Touring Jiuzhaigou By Bus

Panda Falls, Jiuzhaigou China


After Huanglong Valley, our hotel was possibly the worst of our entire trip because it was the cheapest and dirtiest. We even lay down our towels on the beds because we weren’t sure if there might be bed bugs or not. However, going to bed fairly late had the advantage that we slept quickly to get up early again. I don’t think we ended up having bed bugs but it wasn’t the most comfortable of sleeps by far and breakfast was plain steamed buns and congee with some preserved veggies.

Unfortunately, the bus broke down trying to leave the hotel which I wasn’t too happy about because it meant that we’d get to the park later and thus have larger crowds. We waited about 40 minutes before pilling onto another bus where I slept on the way to the park. All that I can confirm is that the road down into the Nine Valleys has at least 9 hair pin switchbacks. I know this because they’re numbered with signboards and I think there are 11 or 12 total. We exited the bus and bought water for 2 yuan each from a lady each which was a good thing because that’s the listed price on the bottle and we’d find people later marking them up to 3 yuan.

Panda Lake, Jiuzhaigou


Again at this park, we were able to get student rates at 110 yuan that is half of the regular adult price, but didn’t get fully reimbursed by the tour company. Oddly, the park entrance was fairly empty and I think that’s because the first wave of tourist had all gone up already and we were at the end of the rush.

Through the front door to the park, we boarded a city bus for a ride to the top. There are two valleys (Zechawa gou and Rize gou) that come together in a “Y” shape and become one valley (Shuzheng gou). Juizhaiguo is the Nine Village Valley named for the nine original Tibetan villages that historically resided there, two of which are now abandoned and others that now live off tourism. The front door is at the bottom of this joined valley and the standard procedure is to head up the left Zechawa Valley to the top where Long Lake is.

On the way up, the bus passes all the viewing attractions for the first valley which was exciting for a taste of what was to come. The views from the bus alone are pretty spectacular and invigorating.

Alex and Annie at the Five Colour Pool, Jiuzhaigou China


Long Lake is everyone’s first stop and so it is naturally crowded. This lake is the largest and deepest lake in Jiuzhaigou and is at an elevation of 3,060m. The lake reminded me of the glacial blue lakes in the Rockies and so I didn’t think it was as impressive as other people having appreciated the Rockies more. As with Huanglong Valley, I recommend that you skiddadle down the path quickly to the Five Colour Pool.

The Five Colour Pool is rather small in comparison but has viewing walkways much closer and has, as the name implies, more colour. Incredibly shallow at just 6m, the clarity to the bottom where old trees and logs are preserved is incredible. I also found out that it is fed by underwater streams from Long Lake which is why the surface is mirror still. I should note that this lake is disturbingly rectangular to the point that I almost think it’s not natural.

Five Colour Pool, Jiuzhaiguo China

The hue and depth to the pool is much more interesting than the forest and shoreline. I eliminated the shoreline to study the colours and pattern of the bottom deposits.

From the Five Colour Pool we took one of the many buses down to the merging of the valleys at Zechawa Village. This is the main rest stop and lunch location for the park and we took our lunch here, paying for hot water to fill the instant noodle bowls we’d brought along. We had been told that there was only one buffet restaurant to eat at but that was a lie. There was an instant noodle vendor and a beef with rice vendor as well that are much cheaper. The instant noodles were 15 yuan a bowl where we had paid 6 or so earlier in the trip. We still paid 10 yuan to fill with hot water though.

After lunch I put my camera on my lap while I cleaning up the dishes and then disaster struck. I stood up slightly and the camera rolled off onto the concrete with a crash. Oh no! Yuki called, “Check the lens!” and I thought “crap,” I probably broke it and won’t be able to take any more photographs of this awesome place. With everyone watching, I picked up the camera and took off the lens cap slowly; glass crumbs spilled out. Looking inside, the UV filter had smashed.

Saved!, Jiuzhaigou China

My camera lens was saved by the shattering of the UV filter. What a relief!

Oh what a relief! A 25$ filter specifically to protect the lens from getting scratched or smashed saved the 240$ lens and I was able to continue shooting the rest of the day. In some ways it’s also fortunate that I’d forgotten my polarizing lens as that 80$ filter would have probably busted. I realized in the morning that I’d forgotten it when it was sunny and I didn’t have the case in my pocket. I use this filter to get more saturated colours. You might recall that I lost one of those on the camping trip. We figured that the camera body hit the ground first on the grip side and then the end of the lens which also helped protect the lens from greater force.

After lunch, Annie wanted to go see a nearby village and had an argument with Alex about doing it quickly because there was still a lot of the park to cover so she ended up going off by her own to the Virgin forest at the furthest point in the other Rize Valley.

Five-flower Lake, Jiuzhaigou China
We went up to the Arrow Bamboo Lake and Panda Lake which began an afternoon of very similar deep blue lakes. Each one has a uniqueness about them but at the same time they start to meld together because the sky was becoming overcast so the colours were washing out. Apparently Arrow Bamboo Lake doesn’t freeze in the winter when Panda Lake 100m lower in elevation gets covered in snow and ice. Five-flower lake further down has a lot of dead wood on the lake bed which makes pictures more interesting.

