I promised in my previous blog that I'll post photos of the unbelievably beautiful flora of Huang Long. I'll keep that promise now. There are so many trees, leaves, mosses etc there that I really don't know where to begin. So I thought I'll just begin at the beginning.
The ticket office to the Huang Long national park, which now forms part of the UN's "world heritage"
This is where we had our meal before the start of our tour.
It's obvious that ours was not the only tourist group
There, you have it, the entire park.
This walk is where the adventure really started.
It's raining there all the time. Water is where all life began.
Everywhere we cast our eyes, we were met by a profusion of shapes in various shades of green, yellow and browns.
Wherever we turned our eyes, we saw water: crystal clear, cool, fresh--on the blades of the leaves, grass and the surface of tree barks.
Somehow even pine needles look fresher there.
I was surprised by the variety of plants growing there. There's hardly a bare patch.
Some leaves were turning yellow
Some had already completed switching into their autumn attire.
Others prefer red.
Some decided they still got lots of time on their hands.
What surprised me most of all was the abundance of moss or fern-like moss everywhere and how beautiful they make the otherwise unsightly tree barks look.
The mosses seem able to grow literally everywhere, not only on the barks of the trees but also upon their roots
and on the ground
where all kinds of delicate ferns seem to find their places too.
Look at the abundance of Nature, even upon such a tiny spot
I was amazed by the resilience of life right in the middle of its detritus.
I like this reckless abundance and derive tremendous strength from the way they struggle for their own little corner within the patch of our common heritage, this incredible blue planet.
How small, yet how varied and beautiful
even though the signs of its eventual demise are imminent.
Beside the old, there're always something new: hope in the midst of desolation, surrounding it, encouraging it to hold on to life for as long as possible before giving up the ghost
A few survivors stubbornly hanging on
They're not alone
Everywhere I looked, I found the same voice crying out silently to me: "Hang on".
"Hang on !"
"Not to worry. We are doing just that !"
"We've got company !"
The trees will just grow wherever they find any space.
See? Tiny stars of glory shining in the most unlikely places !
Look, there're dews yet, right next to a leaf at the last stage of its life before it falls off and become food for others still struggling to live.
Even old stumps have their use: they support new life: in an endless circle of destruction and renewal.
Found this tiny squirrel, living off scraps from man. I saw myself in him. Or is it her? I too, live off the scraps of Nature: its beauty and its stubborn will to life!
The ticket office to the Huang Long national park, which now forms part of the UN's "world heritage"
This is where we had our meal before the start of our tour.
It's obvious that ours was not the only tourist group
There, you have it, the entire park.
This walk is where the adventure really started.
It's raining there all the time. Water is where all life began.
Everywhere we cast our eyes, we were met by a profusion of shapes in various shades of green, yellow and browns.
Wherever we turned our eyes, we saw water: crystal clear, cool, fresh--on the blades of the leaves, grass and the surface of tree barks.
Somehow even pine needles look fresher there.
I was surprised by the variety of plants growing there. There's hardly a bare patch.
Some leaves were turning yellow
Some had already completed switching into their autumn attire.
Others prefer red.
Some decided they still got lots of time on their hands.
What surprised me most of all was the abundance of moss or fern-like moss everywhere and how beautiful they make the otherwise unsightly tree barks look.
The mosses seem able to grow literally everywhere, not only on the barks of the trees but also upon their roots
and on the ground
where all kinds of delicate ferns seem to find their places too.
Look at the abundance of Nature, even upon such a tiny spot
I was amazed by the resilience of life right in the middle of its detritus.
I like this reckless abundance and derive tremendous strength from the way they struggle for their own little corner within the patch of our common heritage, this incredible blue planet.
How small, yet how varied and beautiful
even though the signs of its eventual demise are imminent.
Beside the old, there're always something new: hope in the midst of desolation, surrounding it, encouraging it to hold on to life for as long as possible before giving up the ghost
A few survivors stubbornly hanging on
They're not alone
Everywhere I looked, I found the same voice crying out silently to me: "Hang on".
"Hang on !"
"Not to worry. We are doing just that !"
"We've got company !"
The trees will just grow wherever they find any space.
See? Tiny stars of glory shining in the most unlikely places !
Look, there're dews yet, right next to a leaf at the last stage of its life before it falls off and become food for others still struggling to live.
Even old stumps have their use: they support new life: in an endless circle of destruction and renewal.
Found this tiny squirrel, living off scraps from man. I saw myself in him. Or is it her? I too, live off the scraps of Nature: its beauty and its stubborn will to life!
Thanks for the great sharing! I like the third and fourth last photos in particular.
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/07/2012 23:24:53]Thank you. I like them too. Nature is really amazing.
影得好靚
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/08/2012 00:09:52]Thank you. Nature is unbelievably beautiful at Huang Long.
Nice pics! I visited Huang Long in the summer of 1987. It was amazing beautiful there.
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/08/2012 17:50:59]You are right. I don't know what it looked like back in 1987. But for me, It's still very beautiful even now.
If you were in Huang Long, did you not also make it to the nearby Jiuzhaigou? They are both masterpieces of nature and on the World Natural Heritage List. The magic of of Jiuzhaigou lies in the crystal clear lakes and water, the reflections of brilliant colours and the dreamlike scenery that makes it one of the most beautiful place on earth, not just China! Living off the scraps of nature? Aren't we all!
回覆刪除[紅粉大導回覆11/08/2012 18:53:34]Can’t wait to see the beauty of Jiuzhaigou captured through your lens!
[版主回覆11/08/2012 17:54:28]How could I have missed that! I'd have to kick myself on the shin were I not to go there. Huang Long is just the apetizer ! Jiuzhaigou is the main dish and the whole point of my trip !
What a piece of luck that you managed to "capture" the squirrel at such close range! What did you do to make it stand so still for your camera?
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/08/2012 23:07:59]I didn't do anything. Its greed did everything for me!
The mosses are really beautiful and I want them growing on my face.
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/08/2012 23:09:14]Then instead of Bluebeard, we'd now have a Greenbeard !
小松鼠可愛極 !! ~~~~~~~~~ 原來 El Zorro 到九寨黃龍旅遊去了！ 深秋該是顏色最豐富的時節呢！ ~~~~~~~~~~ 你鏡頭下的各式葉子、 就非常好看！ 謝謝分享！
回覆刪除[版主回覆11/10/2012 10:39:25]Yes, I was resting on one of the pavilions mid-way up the top of the mountain and then, suddenly this little squirrel got down from a tree, scampering along the ground and in a few seconds was already on the edge of the garbage bin, quickly dived inside and retieved that little plastic bag, and immediately proceeded to consume such scraps as it found ! It was probably quite hungry. So it simply ignored me whilst I was training my camera at it. Yes, I like the leaves too. The leaves up there are really quite unique. They would not grow in thick clumps and spread themselves out on the branches each at a respectable distance from the others.