One day in Jiuzhaigou
Just one day is all it takes to see one of the most beautiful places on earth: Jiuzhaigou National Park in the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. I’d honestly never even heard of Jiuzhaigou, but it truly is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
The Jiuzhaigou valley is part of the Min Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau and stretches over 72,000 hectares. Jiuzhaigou literally means “Nine Settlement Valley” and takes its name from the nine Tibetan settlements there. This was a remote region inhabited by Tibetan and Quiang peoples for centuries and was a little-known area until 1975. Logging was banned and it became a national park in 1982. An Administration Bureau was established, and the site officially opened to tourism in 1984, with 500 visitors annually. This number increased to over five million as of 2015 and it remains one of the most visited spots in China.
Jiuzhaigou is a nature reserve and national park that originates from the Baishui River area, a part of the Yangtze River. A long valley running north to south, Jiuzhaigou was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and a World Biosphere Reserve in 1997 that belongs to the category V (Protected Landscape) in the International Union for Conservation of Nature system of protected area categorization.
Photos of the lakes and waterfalls in this stunning national park can give the reader an idea of how beautiful the place is, but one really must see how stunning it is. The Pearl Shoal Waterfall exists on one of the tributaries of the Bailong River and is located at an altitude of 2,433 meters and the top of the waterfall is 162.5 meters in width. It has a fall of 40 meters.
The Five Flower Lake has colorful, crystal-clear waters and is known as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. There is a Sparkling Lake that glimmers when the sun rays hit the water’s surface. The Tiger Lake has the colors of a tiger’s hair when the orange and yellow hues from the tree leaves from the mountains reflect on the lake’s crystal-clear waters.
The Double Dragon Lakes are two multi-colored lakes that are side by side, which was formed after the powerful 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The splitting of the lake into two gave this National Park its newest lake.
The Five-Color Pond is one of the smallest bodies of water in Jiuzhaigou Lake but despite its size, it has a richly colored underwater landscape with the brightest and clearest waters in the area. Also known as the Colorful Pond, it sits at an elevation of 3,010 meters and is about 100 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 6.6 meters deep. It is Jiuzhaigou’s smallest body of water but with the most striking blue colors and is known as “the eye of Jiuzhaigou.” Being replenished from underground flow, the water does not freeze in winter. Sunlight, algae, travertine, and other factors contribute to its almost unreal colors. There are so many minerals in these waters that it is not potable.
At present, seven of the nine Tibetan villages are still populated. We visited a Tibetan home in Linpo, a village in this autonomous prefecture. Linpo has an elevation of 3,147 meters above sea level and is situated in Songpan County, one of 13 counties administered by the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Seeing Tibetan colorful structures and yaks is a sign that Tibetans live around the area.
We visited a huge and beautifully colored Tibetan home occupied by a Tibetan lady, Zhou Ma, and her extended family of 26. She lives here with her three husbands and three children. She can be seen wearing a belt indicating how many husbands and children she has. She is pregnant with her fourth child. She prepared tea for us right before we went for our Tibetan lunch!
We also went to see a Tibetan cultural show one evening. We may not be in Tibet, but this certainly was close enough!
People who love spicy food will enjoy the food in Sichuan. The place is known for Sichuan chili peppers and those famous Sichuan peppercorns! Though called peppercorns, they are not peppers and are part of the citrus family. These chili peppers and “peppercorns” that give that numbing effect are a primary ingredient in their spicy cuisine, including the world-famous dish, hotpot!
I would not consider this a once-in-a-lifetime experience for now, as I do plan to go back one day and see more sights in Jiuzhaigou, as they continue to build more hotels and prepare for more of their already-large number of tourists.
This is part of the Chengdu- Jiuzhaigou package tour offered by Horizon Travel & Tours Inc., a five-day, four-night tour including land transfers and Manila-Chengdu-Manila airfare starting at US$599 per person.
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Air China’s Airbus 320 is the only airline flying directly to Chengdu from Manila. Flights from Manila to Chengdu are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and flights from Chengdu to Manila are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Flights will be increased to 4x a week starting November 2024 (winter season). Visit https://www.airchina.com.ph/PH/GB/Home.
Horizon Travel & Tours, Inc. is located at 490 Potenciana Mansion, Sta. Monica St., Ermita, Manila. For inquiries, call landlines 5328-3381 / 5328-3385 / 5328-3388 / 8521-3224 / 8521-2586 / 8523-8637 or mobile numbers 0917-807-2538 / 0998-857 -7017 / 0917-817-8686 or email [email protected]. Check out https://www.horizontravel.ph/.
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