On the days leading up to the Chinese new year, the whole of China shuts down. I was caught unawares at KangDing and was stuck there for a couple of days before deciding to turn back to ChengDu and go on north towards Songpan and JiuZhaiGou. It was two days before the buses started running towards Songpan and i was on it along with a bunch of other people eager to experience the beauty of JiuZhaiGou first hand. I was also looking forward to JiuZhaiGou as the highlight of my trip and considered Songpan as just a stop over point to kill a cpl of days. I was going to be pleasantly surprised.