With a total area of 20,000 square km,this huge Tibetan grassland is my favorate place.

Yaks,Tibetan Nomad Tents and  monasteries are the main things you can see in this huge grassland,no internet no starbucks.

Not always the Great Wall or the Terra Cotta Warriors or the Leshan Buddha,a few days of simple life in such remote Tibetan villages makes your Chinese trip special and unforgetable.

Songpan is a county in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. since the ancient time, Songpan has been the gateway to Chengdu Plain. the county is 2849.5 meters above sea level, 335 km from the provincial capital of Chengdu.
The wall in the small city was built in the year of 1379.

During the Tang Dynasty, the Tibetan king Songzanganbu asked the Tang Emperer to marry the most beautiful girl of the country, the Emperer Taizong sent him Wen Prince Wencheng. when they went back from Changan to Tibet, they passed here.

Jiuzhaigou ( Jiuzhaigou Valley ) is named after the nine Tibetan villages with in the national park boundaries, like the hundreds of other villages in the region the local people's houses are traditionally made of wood, which is to be expected for somewhere that has been surrounded with thick forests for thousands of years. 

    The best example of traditional architecture within the park can be seen in the abandoned Guodu VIllage in Zharu Valley. Traditionally, houses had three floors. The ground floor housed livestock. This was one way of keeping homes warm during the cold winters, as the animals' body heat would radiate up through the floorboards. The first floor was the family's living quarters and the top floor which was usually open at the gable ends was for drying crops, storing grain, animal feed and farm tools.

    When Jiuzhai Valley was officially classified as a nature reserve in the 1980s all agriculture and animal husbandry was banned in the park and today the locals make a living from tourism. There is no longer a need to build houses in the traditional fashion and most are now built with a combination of bricks and wood. The brightly painted exteriors of the homes are a modern addition to local villages and are a sign of increased prosperity. 

     Traditionally only monasteries would be able to afford such elaborate painting . Now all homes will be painted to some degree ( inside or outside of both) with particular attention beging paid to the home alter which is an important feature of each home. 

Jiuzhaigou is located on the plateau. not many plants can grow there. but there are very good Tibetan medicine plants , such as :

1. tendril-leaved fritillary bulb （ which is used in very famous medicine Chuanbei Pipa Syrup for coughing ) 

2. The Cordyceps sinensis was wild, growth zone above the altitude of 3000 meters to 5000 meters high mountain grassland shrub grass slope near the snow line. in Summer time, the worm lay eggs on the ground, about a month after hatch into larvae into the soft wet soil. A mold the earth invasion of larvae, growth in the larval body, eroding the larvae until his death. After a winter, spring comes to second years, fungal hyphae grow, the fungus grows out of the ground, the appearance is like a piece of grass, body and mycelial larvae constitute a complete "". The spores to body as food, rapid growth, body is generally four to five cm, fungus, a day can be long to body length , then the Chinese caterpillar fungus is known as "head of grass", the best quality; about two times as long to the very next day fungus worm, called as the "two grass", the quality of. Because of the rigid after President of roots, so called "Cordyceps sinensis".

3. Herba Rhodiolae .Rhodiola is resistant to the effects of altitude sickness 

more interesting things , you may go there to see~~

To travel in Jiuzhaigou ,please avoid October 1- October 7, May 1-May 3. because on these days it will be so crowded. from the airport to Jiuzhaigou park it takes 1 hour usually, but on these days, it may take 3-4 hours to go. because October 1-7 is during Chinese National Holiday. and May 1-3 is Labor's Day. many Chinese people will drive there , that makes all the hotel price go up and full, all restaurants are full, and where ever you go, you will see People. 

Unlike many other Qiang village in Maoxian or Wenchuan which were completely destroyed by the 2008 earthquake and rebuilt after that. The Heihu Qiang Village survives in the earthquake because it's 100 km away from the disaster. The Qiang people in this isolated remote mountain village are still keeping their traditional lifestyle, ladies dress their pretty hand made embroidered costume in everyday life. The village is few visited by tourists,quite peaceful and not commercialized yet. But easily to find a guest house there,no worry for accommodation and dining.

