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Valerie Teh

Solitude was the last thing I expected to find in Jiuzhaigou national park. The 72,000 hectare reserve is renowned for its fairy-tale landscapes, drawing tens of thousands of visitors every day from all corners of China and beyond.
Located in Sichuan province, 400km north of Chengdu, Jiuzhaigou – named after the nine Tibetan villages scattered throughout the park and, since 1992 a natural Unesco World Heritage site – is lauded as being heaven on Earth by some of those who have seen its crystal-clear lakes and travertine waterfalls.
Photos of stranded travellers inside Jiuzhaigou during the recent “golden week” holiday are fresh in my mind as I stand in the entrance queue at 6.50am, caught in the middle of a group of brightly dressed retirees. Apparently everyone has read the same advice: arrive at the park before it opens at 7am to get a head start on the crowds.

The recommended route for exploring the three main valleys in Jiuzhaigou involves hopping on and off shuttle buses – the only transport authorised within what, in 1997, became a World Biosphere Reserve. Aware of the typical tourist’s preference for motorised transport, I decide instead to dodge the shuttle queue after entering the park and hike the first 14km, heading south along the Shuzheng Valley. And less than 500 metres past the shuttle bus depot I find it: solitude, and paradise. Kilometre after kilometre of immaculately maintained wooden boardwalk guide me alongside the Zechawa River, past azure lakes with ancient fallen trees clearly visible above and below the water line.
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As the path and I meander together through birch forests and alongside cascading streams, the magic of the park gradually unfolds. And it is not until I’ve gone more than 10km that I encounter a handful of other walkers, near the log houses and colourful prayer flags of Shuzheng, one of the busiest villages in the park.

The spectacular Nuorilang Waterfall marks the end of the Shuzheng Valley sights, and my unexpectedly peaceful morning. Here, tour groups, photographers and families crowd along the 320-metre-wide face of the alpine waterfall to gaze in awe at its beauty. During the rainy summer season, the sound of the rushing water adds to its drama; in winter, the waterfall has been known to freeze, creating a glistening wall of ice.
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The other two valleys accessible to tourists – Rize and Zechawa – are to the southwest and southeast of Shuzheng Valley, respectively. My time is limited so I must choose – Rize Valley, and its many noteworthy lakes and riverbeds, or Zechawa Valley, which boasts the largest and highest alpine lake of them all. Plumping for quantity, I board a shuttle bus to the far end of Rize Valley, about 18km away.
Rize is Zhang Yimou country. From the main juncture of the three touristic valleys, the first of several lakes you encounter is Mirror Lake, named for the perfect reflections it displays during the early morning, when the waters are still. So captivated by the sight was Zhang that he filmed scenes for the Academy Award-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) here, before returning to film a key scene for his historical epic Hero (2002), at the equally striking Arrow Bamboo Lake.
Taking in the sweeping vistas and unclouded waters, I feel transported into Zhang’s fantastical world of lovers and assassins – until I’m brought back to reality by a fellow tourist’s selfie stick.
The boardwalks surrounding three of the more dramatic sites in Jiuzhaigou, Five Flower Lake, Peacock Riverbed and Panda Lake, are heaving with sightseers and couples in full wedding attire, jostling for photographs against the ethereal backdrops.
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It’s 6.20pm by the time I catch a shuttle back to the park’s main intersection, where I find to my disappointment that every bus is headed back towards the entrance. I’d hoped to see at least some of the Zechawa Valley before 7pm: closing time. Then, as if by magic, my fairy godmother – in the form of a northern Chinese driver behind the wheel of a privately chartered minibus – arrives, offering me the last lift of the day to the far end of Zechawa Valley.

The road climbs steadily for about 20km, snaking its way through winding mountain valleys until our minibus, bearing a small Mongolian group and me, arrives at the unimaginatively named Long Lake. At 3,100 metres above sea level, this is the highest accessible point for visitors to Jiuzhaigou.
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As the friendly Mongolians step away from the viewing platform to take a group photo, I am treated – for the second time in one day – to solitude, at one of the most renowned tourist sites in China. The vista is of screensaver quality; a cobalt-coloured alpine lake surrounded by dramatic mountains as far as the eye can see and totally worth the risk of being locked in the park overnight with nothing more than a camera and a near-empty packet of biscuits.
All too soon, though, the metaphorical clock strikes midnight and the spell is broken, our minibus soon racing us back down towards the park entrance, out of the valleys and away from paradise.
How to get there: several airlines fly from Hong Kong to Jiuzhaigou via Chengdu or Xian




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Hiking the Jiuzhaigou national park – a pristine paradise in Sichuan where you can still escape the crowds

With its azure lakes, waterfalls and –yes, it’s true – glorious solitude, the Unesco World Heritage site and World Biosphere Reserve in southwest China is a heavenly place for a walk

The Five Coloured Pool, in Jiuzhaigou national park, Sichuan province.

