The Nuorilang Waterfall (诺日朗瀑布 [Nuòrìlǎng Pùbù]; Promising Bright Bay Waterfall) enjoys a near roadside position so Julie and I noticed that it tends to grab the attention and title of the most famous waterfall in Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve (九寨沟自然保护区 [Jiǔzhàigōu Zìrán Bǎohùqū]; 9 Village Gully). It's very similar to the other cascades and waterfalls in the park where calcium-rich water causes trees and other foliage to grow throughout the waterfall's course. This particular falls is said to have a width of about 320m (perhaps making it the widest in the park) and a height of 20m. It was also considered one of the top six waterfalls in China according to the China National Geoegraphy Magazine (note: this is not the National Geographic Magazine we're used to seeing back at home).

Draining the so-called Mirror Lake, this year-round waterfall sees its best flow in late Summer and Autumn. We were there in the Spring where the waterfall wasn't particularly spectacular as there was plenty of exposed underlying rocks with the falls stringy and segmented along the length of its wall.

The top of the waterfall is as flat as platform. It was said that there was only a platform, no waterfalls. One day, the monk Zaer Mude brought Beiye scriptures, iron plowshares and hand spinning wheel there. A beautiful Tibetan girl, Ruoyiguo, quickly learned how to use the hand spinning wheel. She put the spinning wheel on the platform to teach her sisters how to use it. So people called the platform as ‘spinning platform’. The leader, Luoza, thought the spinning wheel was a very dangerous and evil tool. So he kicked the girl and spinning wheel off the cliff. Just at the right moment when the girl fell down the cliff, a flood occurred and washed off Luoza and his servants. It was a punishment from the god for they killed that girl. Afterwards the platform became waterfall.

The sceneries of Nuorilang Waterfall change as season changes. In spring, the waterfall likes a child just wakes up. It is so vibrant. In summer, the waterfall has plenty of water, so the waterfall sounds very noisy. In autumn, plants turn gold and red. It looks very beautiful. In winter, the waterfall is frozen. It has a special kind of beauty.

And like the Pearl Shoal Waterfall, it was possible for us to take photos of this falls with the stunning alpine mountain backdrop if we were seeing it from a high enough vantage point. I think as we got lost in the moment, we completely overlooked the fact that we could've (and should've) gotten that higher vantage point view. I guess we'll have to look forward to doing that next time, if we're fortunate to return here.

We visited this waterfall as part of a short 15-minute shuttle walk starting from the boardwalk entrance a few paces north of the visitor center complex and finished at another shuttle stop further to the north downstream of the waterfall. This boardwalk went directly across the front of the Nuorilang Waterfall, but I admit we didn't stick around to see how we could've obtained that upper contextual view of the falls that I so coveted.

Directions:

The Promising Bright Bay Waterfall sits right at the intersection of the backwards-h-shaped road within the park. The left (west) branch leads to Swan Lake while other leads to Long Lake. The stop right at the road intersection also happens to be hub containing a dining and souvenir shopping facility along with a huge parking lot to accommodate the numerous buses that make stops here. However, I must add that the bus drivers also take their breaks here, especially during lunch where it seemed like every driver took their lunch breaks at exactly the same time.

How would we know? We were part of an unruly group that waited for nearly a half-hour or so as numerous buses would pass right by us. When one finally came to pick us up, you can imagine the stampede (no such thing as lining up in an orderly fashion in China apparently) as people pushed and shoved their way to squeeze onto the limited space in the bus. Definitely not a place to be for the timid!

To get to Jiuzhaigou, it was about a 90- to 120-minute drive to get from the Jiuzhai Airport town near the park entrance.