after the trip to tagong i went north to jiuzhaigou national park, about twelve hours from chengdu. it's full of lakes and whirlpools and waterfalls and other contortions of water, all of which are in an amazing shade of blue that water isn't usually shaded. i think the best thing to do is just put up pictures. here they are:


p.s. if you're like me and are always sadistically looking for reasons to pillage and burn the offices of the lonely planet (but use the book in every new town regardless), the jiuzhaigou section will make you drool. prices, maps, phone numbers, locations of major bodies of water, and -- most insidiously -- information on the legality of staying overnight in the park, are all wrong.