More interesting than the lakes were the waterfalls that they feed. Shortly after Panda Lake we came across the incredibly long Panda Falls. The boardwalk descends beside the falls in a staircase and most visitors get a small taste of the falls, which still look awesome, from a small viewing platform. They don’t venture further down the boardwalk to where the more impressive view of the falls is. Here, the length of the falls can be appreciated as it drops in front of the boardwalk and then flows underneath.

Panda Falls, Jiuzhaigou China

Around the bend, the full length of the falls can be appreciated. Here the camera is low and slow to ad dramatic effect and to capture some details of the water flowing over the rocks.

We spent a long time taking pictures here, Yuki and Alex with their phones and me with my DSLR. Here and at Coral falls later on, I used my mini tripod to get dramatic effects. The Mini tripod also has an advantage in that because it is so short, the perspective of the camera is much closer to the ground resulting in a different image than those photohogs with proper tripods mounting giant cameras got.

Panda Falls, Jiuzhaigou China

The streaks of water make for interesting patterns as they fall continuously around the moss covered stones.

We met up with Annie again and went to Pearl Shoals and then Pearl Falls. There were a lot of people here but I know that they didn’t get images like what I got because I was using my trusty mini tripod. I particularly like how I was able to get a sense of speed in an instant in time as well as the smoothness of the afterflow.

Pearl Falls Torrent, Jiuzhaigou

There is power in the raging water that tumbles over and leaps in bounds on the rocks.

Unfortunately the sky clouded over after this and we didn’t have time to see the attractions in the first Shuzheng valley. There’s an even wider waterfall, Nuorilang Falls, although I’m not sure if it’s easy to get an entire perspective on it, as well as the famous Shuzheng falls, Nuorilang lakes, and the sleeping dragon lake.

So, we made a stop at Shuzheng village which is the prime souvenir destination where we tried many many samples of yak meat which served almost as our lunch. Our hotel for the evening was much better and couples also got queen size beds. After a simple dinner, the tour took us to a show that we had been convinced to go see.

Shuzheng Village, Jiuzhaigou China
The tour group makes most of their money getting the busload to go do things they suggest on the way up and we were under the impression that most of the tour group had agreed to this. It turned out that less than half of us were going. We paid 180 yuan per person for the Traditional People’s Show and got tickets listing 150 yuan. Still, it wasn’t bad because the seats were VIP centered in the 5th row. The show was a story about the beginnings of Tibet and had some interesting dances in the beginning but got tiresome towards the end. Also, like the tour guide on the bus, the music and audio was way too loud. Yuki and I were annoyed that the audio was too loud and that the actors were lip singing but not as much as the constant flash of people taking photos with their phones and cameras. It seemed like most people were talking during the show. It was also, of course, all in Mandarin so we didn’t understand any of it and what sparse translations there were on the sides weren’t accurate. For a show that’s preformed daily, it did have good stage props and they used bubbles from the ceiling as snow.

Both of us were glad to get back to the hotel for a luke warm shower and bed. The next day we would get up at 6 again, have a small breakfast, and then go down the road to where the Min River begins, a tributary of the Yangtze. I’m not sure where exactly it was as all I saw was the toilet house and a big empty field. Then there was a small town where every bus has to stop. A woman took us into her house and gave us horse tea before explaining for an hour the health benefits of wearing silver. Most of what she talked about was the healing properties when silver is rubbed against painful parts of the body. Yukes and I didn’t understand much so we kind of tuned out but it work on a lot of other people who bought stuff afterwards.

Alex and Yuki taking Pictures at Panda Falls, Jiuzhaigou China


Alex translated later that silver goes black when one is in bad health but stays shiny when in good health. Yuki and I pointed out that everyone would eventually get ill in this regard. Alex also told us that the village is promoting “smart men” with glasses to come to the village for 3 years and get a wife to take back to the city. I think they’re trying to bring more wealth into the village so it does better but I think it’s already quite well off as it’s a mandatory stop for every Tour group (so about 7,000 people a day) and they sell bracelets that take only two days to make, other silver stuff for 300–1300 yuan and the larger ones by weight.

After this was a giant Yak meat store that was four times more expensive than the Nine Village Valleys. It was a commercial operation but we were able to go around eating samples without having to buy anything. The highlight was when a vendor asked Annie why we all had a ring on our pinky.

The ride home was a lot of sleeping and looking out at the passing mountains that I wished I could go to. Then we went back through the tunnels to Chengdu and I was depressed to wake up back in the city smog. We didn’t get much of a break in Chengdu as we had to gather our stuff at Ke Zeng’s place and then get an unofficial taxi to Yibin. This guy drives to and from Yibin daily with his personal car to make money. It is a 3 hour trip or so that cost 500 yuan (129 yuan is the express toll).

Juizhaiguo is an incredibly picturesque place. The lakes are reminiscent of the Rockies but there are also plenty of waterfalls to photograph as well. We found that most tourist were patient enough to stay out of other people’s photo and wait their turn. Some even blocked people from walking into other people’s photos. As with any major tourist attraction, don’t spend too much time at the first place but don’t rush through it either. I think we stayed a little too long at the first places, which happens naturally, and so we missed out on the end; at the same time, the clouds and rain took away from the colours of the ponds later in the day so we wouldn’t have had special views either.

Yuki at Coral Falls, Jiuzhaigou China