The Best Way to Explore Labah River - 2 Days 1 Night

🎫: 50¥ 🏞️ Day 1 - Self-drive from Chengdu directly to Labah River 🚶 East Route 2h - After check-in, we strolled along the forest path Planned to walk to Luming Hotel but it started drizzling halfway Turned back to the hotel at the restroom spot This easy hiking trail is gentle and very suitable for family walks The scenery along the way is quite nice There are photo spots - Tree of Life 🌳 and S-shaped trail (highly recommend taking photos 📷) 🏨 - Blue Crystal Hotel Highly recommend booking a room with a window facing outside Initially booked a room with a window facing the courtyard, no air conditioning and very stuffy Finally, the staff helped upgrade to a Deer Viewing & Monkey Watching room 🐒 The hotel is generally old but still one of the better hotels in the scenic area The beds are on the firmer side, very friendly for those who prefer hard beds (: Rarely had such a good sleep in a hotel The staff attitude was not bad as some reviews say, actually quite good You can see deer 🦌 roaming at night 🚠 Day 2 - Head straight to the summit! Heart Lake 🎫 - Sightseeing bus 35¥ Cable car 90¥ 🚶 West Route 5.5h - Early morning at 7:15 after hotel breakfast Depart for Hetao Ping Visitor Center (: Strongly recommend everyone to start early Otherwise, too many people and cars will affect the experience Before 8:30 departure - Take the first sightseeing bus 🚌 to the tunnel lower station Around 9:30 - Take the first cable car to the upper station The weather was still good with sun and sea of clouds ☁️ Climb the wire stairs continuously, wild strawberries 🍓 along the way They are quite plump and sweet; the strawberry stems have thorns that can prick your hand This section is relatively easy to walk; every spring there are large patches of alpine rhododendrons 10:00 - Arrive at the mid-way viewing platform, highly recommend taking lots of photos The staff said it’s been a long time since they saw good weather with sea of clouds + sunshine From here, it takes 40 minutes to reach the summit Heart Lake, but only 15 minutes to come down If you have mild altitude sickness, it’s recommended to stop here Continue climbing the wire stairs; altitude and distance markers are posted throughout The staff advised to stop immediately if feeling dizzy or headache We rested every 100m climbed; as we climbed higher, the fog thickened and temperature dropped, so bring a jacket Finally reached the mountain lake at 3800 meters altitude, already fogged up and hard to see Who actually saw the Heart Lake on a clear day! Climbing up was quite a workout (abstract Heart Lake) 12:30 Return by cable car to the lower station, stop at Hug Coffee Then check in at other scenic spots - 🪨 Red Stone Beach, where there are monkeys 🐒 and deer 🦌 Be careful here, monkeys will snatch food, don’t take food out - 🌺 Rhododendron Lake - 🦌 Deer Pool Here, old monkeys that snatch food kept following us If lucky, you can see deer 14:00 Arrive at the visitor center to collect medals 🏅 Then head back to Ya’an city for food Prepare to mark Mount Mengding on Day 3!