Finally, a fast fading Jiuzhaigou !

Legend has it that a really long time ago, a beautiful goddess lived on the mountains east of Jiuzhaigou. At its west, there was a hardworking and chivalrous god who fell in love with her. The god was always telling her how beautiful she looked. But she said she had no way of knowing. So without telling her in advance, one day, the god whisked out a mirror from behind his back. He said that it was a token of his love for her. She was overjoyed. But in the eagerness and excitement of reaching out for it, she let it slip through her trembling fingers. It dropped into the valley and broke up into 108 pieces of various shapes and sizes which transformed into the 108 glittering lakes of the valley that we now see. But the number of photos I took there would probably be double or triple that number. Had they been taken in Hong Kong, any one of them would have been sufficient to cause my jaws to be left open for quite a while. It's an excruciatingly difficult decision to decide which of them to post here. So I'll just upload here a few of them at random so that fellow bloggers may share my amazement and my joy.
 

This is one of the 108 lakes, which they call here "seas"

I love the mix of the color of the  minerals, the algae and the reflection of the surrounding trees, the clouds and the sky upon the surface of the water



So many colors within such a tiny patch. I enjoy the serenity, the peace, the quiet here. Nothing but the gentle sound of the water. For all I know, it might have been doing that here for millions of years by now. But for me, it was the first time that I came so close. It was a wonderful feeling.

What I find most amazing here is that I can actually touch the water swishing, gurgling or tumbling down without getting my feet wet ! Where else can you get that close to the water right in the middle of the stream and amidst the bushes ?

The water tumbling down right in front of my eyes, not more than a foot or so away ! I had to be careful with my camera lens because the sprays were actually flying all around me. It's not that same kind of feeling that you get under the Niagara Falls. There it was all impact, energy, power and might,  Here it's delicacy! It's intimacy. It's closeness to the little processes of Nature.

I really enjoy looking at the sparkle of the crystal clear snow mountain water: so many colors: white, yellow, light green, dark green and glistening blue.

Look at that: so clear, so crystalline, with such a wonderful blend of colors and moving too !

The sparkle at another spot ! And I actually touched it! So brisk, so cool, so fresh ! So out of this world !

Look at the contrast. Behind the bushes, its all clarity and serenity and in front of the bushes, rushing, dashing, churning and dynamism, all within a few feet of each other.

I really enjoy the thrill. I can still feel the tingling of my skin: the coolness and freshness of the tiny sprays upon my face and my hands as I tried desperately to capture each moment before they hurried away in the stream of time, gone forever, without a trace except perhaps those tiny splinters of the images and sensations in my fast fading memory.