Sonntag, 19. Mai 2013
Huanglong 黄龙
highpeak, 14:59h
We woke up the next morning at 6.30 am (holiday!) with the typical bai jiu after taste and the feeling we would like to change our head. After looking out of the window (rain) a short hesitation if to stay in this warm bed or to follow our original plan to go to Huanglong national park. We did the 2nd way and at 7.00 am sitting in a full bus directed to Huanglong.
The bus winded up a narrow road from 2800 m in Songpan to almost 4000 m and the rain was changing to to snow and ice, even the road was fully covered with about 10 cm snow. Luckily after the highest point the bus descended again to about 2800 m level when we had to get off the bus at the visitor center in Huanglong.
The condition of our heads had still not really improved so we decided to rest a bit with a couple of glasses of green tea before starting the hike.
Huanglong is a mountainous forrest area, covered with a lot of ponds (more than 600) which hold crystal clear water which runs down in cascades from pool to pool. The way from the start to the highest point in 3576 m is completely built on wooden planks, so comfortable to walk, even if a bit slippery during rain.
Ticket was 200 RMB per person and the lady at the ticket offices informed us that only the upper pools are filled with water, but anyhow we took the effort to come here so we bought the tickets and started our hike.
The path is going through intact forrest area, winding up like a snake, crossing and following parallel the water ponds, which in the lower area were really unfortunately empty or almost empty.
It was raining and as more we ascended the rain was changing to snow and getting really cold. The good side effect of this weather was that our heads were ventilated with fresh mountain air and by sweating on the way up we got rid of the barely liquor of the night before.
We were asking ourselves why we are doing this, until we reached the upper and finally the highest part of our trip: An amazing view to the ponds which were really full with crystal clear blue water and surrounded by snow.
In Garmisch we also have a lot of small lakes and ponds in the mountains, but the colors here are really great.
After picture session at the top we descended and were glad to arrive again at the visitor center to warm up with green tea and dry our clothes.
At 15.00 we were lucky to catch the last 2 remaining seats on the direct bus to Jiuzhaigou (3 hours driving) and were hoping the weather will be better the next day.
We arrived in Jiuzhaigou, checked in a small hostel place and just went out to get some food before going to bed early on this day.
The bus winded up a narrow road from 2800 m in Songpan to almost 4000 m and the rain was changing to to snow and ice, even the road was fully covered with about 10 cm snow. Luckily after the highest point the bus descended again to about 2800 m level when we had to get off the bus at the visitor center in Huanglong.
The condition of our heads had still not really improved so we decided to rest a bit with a couple of glasses of green tea before starting the hike.
Huanglong is a mountainous forrest area, covered with a lot of ponds (more than 600) which hold crystal clear water which runs down in cascades from pool to pool. The way from the start to the highest point in 3576 m is completely built on wooden planks, so comfortable to walk, even if a bit slippery during rain.
Ticket was 200 RMB per person and the lady at the ticket offices informed us that only the upper pools are filled with water, but anyhow we took the effort to come here so we bought the tickets and started our hike.
The path is going through intact forrest area, winding up like a snake, crossing and following parallel the water ponds, which in the lower area were really unfortunately empty or almost empty.
It was raining and as more we ascended the rain was changing to snow and getting really cold. The good side effect of this weather was that our heads were ventilated with fresh mountain air and by sweating on the way up we got rid of the barely liquor of the night before.
We were asking ourselves why we are doing this, until we reached the upper and finally the highest part of our trip: An amazing view to the ponds which were really full with crystal clear blue water and surrounded by snow.
In Garmisch we also have a lot of small lakes and ponds in the mountains, but the colors here are really great.
After picture session at the top we descended and were glad to arrive again at the visitor center to warm up with green tea and dry our clothes.
At 15.00 we were lucky to catch the last 2 remaining seats on the direct bus to Jiuzhaigou (3 hours driving) and were hoping the weather will be better the next day.
We arrived in Jiuzhaigou, checked in a small hostel place and just went out to get some food before going to bed early on this day.
... comment
