Touring Huanglong Valley by Bus

An Infinite View, Huanglong Valley



The biggest part of China for Yuki and I was meeting up with Alex in his home province and touring around to a place none of us had seen before. This ended up being the UNESCO Huanglong Scenic and Historic interest Area as well as Jiuzhaigou (Nine Valleys) which are world famous for good reason. I’m not sure when I first heard about them or saw photos of these areas on the interwebs, but they are just one of many focal areas that China has in it’s vast landmass that is seen by the west as opposed to their smog filled and often polluted cities.

Before we left Canada, we planned with Alex to meet him in Chengdu and we’re very grateful that he was able to plan, coordinate, and organize our tour package to these two attractions on a three day-two night trip. He also brought along our great friend Annie who went back to China to visit family and made a short side trip to meet us as well. We met Annie at the airport and then went for dinner in town before waiting for Alex to arrive later at 10pm.

At the time, Alex was working a camp job in the interior of BC 3 weeks on and two weeks off. This work out nearly perfectly for him to come to China and spend a few days with us as well as his family.

He got delayed till 1am and didn’t arrive until 230. Fortunately, that gave us more than enough time to pack what we needed for the next few days while leaving non essentials at home. We slept about an hour till 330 and then got up to leave at 410. Our shuttle bus to the main bus was a cab ride away and we were one of the last on the bus.

This was a good thing because the last two rows of the bus were empty and we were able to stick together and have some privacy. Later on, we’d confirm that this was the best part of the bus to sit on in China because the only windows that open are the last row so we always had fresh air.

The bus ride didn’t start off too well because we all needed to pee and Annie didn’t feel so well but Alex was able to convince the driver to pull over at the toll gate to the highway. After that, the drive out of the city looked interesting and there were a lot of kilometer+ tunnels through mountains that looked cool in the sunrise but I was too tired to stay awake. The longest tunnel is 5km and saves a hell of a lot of time and motion sickness.

The tour we took was pretty much the same as most of the other 7000 or so people that ride out daily to these attractions. It is quite cheap for what it’s got (bus transportation, two night’s accommodations in budget lodging, 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 1 dinner) but it’s all in Mandarin. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without Alex or someone else completely fluent in Mandarin.

The Country Side, Huanglong Valley

This was just outside our lunch spot which I spent the entire meal looking at. How I wished to run outside and climb those mountains!

Interestingly, along the way we passed through Wenchuan Country where a 2008 earthquake struck killing 69,000 people with 18,300 missing (wiki). It left 4.8 million people homeless which is evident by the abandoned town/city we passed through. While there isn’t as much rubble left, we passed through abandoned towns where grass weed was growing around the edges. One of the legacies of the earthquakes is the number of schools that collapsed and subsequently the number of children that died during the earthquake.

At one toilet stop, where one pays 1 yen to squat over a concrete channel with everyone else in a shed, Alex and I picked up some snacks and instant noodles that we had missed in Chengdu because the convenience stores closed earlier than we thought they would. For an incredibly touristy area where buses come through constantly, we were surprised that some places have city prices for instant noodles and water while others are 3 times the value. If one knows what the regular going price is, it isn’t impossible to get the right deal.

After a stop around 3,000m elevation for lunch, we continued on to Snow Mountain Ridge, a pass at 4,007m elevation. This was the highest point of the tour and I was slightly concerned about altitude sickness. It wasn’t too bad but it was windy and cold. Still, I got some great photos of Yukes. At the time, It was the highest point either of us had been but I was relieved that Yuki didn’t suffer from any altitude sickness.

Snow Mountain Ridge, China

or “Sonw Mountain” in Chinese as they spell it. This monument was a subtle introduction to the local tradition that we still don’t know very much about.

Our next stop was the big one of the day, Huanglong Valley Scenic Area where we paid 80 yuan to take the cable car up. The tickets into the park are 200 for adults but we got the tour guide to get us a 100 yuan student rate. We didn’t end up getting the difference back because the tour didn’t make as much money as they hopped, but it was good to know that it exists.

The cable car is what everyone does and makes the walk easier because one begins nearer to the top and walks down instead of up the valley. Yuki and I were unimpressed by the number of people that would walk off the path and trample the bushes to get a close up pick of a flower or two so we tried to get a break in the crowd on our way to the five colour ponds. This pond, at the top of the Valley is the most crowded place because it is the first photographic spot so everyone ends up staying longer and taking more photos.

Wu-Cai (Multi Coloured Pond), Huanglong Valley

This photo is taken from a better vantage point that over looks the ponds after the busy and main vantage point at the beginning of the pond. The first and busy location makes for a sort of infinity pool like scene but was bad to photograph in the cloudy light because the colours of the pond didn’t come out.

The Weather was overcast so the colours weren’t as vibrant as they could have been but it was still an interesting geological formation to see. The crowds were relentless but were surprisingly respectful to of other people’s photographs and everyone eventually got their picture taken without strangers in the background.

The boardwalks circle the pond and then head down the valley to more and more similarly created ponds with deep blue hues. After a while, it honestly gets repetitive and hard to distinguish uniqueness among the thousands of little ponds.

Running down the mountain, Huanglong valley

These small waterfalls are everywhere along the boardwalks. Most people don’t notice them but they also don’t have a mini-tripod that they can whip out and capture long exposures with.

Yuki and I found that the lower end of the valley was much more interesting and photogenic because the ponds were a more manageable size to photograph and there were little waterfalls or trees in the ponds that added interest.

The whole time I had a lot of problems with my camera’s light detection as it seemed that under the cloudy sky the pictures were exposing too dark. I ended up using my exposure compensation and over exposing to make them look right. I don’t know where the problem came from but it didn’t persist the next day which is good and I was able to correct a lot of it in Lightroom as well.

Infinity Pools, Huanglong Valley

Further down from the top are more interesting scenic areas to take photos. They’re also less crowded. I think that this place would look pretty spectacular if the mountains were dusted in snow as well.

Unfortunately, we only had about 4 hours here on the tour and had to rush through a lot of bottom section to make it back to the bus on time. That meant only a few seconds for a photo or two at some big waterfalls and ponds that caught our attention.

As touristy of a place, I’m glad that we went to Huanglong valley because having seen such beautiful photos of the place, it would always be a wonder to me what it’s really like. By going now, it is cheaper than it will be in the future and we had Alex and Annie with us to translate. So while I didn’t get spectacular photos because of the season, weather, and myself, I still enjoyed running around with Yukes which is what travel is all about.

Lastly, if you end up going to Huanglong Valley, prepare for cooler weather just in case. We each had a light sweater and our rain jackets but would have liked something a little thicker as well as some gloves or a toque. It wasn’t exceptionally cold but I think we hit a not so good day with mountain winds and the ever presence that it might rain on us. The other alternative would be to go in fall which we hear for Huanglong Valley and Jiuzhaigou is the best time of year to see the colours.

After the Valley, the tour headed to a dinner at a traditional village. It was a cool experience but I could hear other tour groups having a similar time in other rooms and I felt like so much food must get wasted or recycled because they brought a lot out that didn’t get eaten.

Coming over, Huanglong Valley

All of the ponds in Huanglong valley are stepped on top of each other and tumble over the edge one after the next. They’re pretty cool but a challenge to photograph.


Huanglong valley in points:

• Pay for the Cable car up but don’t spend too much time at the first pond, the more interesting ponds are further down towards the bottom
• Be prepared for the weather, it could be cooler and rain at the top of the valley
• Be patient with the crowds and you’ll get a break without people in your photos.