Three-day self-driving trip to Hailuogou, Kangding County, and Mugecheng

Since becoming ill, I have been feeling tired and lacking energy. My friends invited me to go out several times because I felt unwell, but after all, it is human nature to be close to nature. I felt like I was going to go moldy after staying indoors for a long time. So after careful planning, after being ill for more than a year, I took advantage of the opportunity. The epidemic eased, and I took my first self-driving trip for three days.

The time is chosen to depart on April 29th and return to Chengdu on May 1st, so as to avoid the May Day peak period. Three days is plenty of time, with few people and few cars, which is suitable for people like me who don’t want to be overworked.

On April 28, I made a special trip to CapitaLand and bought a 24-inch suitcase. It’s dark green, beautiful and practical. I like it very much, but it’s a little too small. A 26-inch one may be more suitable for two people traveling. If necessary, I will buy another one later.

I was busy packing my things when I got home. I made ancient cakes to prepare for the picnic at noon the next day. After my husband made braised pig trotters, he lay down on the sofa and watched TV. There were so many things that I wanted to bring with me that I couldn’t finish them all at once, and I had too much time. As I grew older, I felt a little tired and started complaining that my husband didn’t help. My husband was very good this time. He quickly got up and cleaned up with me. Well, he is a good comrade and corrects his mistakes when he knows they are wrong.

On the morning of the 29th, I got up at 7 o'clock, had breakfast and set off. The whole journey from Chengdu to Hailuogou was on expressway, and the road was in very good condition. It took us three hours to reach the entrance of the scenic spot. It was only 11 o'clock, so we decided to go to the nearby Hongshi Park first.

After driving along Yumo Road for about 40 minutes, we arrived at our destination. I originally thought that Red Rock Park should be a scenic spot, but it turned out to be a small abandoned wild river beach. Later, I heard from locals that this place was originally very beautiful but was destroyed after the 2008 earthquake. They enthusiastically showed us photos of the beautiful scenery before the earthquake. It was indeed beautiful. There were also a few cars that were probably coming here. They stopped by the river for a while, took a few photos and then left. It was almost 12 o'clock, and my husband and I decided to have a picnic on the spot.

During the picnic by the river, my husband’s braised pig’s trotters were well packed in ice packs and were delicious. The cherries I bought on the way were 6 yuan per pound. They were very sweet and tasted much better than the cherries in Chengdu. I forgot to bring the ancient cake that I worked so hard to make last night. Unfortunately...the garbage after eating is collected and taken away. You must be environmentally conscious.

After eating, we returned to the Hailuogou Tourist Parking Lot and booked the Pearl Garden Hotel at the entrance of the scenic spot. The price was 280 per night. Maybe it was due to the lack of tourists during the epidemic. The room felt a bit moldy, but the hotel environment was okay. Under normal circumstances, it might cost more than this.

After tidying up the room and sleeping for a while, my husband suggested going for a walk in the town. The temperature in the mountains changed quickly. It was still sunny before going to bed, but when I woke up it started to rain. The two of us went parading in the street under umbrellas, which was quite romantic.

The town is called Moxi Town. It is not much different from other ancient tourist towns. It is just a small street full of bars and shops selling tourist souvenirs. It rains not too hard, and the town is very quiet in the rain, except for me. We only met a young couple. They saw us taking pictures on the swing, and they came over. The girl was quite good-looking, but the guy didn't pay attention to his appearance. I don’t know if others pay more attention to the appearance of the opposite sex, but I usually only look at good-looking women.

After visiting the ancient town, we drove to Gongga Shentang Hot Spring, which is located at Camp No. 1. It is cheaper to buy tickets at the hotel than directly at the hot spring. The hot spring is quite big, and the water temperature in the pool outside is relatively low. I thought I would catch a cold, so I kept walking inside and found a 42℃ pool inside. After soaking for a while, it finally stopped being cold, and I breathed a sigh of relief. After soaking for about half an hour, I proposed to go back, fearing that it would be difficult to walk on the mountain road after dark. My husband said he wasn’t afraid and wanted to soak for a while longer, but I felt more and more stuffy. Maybe I was short of oxygen after soaking for a long time, so I asked my husband to leave.

Sure enough, it was completely dark and foggy. We drove carefully and slowly, and finally arrived at the hotel safely. We asked the hotel and they said they had no food, so we went outside to eat tofu pudding at a restaurant called Junge Douhua. It turned out that this decision was the right one and the boss provided us with important information.

Because we wanted to go to Kangding next, we checked AutoNavi and it would take nearly 6 hours. While waiting for our meal, we talked to the boss about it. The boss and his friend said that it wouldn’t take that long and gave us another route. We used Gaode De checked and found that the road was interrupted and impassable. The boss's friend swore that it was impossible. He just rode a motorcycle from there three days ago and the road was very easy. He also said that he could give his contact information so that he could call us for instructions if we couldn't find the way. If we can wait until he sets off in the afternoon, he can take us ahead. The boss also said that local people often travel this road, and it takes about three hours. However, repeated checks on AutoNavi showed that the traffic was interrupted. We didn’t know if it was just interrupted, so we couldn’t make a decision. Later we checked Baidu Maps and Tencent Maps, and the navigation routes of these two software pointed to the road mentioned by the boss. We decided to try it tomorrow. If it doesn't work, we can turn around and come back. Anyway, the breakpoint shown is not too far away. The boss and friends were so enthusiastic. In fact, we only spent 40 yuan. Maybe it was because there were too few tourists and they were bored, but anyway, I’m so grateful to them.

