Trail known as: Jiuzhaigou Huanglong Circular Trail (九寨沟黄龙环线） - Part 2
Country: China
Posted by: JimmyW
Trail genre: City/Family trail
Trail point starts from: Chengdu City, Sichuan
Trail point ends at: Chengdu City, Sichuan
Total trail nights: 7
Total trail distance: 1600 kms
Day 4 : 18 Oct 2005
Jiuzhaigou (九寨沟) -> Huanglong (黄龙) -> Maoxian （茂县)
Another World Heritage Site, Huanglong (黄龙), or "Yellow Dragon Gully" is very well known for its colorful pools formed by calcite deposits, diverse forest ecosystems, colorful limestone pool, snow-capped peaks, waterfalls and also a home to endangered species including Giant Panda and the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey.
Sitting in the Minshan mountain range, it is about 150km from Chengdu in a straightline. Songpan (松潘）, the county where Huanglong is located, suffered more...
... severe earthquake attack in year 1976. More than 10 lives were killed, some 2,000 heads of livestock lost and few thousands houserooms were collapsed. Recent quake did more damage to the infrastructure (eg roads) than property. No official death toll was reported.
We proceeded next to Maoxian (茂县) before we ended our day in one of the hotels.
The road we traveled offered spectacular snow-peaked scenic view. However, the road condition, if anyone happened to notice, as most other tour members chose to sleep after an exhaustive hike on the Huanglong, was just enough to fit one small coach in. While another tour member and I was shocked to notice that the wheels were just running on edge of the road and no tolerance was allowed for any slight mistake, which would otherwise plunge us into the deep ravine. The driver was not driving at low speed though.
On the map, Maoxian is just a town away from the epicenter, probably just 40 kms away. Maoxian is one of the counties in Sichuan. With a population of 100,000, about 90% are Qiang people (羌族).
As with most places in Sichuan province, Maoxian is a very mountainous area. When the quake hit, most roads connecting to Maoxian were cut-off by rocks and boulders resulted in rescue efforts hampered. The Chinese government sent in experienced paratroopers to reach the victims. This is one of the largest non-combat air operation in the country.
At time of writing, Maoxian has claimed a death toll of some 4,000 lives.
Day 5 : 19 Oct 2005
Maoxian (茂县)-> Wenchuan （汶川）, the epicenter -> Dujiangyan (都江堰)
Today, our destination is Dujianyan. A dam, a man-made wonder that was built in year 256 BC. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in year 2000.
At the age of 2264, it's still in use and still irrigates over 5,300 square kilometers of land in the region. The dam was built on Min River (岷江） to curb the flood that happened annually as a result of spring melt-water from the local mountains. The dam consists of 3 main constructions, ie Fish Mouth Levee (鱼嘴), Flying Sand Weir (飞沙岩） and Bottle-Neck Channel (宝瓶口).
The dam was built by Li-Bing （李冰), a governor in Qin Dynasty (778 BC-207 BC).
According to Wikipedia, The Fish Mouth Levee is an artificial levee that divides the water into inner and outer streams. The inner stream carries approximately 40%, rising to 60% during flood, of the river's flow into the irrigation system whilst that outer stream drains away the rest, flushing out much of the slit and sediment.
While The Flying Sand Weir, located at the lower part, connects the inner and outer streams. It ensures against flooding by allowing the natural swirling flow of the water to drain out excess water from the inner to the outer stream. The Bottle-Neck Channel, is the final part of the system. The channel distributes the water to the farmlands to the west, whilst the narrow entrance, that gives it its name, works as a check gate, creating the whirlpool flow that carries away the excess water over Flying Sand Fence, to ensure against flooding.
Dujiangyan is a man-made wonder. However, I was again annoyed with the ever uncourtly crowd. What's worse, the air was so polluted with the cigarette smoke almost everywhere.
Dujiangyan was struck badly during the quake. Initial reports indicate that the Fish Mouth Levee was cracked but not severely damaged. The Erwang Temple (二王庙), built and later renamed to present name in honour of Li Bing, sadly, was leveled.
More than 3,000 died in the quake in this region.
About 100kms before Dujiangyan, we passed Wenchuan, a town which was not a listed destination in the itinerary, has become rubble with 16,000 lives buried. THIS IS THE EPICENTER OF THE LATE SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE.
According to Reginald DesRoches, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, the massive damage of properties and houses in Sichuan was because China did not create an adequate seismic design code until after the devastating Tangshan earthquake in 1976. Buildings built prior have less resistance against earthquake forces.
Likewise in Maoxian, most major roads were damaged and rescue efforts could not reach the isolated and mountainous quake stricken area. To make matter worse, the airtrooper rescue was called off due to bad weather conditions.
Affected residents in surrounding stricken areas were later evacuated as it is feared that the dams would burst which would cause more unimaginable damage.
For a Richter scale of 8, history has it that 20,000 were killed in Gujarat earthquake (2001), 17 people died in Peru earthquake (2007), 200,000 died in Sumatra earthquake (as a result of Tsunami effect) and 69,000 in current Sichuan earthquake.
Day 6 : 20 Oct 2005
Dujiangyan (都江堰) -> Leshan (乐山) -> Emeishan (峨眉山)
We left Dujianyan and headed for Leshan. About 120 kms form Chengdu, Leshan is known for its Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛). A UNESCO World Heritage Site, construction started in 713AD, led by a Chinese monk named Haitong. He hoped to calm the turbulent river that threatened the shipping vessels. He initiated a fund collection exercise to fund the construction of the Giant Buddha. He is said to have gouged out his own eyes to show his sincerity when his funding objective was doubted. The project took some 90 years to complete. The river then surprisingly became friendly to the passing vessels. Apparently, the debris and stones that removed from the cliff during the massive construction, have deposited into the river and altered the geographical character of the river.
The statue was undamaged.
Before Leshan, we visited Du Fu Thatched cottage (杜甫草堂), Temples of Zhuge Liang Memorial Temple (武侯祠) and a 1,700 year old ancient town (黄龙溪古镇)
Day 7 : 21 Oct 2005
Emeishan (峨眉山） -> Chengdu (成都)
We woke up very early to race against the busy crowd. We were told that any delay would end up in a massive crowd queuing for cable car. We had our breakfast on the bus instead. Mt. Emei is one of the sacred Buddhist mountains in China. At 3,100m, Mount Emei is surrounded by breathtaking views. Its most varied topography includes a range of landscapes of undulating hills, valleys, deep gullies and high peaks. Three summits of Mount Emei stand in parallel, forming a characteristic landscape when viewed from a distance. With all pieces putting together, the golden sunrise, the colorful rainbow, the magical views, the rare flora and fauna, the stunning landscapes making Mt. Emei so beautiful.
We did not see anything. Unfortunately. It was too foggy and the visibility level was not more than 3 feet. We spent less than 45mins and descended to the awaiting bus at foothill.
We headed back to Chengdu city where we began our trail. We visited Baoguosi (报国寺), a buddhist temple built 1,400 years ago. We finally arrived in Chengdu city and watched the "Changing Face show" a well-known Sichuan opera before we did a brief tour in the Chengdu city.
Day 8 : 22 Oct 2005
Chengdu (成都) -> Airport (四川双流国际机场)
Today is our last day. We spent some light and easy time visiting some local places. One of them was Wangjianglou (望江楼), a beautiful bamboo garden built in memory of Xuetao (薛涛), a famous poet during Tang dynasty.
We headed for airport and bid farewell to Sichuan, China.
Trail known as: Jiuzhaigou Huanglong Circular Trail (九寨沟黄龙环线） - Part 2
