11th. Touring begins: Huang Long. Flight count:4.

Couchsurfing last night was really good, I had a good night's sleep. In the morning, my host's boyfriend took me to get a bus to the airport. It was kind of a bit AHHH, as the bus was just leaving the stop and he was just like... it's this bus, saw me get on it and said bye. Idk, it just happened really quickly, I was rather overwhelmed, especially as I'd only gotten up 30 minutes before leaving.

When I got to the airport.. it suddenly dawned on me that I had to fend for myself for the next week or so. It was really quite scary. I found the place where I was supposed to be checking in with the tour, did all that mumbojumbo and checked luggage in. Waiting for the flight was frustrating. I realised that I hadn't packed the warmer clothes I'd bought, as I didn't think I'd need them, but overhearing what other people were saying.. I did. So I ended up buying a knitted cardigan at the airport. The plane was late getting to Chengdu airport, annoying. But apparantly it happens often due to the weather at Jiu Zhai Gou airport as it's high above sea level (the 3rd highest airport in China). Found my tour guide person fine at the airport. And omg, the air was so cold! A complete contrast from the weather in Beijing and Chengdu. Reminded me of England again. My tour group is little. 11 people. One family, some of whom were from Canada so it was nice to have something in common with their daughter; me and a japanese guy. And being the japanese tourist, he was taking photos of everything x)

Immediately after landing, the landscape struck me to be very different. Mountainous terrain stretched as far as the eye could see. After lunch, we drove towards the attraction for today, Huang Long (Yellow Dragon translated literally). The place is named like so because the water from the mountains flows down the yellow ground, making it look like a yellow dragon. I had to buy some jeans.. it really pissed me off as I have some in Beijing but I thought I wouldn't need them >.< Anyways, we headed up the mountain via cable car. There was quite a long walk to the main site "Five Rainbow Pools", through the forestry on the side of the mountain. There were some breathtaking views on the way. Unfortuneately at this point it had started to rain lightly, and I was without umbrella because I left it on the bus. Uberfail ~_~. The rain did get heavier as the afternoon wore on, and I was pretty much soaked by the end of it. It was only when I was 10 minutes from the exit that the sun actually came out. ughhh. Timing, once again. Huang Long had some amazing views, the photos I took hardly did it justice, even in gloomy weather. I cannot imagine how beautiful the place is when the sun is out. Though the main attraction is water; the mountains, clouds and forest were also aesthetically pleasing.

One thing that was horrible, is that there were locals carrying building materials up the mountain on foot. A 4.2km walk up and down. That's 8.4kmin total. Twice a day. And they get paid hardly anything for their labours. I managed to photo a few of the people doing it - things like that are so humbling. There was even a woman carrying the heavy materialson her back.. why oh why.

There was a long drive to our hotel, which is near Jiu Zhai Gou, the place we are going to tomorrow. At one point, we were driving through the clouds, it was eerily beautiful. The sunset was amazing too, as the clouds made pretty patterns in the sky. The mountains were differing shades of blue and green as dusk approached, truly so many images I wantedto capture but unable to.

If it's sunny tomorrow, I will be very very happy.