EKD03 Explore the Last Shangrila Yading Nature Reserve and Kham Tibetan Culture Discovery 13 Days Circle Tour

While traversing the Western Sichuan Plain, drive to Kangding via Chengdu-Ya’an & Ya’an-Kangding highway. Kangding (Dartsendo), the largest city and capital of Ganzi (Garze) Tibetan Prefecture, in western Sichuan Province. Historically it was an important business center between China and Tibet on the Tea-horse-road. It is the center of Kham Tibet, a religious, economy center of Sichuan. After lunch, Visit Muge Tso Lake, about 26km away from Kangding. Muge Tso Lake covers an area of 500 square km. At an altitude of approximately 3’800m.it is the biggest alpine lake in northwest Sichuan, it is a national protection area. Afterwards continue drive pass the 4218m Zheduo mountain to Xinduqiao-the photographer’s paradise. Xinduqiao Town is a wonderful fairyland known as the ”Light and Shadow World” and is also a great location for photography lovers. The magical land has endless grasslands, winding streams, golden cypress, rolling hills dotted and cattle and sheep that graze peacefully. At Xinduqiao, you can catch a glimpse of the Gongga Mountain peak and Millennium Temple. Visiting Xinduqiao during the different seasons you will capture the changing colors of the village. During spring and summer Xinduqiao is blooming with amazing colors. By the time autumn approaches the whole scenery is red and yellow with the leaves ready to fall. In the cold winter you can expect to capture fantastic snow scenes.

Continue drive to Daocheng via Litang. We’ll pass two 4300m high mountains-the Jianziwan & Kazila mountain. Lunch at Litang. With its 4010m altitude, the county is with no doubt the highest one in the world. In addition to its beautiful scenery & spectacular local Tibetan customs, another tourist attraction is the Hose-racing Festival in every August. Another 150km ride to Daocheng will be continued. Daocheng is a county that you will enjoy because of its rich soil & Tibetan culture. And a good place for recharging yourself before Yading. You may relax yourself by bathing at the hot spring & the Tibetan local dancing show. Daocheng county is of mountain plateau, including the Bowa Moun-tain and the Chitu River. On both banks of the river are broad pastures and stretches of forest. Mt. Bowa, grand and scenic,is sharply distinct during the four seasons: in spring and summer, azaleas bloom to vie each other for beauty, in autumn, leaves as red as flame cover the trees, while in winter, snow clothes all and gleams.

Get up early for a 110km ride to Yading as the road condition from Shangri-la tow to Yading is bad, and what is more important is you still will tour the Yading Valley. One more thing will amaze you in spite of the view is the our young kids. Whenever you pass by, they will stop by the road & solute to you! This must be their way to greet our tourists. So please prepare some small gifts for them. After reach Yading, you’ll enjoy the 2-hour-horse ride to Luorongniuchang and anther 2-hour-ride back to Chonggu monastery. We would like you enjoy the ride but please walk for a while sometime during the horse-riding as you may mot able to walk! Another chance to stay at the local family tonight but it might not has the same good condition as Daocheng’s.

Try to get up early in the morning and go to Chonggu Temple for the stunning sunrise, then take the local battery cart to Luorong Pasture, it is nestled on a high and flat valley encircled by the three sacred mountains with expansive meadows and surrounding forests. The pasture is dotted with brooks, lakes and the Gongga River cuts through the grassland posting a majestic view. Then hike up to Milk Lake and Five color lake (altitude 4,700m) (roughly 6 hours round trip by hiking) or you can take the horseback riding to Sheshengya first, then trek up to Milk Lake & Five Color Lake (about 4-5 hours, the horse riding fee is on your own). It is a challenging trekking, but its all worth for the spectacular scenery. Later afternoon get back to Yading village and take the local sightseeing bus back to Shangri-la town where you will meet the driver and head to Daocheng for overnight.

Drive back from Daocheng to Yajiang via Litang on the half way. Have lunch in Litang, visit Litang Monastery and Litang Old Town in the afternoon. Litang Monastery was built in 1580 by the 3rd Dalai Lama, soon it became one the biggest monastery in Eastern Tibet with more than 4000 monks. The monastery is dedicated to the great Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. In Chinese, the name of the monastery is translated to “forever young monastery”, seems to suggest the mysterious Litang lover of the 6th Dalai Lama and their hopeless love. The monastery is of Gelugpa School, it comprises Jo-Khang (the temple of Buddha), Tso-Chen (Assembly Hall), Tsong-kha-pa Temple (in maintenance), Faxiang (the college) and Tantric Hall, it also preserves treasures like sutras written in Gold, etc. Being a romantic poet, the 6th Dalai Lama wrote one famous poem about Litang: oh you white crane, lend me your wings, I will not linger far, just fly to Litang and back. After his disappearance in 1707, his followers believed this poem has foreshadowed his reincarnation in Litang: the 7th Dalai Lama(1708~1757) therefor was found in the house of Ren-khang who later ruled Tibet for a half century. Today, some auspicious signs are still visible (e.g Lion milk traces on the pillar head) inside Ren-khang. This house is also the birthplace of another 6 important Rinpoches(living Buddha).Ren-khang also has a private museum and a meditation retreat. Around Ren-khang, you may explore the most traditional town of Litang. Among the winding lanes, you can find Litang Folk Museum, Holy Land Youth Book Coffee, Cangyang Village Restaurant, Namtso-Dagye Tibetan Medicine/Incense Workshop, etc.

