Jiuzhaigou national park

10 hours from Chengdu by bus is Jiuzhaigou Natural Park, supposed to be the most beautiful one in Sichuan. After a long bus ride we arrive at the bus station. That’s where I meet Ofir, from Israel. I’m looking for a hostel, so is she, let’s go together, and by foot! We are bound to get along. She is the most talented Chinese-speaking bargaining person I have ever met and manages to get us a room at half the price announced. The hostel is full of people from Israel. It is their national holidays and apparently they like China. Noa, Avichai, Ofir and me will wake up at 6 to go to the parc when it opens, or at least not too long after... The parc stretches over tens of kilometers, and has the most amazing nature: waterfalls, lakes, rivers … The colour of the water is so blue it looks almost fake. The lakes have names like long lake, five coloured pool, panda lake, tiger lake, rhinoceros lake after the animals that used to come here. Now there are almost no animals, only birds and a squirrel, some insects. Where did they go? Did the tourists scare them away? Even with the rain it’s enjoyable and we walk a lot. 

 We stop in a Tibetan village to say goodbye to Noa and Avihai, they only stay here one day. Ofir and I want to stay a little longer. We need to find a place to stay for the night. In a village there are rooms but too expensive for us. Again Ofir impresses me with her negotiating skills: we have a decent room at a decent price! In Tibetan culture it is custom to invite the guests that stay in you house for meals, so we eat some rice and vegetables with the family at night and even get breakfast in the morning before setting out on another day of amazing nature and hiking experience. We take the bus to the right, where it leads us to a forest, primeval forest. From there we can walk down to other lakes and waterfalls.  Should we try that boat? We would probably be arrested… The most beautiful lake is at the end, even when the guards start yelling at us we cannot take our eyes off the clear blue water…