To try and catch the autumn colors in the ecological preserve, Jiuzhaiguo (valley of nine villages) , we stayed two days & nights near the park entrance. Like everything else in China, JZG was much larger and grounds more extensive than we anticipated. Even with the transport of scenic buses in the park confines, we felt two whole days were well worth it if you did not wish to completely exhaust yourself & take in the hikes along scenic lakes & valleys at somewhat leisurely pace. Dubbed "Fairyland on Earth" JZG is famous for its greenish blue and turquoise clear lakes. The lakes hold lots of solidified calcium deposits resulting from glacial, hydrological and tectonic forces.
On the third day, we travelled via taxi to the opposite direction of JZG airport for a hike along the "yellow dragon" valley that snaked around the foot of the jade peaks of Xuebaoding. Spanning the Mingshan mountain range, HuangLong scenic area stretches 7.5 km in depth and 2.5 km in width with avg. altitude of 3600m. To get to the entrance area we had to take a cable car and rode up a height of about 4000 meters. The valley have dense distribution of thousands of travertine color ponds, travertine stream flows and stalactite caves, featuring world's largest , most intact and unique karst landscape.
Again, even though HL park area was well laid out with broad plank steps to ascend and descend the scenic pool terraces gradually, we were fairly tired after the completion of the walk, which took about 4.5 hrs as the yellow dragon just seemed to trail on and on .... What was incredulous too us and other tourists was the passages of numerous labourers during our hike down (see pic) as they were carrying long lengths of wooden plankes on their backs up the valley for the continuing construction & extensions the parkland. We were so surprise at this feat and asked how much they were paid - only 40 yuan! We then started tipping some of them as it just seemed too inequitable that this type of work was still being contracted to peasant population for such a meager pittance.
