhaigou park is shaped like a “Y” with the entrance at the base. The bus took us through some beautiful scenery and we continued on the same bus up the Rize Valley arm of the “Y” which had a virgin forest. It was a long walk to Swan Lake and back and we decided against it as it wouldn’t be prudent use of our time.

We walked and bused downhill and took in Arrow Bamboo Lake (mirror like), Panda Lake (whitish bottom with blackish stripes) and the gorgeous Five Flower Lake (multi-colour). It felt like lunch time for us (and everyone else) so we heated up our lunch.

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Lunch consisted of a tub of rice and a pouch of spicy chicken. This was to be steamed by adding something resembling a teabag into a pouch of water that was included. I guess some kind of exothermic reaction between the contents of the bag and water takes place, and warms up the food above. All-in-all, it was more interesting than delicious.

Once fed, we continued our walk down Pearl Shoal which cascades downhill forming little jumping droplets, finishing in the Pearl Falls. This empties into the gorgeous and very wide Pearl Waterfalls.

Passing the Mirror Lake, the lighting conditions had changed and it no longer had the reflection that we saw from the bus this morning.

Since we were now at the junction of the “Y”-shaped valley, we went to the park’s icon, Nuorilang Falls which proved to be a disappointment after Pearl Waterfalls. Sure, it was bigger but it was as gushing and it was hard to get a beautiful view from the available spots.

To get to the Zechawa Valley, we had to return to the bus interchange. We signage forced us to go through a crowded indoor shopping mini-mall. It was pure commercialism at the expense of the visitor’s time and convenience.

The bus took us to Long Lake, the largest in the park. We continued our bus/walk combination down to beautifully turquoise Five Colour Pond where the crowd was just unbelievable, then continued down the Shujeng Valley (base of the “Y”), walking along the river/wetlands down to the exit.

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It was about 1630 by the time we exited. The crowds and their antics had been draining. We retreated to a cafe for a snack and drink before being picked up by the lovely man from our hotel at 1730 across the road.

If I had to describe Jiuzhaigou, I’d say it is a beautiful combination of mountain scenery, clear turquoise lakes and clean gushing rivers and clear-water wetlands. Sadly, we weren’t communing with nature in peace or quiet due to the crowds. I had been warned about the crowds but nothing could have prepared me for the sheer magnitude.

After a simple dinner, we relaxed in the room. Unexpectedly, I had the energy to use the surprisingly good internet to make some flight bookings for our trip in July next year. Yep, another AirAsia sale to take advantage of.