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The clouds were starting to clear as we walked further along the walking paths. The colours starting to emerge.

Many of the original pools and much of the infrastructure in Jiuzhaigou Valley was destroyed in an earthquake in 2017. The park was closed while restoration work was carried out. Limestone from landslides during the earthquake was used to rebuild natural barriers that had collapsed and allowed...

Overnight in a local hotel outside the park and then a drive through some wetlands and forest to the entrance to Jiuzhaigou National Park. Huge amounts of visitors arrive in this park every day but the park is huge and they are reasonably spread out so once we were inside we didn't feel crowded...

Map showing the walking path, elevations and park highlights. As i reached the first pools I received a Wechat message from Mrs Woodyren that she was back at the entrance and feeling much better. About 3/4 of the way through I started to feel a little more...

After an overnight stay in a small hotel outside the park area we arrived after an hour long bus ride at our first destination. Huanglong Scenic area. As I stated earlier this tour was very inexpensive. It included 5 nights hotel accommodation (3 star clean local hotels), bus travel, many...

Further into the mountains. Stops for our included tour meals along the way. Some amazing engineering to manage difficult geotechnical issues on the newly completed high speed rail line from Chengdu into this popular tourist region. Included meals were basic but adequate. Served in...

The road for most of the way followed a river as we climbed higher into the mountains.

We were picked up later that night and transferred to our Chendu Hotel. We then had to be up and ready to be picked up at 0600 the following morning for an all day bus ride from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou national park. Some photos from early in the bus trip...

Another TR from a short (unplanned when we originally left) side trip while travelling away this year from April to August. We left home in April and travelled by cruise ship from Brisbane to Vancouver. Then flew to Taiwan and Korea (China Airlines J reward flights) and eventually to Shenyang...

Will be in Bangkok in March and will be chasing one of those Oyster Omelets.

We were a little breathless when we were above 3000 metres and needed to walk a little more slowly. But we were Ok generally. My wife had a bad experience in Huanglong Sichuan on an earlier trip (next TR) at about 3400 metres and had to leave the mountain top. I also did struggle there as I...

I have travelled quite a bit in China and this year it included this trip and a visit to Sichuan. The wilderness areas are vast and took me somewhat by surprise. They are being well preserved in most parts. The shear number of tourists now is very challenging but the parks have an army of...

So all in all it was a dream of a trip. One that I had always wished to do but thought is was likely not to happen. The landscapes were beautiful and varied so much eve by the hour. The infrastructure that has been recently constructed to open up this area was next level. The growth and...

The last day before we flew back to Shenyang. More desert travel to Turpan and Flaming Mountain. Extremely hot. Over 40 degrees. Supposedly the hottest place in China. Incredible road and rail infrastructure and kilometer after kilometer of wind and solar which along with the transmission...

A visit to the local markets and parts of the city in Urumqi followed.

Returning to Urumqi by overnight trains we then travelled through the desert until we reached Bosten Lake. A huge wetland and the biggest non coastal lake in China.

On our second day in our return to Kashgar the rest of the group headed off to somewhere we were not allowed to visit. So for the whole tour we missed out on two places but were looked after very well and given a private guide of our own. I still have no idea whet we missed out on or why we...

More Kashgar.

More photos of our walk around Kashgar. Like most of the tour we were just dropped off and given a sufficient amount of time to have a good look around and then meet back at a pre arranged time and location. The tour guide kept in touch with others with WeChat whereas I just headed off on my own...

This area appeared to be original older buildings that were under preservation/restoration.