Jiuzhaigou Off The Beaten Path

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I went to one of the villages within the park where there were no other tourists. It was near the Nuorilang bus stop so I don't know why there no one else was there.

It was nice getting away from the crowds. Some of the workers invited me to lunch. Give it a try.

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The valley is very beautiful but has thousands and thousand and thousand and thousand of Chinese tourist! Some of the trails are elbow to elbow with people and it is not even the May holiday week. I cannot imagine how crowed it is during China's holidays

Many are in tours groups and are just following the guide's flag. The trails are well marked and sometime you can get off on a side trail not as crowded. I found a nice side trail along the cascading waterfalls where I eat a box lunch I had.

So, don't always follow the main path. The trails are well marked and you get a map with your ticket.

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I believe that travel by bus to Jiuzhaigou is the best way to experience China. You will miss so much of the local landscapes if you fly. The bus ride was more pleasant than I imaging (9-hour), the road was smooth and the journey pasting many mountain valleys was fantastic. Highly recommend the trip by road first (if you don't mind karaoke on board/dirty toilets) and then to fly back.

Day 1. Be at the park entrance at 6:40 am. Be first in line to buy your ticket and endorse it with free computer ID photo for 2 days usage. Be the first through the turnstiles at 7am and the first off the bus at the most popular tourist spot Panda Lake or Panda Falls. Be the first to start walking northwards to Nuorilang Falls. You’ll start hitting a few groups of tourists, but it’s better than later in the day when you’ll be involved in a rugby scrum just to get a photo of the falls. At Nuorilang take a bus to Long Lake and Multicoloured Lake. Then bus back to Nuorilang and change to bus for Primeval Forest at the end of the park. Walk downhill from there to Panda Lake where you started in the morning, and call it a day. The crowds will be out in force by then.
Day 2 Be the first through the turnstiles again at 7am. Get off at Nuorilang Falls and walk back towards the park entrance - it was as though I had the entire park to myself. Only met 4 people coming the other way, but there must have been 10,000 about 20 minutes behind me. Bus back up to Long Lake and walk back towards Nuorilang along quiet walkways that not many frequent. That’s quite a long day… keep your eye on park closing time and last buses 5:30pm

We spent the rest of the day in Nanping, exploring the interesting markets here. Walking around I found this spectacular sight! The butcher, selling the meat, had the skin layed out in the sun to dry.

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Huang Long wins its fame for its magic landscape of lime formations, made up of 3400 multi-colored ponds, interlace along the valley in terraces. Huang Long means Yellow Dragon. Due to the calcium carbonate mineral deposit patterns, there is a golden hue to the colour of the river that flows through the valley, resembling the tail of a Yellow Dragon. The varied depth of the ponds and mineral pigments and deposits at the bottomgive the ponds their unique colours and hues.
There is only one way to see these coloured ponds and that is by climbing up a very long series of wooden steps and walking along wooden paths. The climb is extremely strenuous given the high altitude.

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The Aba Autonoomous Prefecture in the north of Sichuan province near the border with Gansu province is home to the minority Tibetan and Qiang ethnic groups. The terrain is extremely harsh with high mountains in excess of 3000m, severe winters and landslides during the rainy season. On the way to see the coloured terrace ponds in Hunaglong, the journey through the winding mountain roads and passes is spectacular - very Alpine indeed.

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There are a few Tibetan villages in the Jiuzhaigou area. You will know when you approaching a Tibetan village because of the presence of colourful flags fluttering on both sides of the road. In a Tibetan village, there will be a Tibetan temple with rows of golden cylinders which you spin to ward off evil. The interior of a Tibetan house is most elaborate with ornate carvings of horsemen, dragons and Tibetan dieties.