One of Anywhere Travel’s loyal and hardworking travel consultant, Joan Johnson would like to share her educational journey to China’s Sichuan Province with us. She recently returned with so many photos and stories…. Enjoy her blog!!!

JOAN:

I was a participant in an educational trip to China’s Sichuan Province hosted by Helen Wong’s Travel.

Visiting the Giant Panda Research & Breeding Base in Chengdu is a must – viewing the babies still without hair, in the incubators in the Sunshine Nursery house, to bigger babies in a playpen, and the adults just lazily lounging around.

jiuzhaigou national park

But there is more to see in the Sichuan Province……two national parks not well known outside of China.      A 40 minute flight from Chengdu to Jiuhuang Airport (3450 m above sea level) takes you to the Jiuzhai Valley and two national parks (photo above).  What a scenic surprise!  Jiuzhaigou 88 kms from the airport has beautiful waterfalls and cascades that run under the slatted wooden walkways, and crystal blue lakes, so clear that the dead logs under the water can be seen.   There are many very well maintained walking paths to view the lakes with names such as Mirror Lake, Tiger Lake, Panda Lake, Five Flower Lake.  Because of its beauty, it is a popular place for wedding photos!

Huanglong National Park

Huanglong (photo above) is 53 kms from the airport, and a cable car ride up to the park which is also at high altitude.  Booths along the pathways sell canisters of oxygen for those suffering from altitude sickness.  This park is different from Jiuzhaigou but just a spectacular.   Colourful pools formed by calcite deposits lie in the valley in the formation of a yellow dragon, which is the meaning of Huanglong.  In the valley there is a Buddhist Temple and a Taoist Temple built during the Ming Dynasty.