Jiuzhaigou | StrippedPixel.com

Jiuzhaigou National Park

A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992 and a World Biosphere Reserve since 1997, Jiuzhaigou National Park is not only one of the wonders of Sichuan, but arguably one of the wonders of China itself. With lakes so clear you can see the bottom tens of meters down and water iridescent with blues, greens and turquoise, all backed by forested slopes and snow-whitened peaks, its commonly attested other-worldliness is justified. During winter, snow covers the frozen lakes, and waterfalls that threw up spray not too many months before remain in silent inertia, giant icicles now hanging where water previously flowed down.

The Road to Jiuzhaigou

Posted on January 6, 2011 by strippedpixel / No comments

On the road to Jiuzhaigou we could have died a thousand times. From landslides to falling rocks, a head-on smash or fatal plunge, we could have been undone by either one on our ten hour ride through earthquake country from Chengdu.

The 2008 Sichuan earthquake had rendered the main expressway impassable, the only way now to reach the park being to use a much longer alternative route along narrow, potholed roads, passing evidence of the devastation that killed 68,000 people only two years previously. Bridges were fallen, landslides had covered the former road, burying cars just visible, crushed under rocks, and we still had to negotiate our own way through the wreckage.