China - by Valérie Katz

Pristine Sichuan nature

Sichuan (4 rivers in old chinese) is both geographically and historically in the center of China. Located on the western bank of Yangtze River, it is a region as large as France and goes to the border of Tibet. Many villages on the west part of this province are heavily influenced by Tibetan culture. We started our trip with Chengdu, a big modern Chinese city, with a very nice atmosphere. As everywhere in China, but it was more obvious there, we were surprised to see so many different faces in this city : large avenues (with a lot of luxury shops), the old and poor city and traditional buildings and parks. We have happy memories of Chengdu. We suggest at least a 1day (2 nights) stop in Chengdu to visit the Panda base in the morning – where you can see many pandas in their natural environment eating and playing. There are plenty of places then to hang around in the city center. On the evening, do not miss a show of Sichuan Opera. During the show, concentrate upon the talented actors changing their masks and clothes so quickly that you can not realize it. Once again, have your cameras ready !! We left Chengdu by plane, heading for JiuZaiGuo (9 [Tibetan] villages valley), a natural park located 600 Km North of Chengdu. The airport is quite new there, and we would recommend going there by plane considering the 6 hour bus trip you would have to bear otherwise. Try to be seated with a window view on the plane as it is very impressive to see how close to the mountain top the plane has to fly to JiuZhaiGuo airport. This one is around 4000m high and the feeling you get when going down the plane can be a little weird due to the very pure atmosphere and the lack of oxygen. After the airport, you take a bus (or a taxi) to reach JiuzhaiGuo where you can find accommodation as it is officially forbidden to spend the night inside the park . The park itself, actually two valleys connected in a Y shape, offers us magnificent “paintings”. In a pristine nature, you will walk from a lake to a waterfall exploring the whole range of natural colors from deep blue to light green. Just unforgettable… Among the different places, we would particularly recommend Shuzhen lakes and waterfall and certainly Rize valley, from the bonsai lake to the Panda (XiongMao) lake. When we visited JiuZhaiGuo in May, there was already enough water in the lakes, but some waterfalls were poor. The best season to go there is certainly end of August and September, you will admire the park with all the beautiful colors of autumn, but you will then have to share the park with thousands of tourists. As for us, we would recommend to avoid the peak season, to enjoy the fabulous atmosphere of the park. After Jiuzhaiguo, we went to HuangLong, another gorgeous park. A 3-hour drive separates the two parks and the road climbs several passes above 4000 m (we have had quite poor conditions with snow on the road beginning on May there), but keep driving, you will not regret it. To visit Huanglong, you first take a cable car and then walk to a plateau, where you will see a breathtaking view : huge pools of clear and blue water lined with white limestone … Do not hesitate to walk around to have a complete overview of the site. Then you walk down the mountain, following the river. There was not a lot of water, but we’ve enjoyed the walk … imagining how marvelous it would be at full water season (around late august ?). We then headed for Yunnan, still in south west China, where there are plenty of other remarkable sites … rendezvous in our next NetGlobers report for more details !!