At 7:30 the next morning, the hotel delivered breakfast to the guest room, which was just ordinary steamed buns and porridge. After eating it, I went to buy tickets. The conductor said that medical staff were free of charge, and cable cars and sightseeing cars were half price. Thanks to the scenic spot’s preferential policies, I saved another amount of money.

After passing the sightseeing car and cable car to the end point, Camp No. 4, the weather suddenly turned into winter. Snowflakes were flying in the sky, and the snow on the ground was very thick. There were not many tourists, and the snow surface was not trampled very much. It was very clean and beautiful. Someone was having a snowball fight at the viewing point. Growing up in the Chengdu Plain, I had never seen so much snow before. It felt very fresh and exciting.

You can see the large glacier from a distance from the observation deck. The weather was bad the night before. The hotel owner said that you couldn't see anything but fog when you went up the mountain. As a result, although it snowed today, the visibility was still good, but you didn't see the sunshine on Jinshan Mountain. Not everyone is lucky enough to see this, so I have no regrets. After playing for a while, I took the cable car sightseeing car down the mountain.

After getting off the cable car and taking the sightseeing bus, we saw wild monkeys, both large and small. I bought a piece of cured pork ribs and ate them. I was afraid that the monkeys would come and snatch them away, so I kept hiding them, but I was able to avoid the monkeys safely. When we arrived at Caohaizi, we got off the bus and walked to Dongga Temple. Caohaizi is full of weeds, surrounded by bushes, and there are only trees along the way. There is no landscape. Maybe we missed the beautiful scenery of mountain flowers, but it doesn’t matter. Traveling, the most important thing is to have fun.

When I came out, I found a snack bar at the entrance of the scenic spot. I ordered a bowl of hot and sour noodles, and my husband ordered beef noodles, which cost 37 yuan in total. My husband said that beef is only available in Xiaoxiaosankuai and it doesn’t taste very good, so I’ll just eat it.

After dinner, I drove to Kangding. The Baidu map was correct. I navigated all the way to Kangding. I was a little sleepy. After squinting for a while, I woke up very energetic. I played Xiaodu all the way. Xiaodu almost collapsed when I called it.

Checked into a small hotel in Kangding. It seemed quite clean and had floor heating. I put down my things and was going to visit Kangding City, but I went in the wrong direction. The weather was too cold and I no longer had the energy to walk any further. My stomach felt a bit uncomfortable, so I randomly found a casserole restaurant to eat. I ordered the potato and beef casserole with rice, and my husband ordered the lettuce and shredded pork casserole with rice. After tasting it, my husband’s tasted better, so I changed it and felt my stomach felt better. After eating, go back to the hotel and rest.

After 8 o'clock the next day, we set off towards Mugecheng. We arrived at the scenic spot at 9 o'clock and it was so cold. Before the temporary break, I brought a thin down jacket for my husband, and I only brought a woolen jacket. I didn't expect the temperature difference to be so big. So I spent 80 yuan to rent a bright red down jacket and put it on my coat. It looked so bloated. My husband said that there is a five-star red flag pattern on the chest of the clothes, which is very meaningful and how ugly it is.

Medical staff are free of charge in Mugecuo, and sightseeing tickets must be paid in full. The discount is smaller than Hailuogou, but I still appreciate it.

The end point is a large mountain lake. There is still snow, but it is not as thick as Hailuogou. It feels colder than Hailuogou. The lake water is very clean, the lake light is rippling, the mountains and rivers are the same color, and it is like a pure land in the world. It has a holy feeling. There are cruise ships in the lake, so it should be fun to cruise around the lake. But there were not many tourists that day, and no one visited the lake, probably because of the cold. A tourist next to me offered to take a photo of the two of us. The light and angle in the photo looked very good, and we were very skilled but my clothes were too bulky and I didn’t dare to appear in the photo. Throughout the trip, I met enthusiastic people, and I felt that the world was so loving.

We walked for a while on the way down the mountain, still walking through the forest. It is said that the rhododendrons on the roadside will be beautiful when they are in bloom, but we didn't see them. Maybe they have bloomed, maybe they haven't bloomed yet, but who cares, just think about this It has been beautiful before and will continue to be beautiful. It is a beautiful thing.

Before leaving the scenic spot, I ate some fried rice at the entrance of the scenic spot. My husband also added a grilled sausage. I took a bite and it tasted good.

After dinner, we had a smooth trip back to Chengdu, and finally returned to our warm home! To sum up this trip: few people, beautiful scenery, and not much money. However, due to physical reasons and not sleeping well on the way, I still felt tired and had to rest for a few days before I recovered. The next time I travel, I will have to wait for the National Day at the earliest.