Travelling to Wolong

Wolong is a small town in the south west mountains of China, close to the Tibetan border. Our trek began at Chengdu, the largest city in the south of China and took about 5 hours in good weather, the trip is not advised in the dark or in bad weather as some areas are quite treacherous.

The journey has 3 parts. The first is a fairly uneventful drive along motorways for about an hour, then the driver turned off onto a single carriage road with a reasonable surface that winds between the mountains and through several tunnels. Local traffic control and construction means than some areas are only accessible at certain times, we were told that traffic could only head into the mountains before noon, you could not return until after mid-day.

The third part of the journey is the most interesting, although roughest. The road ranges from a poor loose surface to non-existent although we were reliably informed it is being improved. In many places there is no space to overtake so be wary of oncoming vehicles. In spite of this the views are quite spectacular as the road follows above a river, sheer drops to one side and rough edged steep mountains to the other. The road winds on for some 2 hours and passes through some integrating mountain towns which are currently relatively untouched by modern influences, although this will no doubt change in the next few years.

Wolong town itself is quite small however friendly. We stayed in the Wolong Hotel in the centre of town, which was undergoing construction however most of the town is easy going with friendly street vendors who don't hassle you non-stop.