Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Jiuzhaigou Part II

Jiuzhaigou is a national park in a remote, mountainous area in western China. What makes this park famous is its water – a series of brightly colored lakes, rivers, and waterfalls runs its way from one side of it to the other.

We spent two days here. On the first day, we rode the park bus to the very back of the park, which was the highest part. There was a coniferous forest there that supposedly has the effect of a ‘natural oxygen bar.’ Rachel was huffing real hard, but she didn’t seem to act any more unusual than normal. From there, we hiked a good 10km back down the valley through forests and alongside pools of clear blue water.

The park was expensive, even by American standards (is there a fee to go in a national park in the US?) but the beauty of the place made it well worth the cost to go once. It was not necessarily the best vacation I have had, but in terms of the quality and quantity of sheer natural beauty this place was the best. It was awesome to see it all and thank God for this wonderful place!

Rachel’s favorite was definitely the waterfalls. Since the water is running down a mountain valley, there are sets of waterfalls between most of the lakes. It was quite breathtaking. Rachel even cried once.

-alan

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, there are fees for national parks. They vary, but many are per car not per person. And you can buy a yearly pass that covers all of them. And once you get to our age, you can get a senior pass!

Unknown said...

BEAUUUUUTIFUL!!!