This image shows Shuzheng Falls (below) and Shuzheng Village (upper right), the busiest of the nine indigenous villages in the Jiuzhai Valley and where visitors can patronise the village for Tibetan snacks and souvenirs, Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China on September 20, 2016. Jiuzhaigou is a nature reserve and national park located in the north of Sichuan province, China. 20SEP16 [30APRIL2017 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE] PHOTO / Valerie TEH

This image shows Arrow Bamboo Lake in the Rize Valley as the overcast weather begins to clear, Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China on September 20, 2016. Jiuzhaigou is a nature reserve and national park located in the north of Sichuan province, China. 20SEP16 [30APRIL2017 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE] PHOTO / Valerie TEH

This image shows eager tourists scrambling for the best ways to view and photograph the Five Flower Lake, at the Jiuzhai Valley, Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China on September 20, 2016. Jiuzhaigou is a nature reserve and national park located in the north of Sichuan province, China. 20SEP16 [30APRIL2017 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE] PHOTO / Valerie TEH

Nuorilang waterfall, near the junction of the Jiuzhaigou national park’s three tourist valleys – Shuzheng, Rize and Zechawa. Pictures: Valerie Teh

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(110721) -- NYINGCHI, July 21, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (R, Front) holds a boy of Tibetan ethnic group in his arms during a visit to the village of Bagyi in Nyingchi Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, July 21, 2011. Xi Jinping is in Tibet to attend celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the region's peaceful liberation. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang) (ljh)

(170328) -- NYINGCHI, March 28, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Villagers attend a national flag raising ceremony in Daxing Village of Zhamog Township in Bomi County of Nyingchi, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 28, 2017. People here celebrated Serfs' Emancipation Day on March 28, which was designated as the day to mark the freeing of 1 million people, or 90 percent of the region's population at that time, from the feudal serf system in 1959. (Xinhua/Purbu Zhaxi) (lfj)

(FILES) In this photograph taken on April 19, 2010, Yaks and sheep graze on grasslands outside of Gonge in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in northwest China's Qinghai province. Also called the "roof of the world", the high-altitude plateau in Central Asia which covers most of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and Ladakh in Kashmir, India is the world's highest and biggest plateau with an average elevation of 4,500 meters. The Dalai Lama on October 20, 2015, has urged the world to protect Tibet from global warming, saying his Himalayan homeland was crucial to the health of the world. The exiled spiritual leader called on the younger generation to play a more active role in fighting climate change as he launched a campaign by the Tibetan leadership ahead of crunch talks beginning in Paris next month. AFP PHOTO/ Frederic J. BROWN/FILES

(140225) -- LHASA, Feb. 25, 2014 (Xinhua) -- A dealer shows caterpillar fungi, also called winter worm summer herb, at a caterpillar fungus market in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, July 17, 2013. Caterpillar fungus, a parasitic fungus that sprouts from the corpses of ghost moth larva, can sell for about 10 US dollars for a 1-centimeter-diameter piece. In 2013, the yield of caterpillar fungi in Tibet increased by 50 percent year on year to 53,700.65 kilograms, according to the local Agriculture and Pastoral Office. (Xinhua/Liu Kun) (lfj)

(170402) -- BOMI, April 2, 2017 (Xinhua) -- A tourist poses for photos amid cole flowers in the fields in Bomi County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, April 1, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhang Rufeng) (ry)

Tibetan nomads ride a motorcycle on the Tibetan plateau in Qinghai province. Photo: AFP

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A stupa on a mountain pass between Kangding and Tagong.

A new road runs through Jiaju village. 

A mountain pass climbs to 4,500 metres above sea level. Photos: Tom Tobback

Corn and chillies hang from a window in Jiaju.

A stupa on the 4,298-metre-high mountain pass between Kangding and Tagong.

Chinese flags fly from village houses in Danba.

Clockwise from left:

Maya and a guide ride out from the Angela Ecolodge.

The Tobback family inspect the roof of their Jiaju guesthouse.

Maya, Eveline and Ilias await breakfast at the Hilam Hostel, in Kangding.

Ilias at the Tagong Golden Stupa.

Eveline with a yak skull.

Maya brushes up her Irish dancing skills on the Tibetan plateau.

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With its azure lakes, waterfalls and –yes, it’s true – glorious solitude, the Unesco World Heritage site and World Biosphere Reserve in southwest China is a heavenly place for a walk


With its azure lakes, waterfalls and – yes, it’s true – glorious solitude, the Unesco World Heritage site and World Biosphere Reserve in southwest China is a heavenly place for a walk


Outdoor & Extreme: Hiking