How to go there: Bus from Chengdu Chadianzi Bus Station(茶店子汽车站）to Maoxian(3.5 hours) then hire a min van to the village(cost a bout 50Yuan for one way,30min).

Dagu Glacier is located in Heishui County, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture .Sichuan Province ,China . the altitude of the peak is 5283m. The mountain top is covered with snow all year round. In autumn, you can see the spectacular scenery of the colorful forest since late October ;  in winter, it is suitable for extreme sports such as ice climbing.

Until 1992, Japanese scientists discovered through the satellite that she was hiding in the mountains . In August , they crossed the ocean to Heishui County and made a one-week visit to her. They become very excited for such a modern glacier and since then it’s known to the world. There are lakes , waterfalls, forests and meadow here

Entrance

120 rmb

Sightseeing bus 70 rmb

Cable car 180 rmb

Open : 8:00-19:00 ( get into the park before 15:30)

 Travel in Dagu Glacier

Scenic spots

1. Golden Monkey Lake ( Jinhou Lake ) 金猴海

It’s quite similar to Jiuzhaigou

1. Honjun Lake ( Red Army Lake ) 红军湖

It’s recorded that in 1935 the Red Army had been camping here

1. Zena Cuo -in Tibetan language means Released lake
2. Hongju Bridge （Red Army Bridge ）红军桥
3. Shenniu Lake (Holy Yak Lake) 神牛湖
4. Hongyun Slope （鸿运坡）
5. Dagu Lake ( 达古湖)
6. Luogesi Mountain 洛格斯神山

Maoxian

Geographical Location : 

Maoxian is a hub to connect Aba region with big cities like Chengdu. Maoxian is also on No.213 national highway, and a key point for access to the famous cultrual heritage locations of Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong 

Maoxian County town is located in Fengyi town, 193km away from Chengdu, 290 km away from Ma'erkang , the capital of Aba. 

Climate :

the climate in Maoxian is dry and windy, summer isi cool. the day and night temperature is quite different and varies with regions. it has a year-round average temperature of 11.3 º. 1545 hours of  sunshine and an annual rainfall of 486.3 mm. Because of the widely different temperature between valley and alpine region .

Native Specialties

Maoxian is endowed with diversified  native specialties for its vast territory and complicated  climate. it is wealthy in apple, Sichuan pepper, cherry, crisp green plum and traditional Chinese medicine. Handicrafts like the Qiang embroidery and trappings add more  charm to Maoxian

the staple food of Qiang People are corn, potato and buckwheat, etc. meat vegetable bean products and m any edible wide herbs serve as the supplementary food .  many snacks n this area have become specialties of hotels and restaurants in Jiuzhaigou sightseeing traffic circle and are warmly welcome by tourists . 

JiuDingShan Taiziling Ski Resort is located in Wenchuan County in Sichuan Aba Maoxian to 213 national highway, within Jiuding Mountain Qinglong Ping, 3 hours drive from Chengdu. Resort 2750 meters above sea level, it has a 4.2 km ski trails, skiers can accommodate 5,000 passengers daily.
         This scenic areas has high negative oxygen ion concentration, PM2.5 has been long lower than 50. during the snow season, 70 percent of the sun is high at all times good weather, daytime temperatures can reach 25 ℃, the night is about minus 10 ℃, Taiziling is a natural ecologically pure resort around Chengdu city

Ski slopes Overview
Primary Road : 3, the total length of 480 meters, the lowest grade of 6.7%, up 8.3%;
Intermediate Road:  2, the total length of 300 meters, the slope were 15.6% and 23.3%;
High Road:  3, the total length of 2700 meters, average gradient of 17.7% -37.8%, the maximum gradient of 58%;
  Play slopes :3, the total length of 400 meters, the slope of 5.8% -12.5%.