After breakfast, set out to Baiyu County. Visit Cuoka Lake on the way. The Cuoka Lake is located in Mari village, Xinlong County, Garze prefecture, Sichuan province. In Tibetan it means the dark sea among the rocks. The lake is an attractive destination not for its scale, but for the five wonderful sights, colourful water, fantastic lake, serene reflection, nomadic fishes and sacred temples around. Yachen Gar (Yachen Orgyen Meditation Monastery) is located 4,000m above sea level, in an isolated valley in Baiyu County. The Yachen Gar being one of the many Nyingma Sect monastery in China, was established in 1985, is one the larger concentration of nuns and monks in the world.

After breakfast, depart to Garze via Derge. The Kingdom of Derge was an important kingdom in Kham from the 15th to the 19th century. It was a centre of industry, religion and politics, with the seat of its kingdom in the town of Dege. You will pass by Jinshajiang Bridge on the way. Jinshajiang Bridge connect Sichuan and Tibet for Chamdo. Gatuo monastery at elevation 4,800m, is located on the mountain top in Hepo village, at the eastern bank of Jinshajiang River, between Derge and Baiyu County. Gatuo monastery takes a land area over 1 square kilometer, huge in size. It is first Nyingmapa monastery built in Kham area, its affiliated monasteries are rampant in Amdo and Kham area, even in Nepal, India and other western countries have its affiliates, enjoying high reputation and respect. Drive to Dege for overnight.

Visit Derge Parkhang, it built in the 7th year of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty is one of the foremost cultural treasures of Tibet. It is located in in Dege County on the east bank of the Jinshajiang River. It is a living institution devoted to the printing and preservation of Tibetan literature, a printing temple that holds the greatest number of Tibetan woodblocks in the world. In the house are kept more than 200000 blocks of religious, historical, literature and art, medical, astronomical and calendar-arithmetical book editions in Tibetan, of which the Dege block edition of The Great Scriptures cut in the Qing Dynasty is expectably well-known. The Printing house is the largest of the three big Sutra-printing houses in the Tibetan regions of China (Lhasa Sutra-printing House in Tibet, Lhapuleng House in Gansu and Dege Parkhang in Sichuan). Drive to Garze via Queershan Tunnel and Manigango. Queershan Tunnel is said to be one of the world’s highest road tunnel at an average altitude of 4.378m above the sea level. Queershan Pass was an important link across the mountains, connecting Dege and central Tibet. Yilhun Lhatso, also known as Xinluhai or Yulong Lake, is a stunning, holy alpine lake. The lake is backed by the huge glaciers. The stunning alpine lake is said to provide meditation opportunities for those who wish to achieve enlightenment. Yilhun Lhatso Lake is a protected nature reserve, is a holy lake. On the shores of this lake one can find dozens of religious, carved prayer stones.

Drive to Danba, a legendary place with plenty of beautiful scenery which is famous of “Country of Women”. Danba is also the ”East Female Country” in history. You will be amazed by the stunning scenery along the route from Garze to Danba. Danba Tibetan Villages, a retreat from the world, are known as the most beautiful villages all over China. Local Tibetans here are called “Jiarong Tibetan”. This is what you come here for. Furthermore, you may have the very good chance to enjoy the Jiarong Tibetan customs & stock house slides show by the researchers. Upon arrive visit Suopo Ancient Towers. Suopo has 84 ancient watchtowers remained, are the most concentration of watchtowers in the world. The exteriors are built with stone to make them as solid as they could be, while the inside facilities are mostly made of wood. These watchtowers have angular shape and slip walls with wide bottoms and narrow tops in the height ranging from 20 meters to 60 meters. Watchtowers were originally constructed to watch out threatens and attacks from the outside world. Some were built to store valuable goods, or were used as a place of worship. Afterwards drive to Zhonglu Tibetan Village, it has an altitude of 2,200 m, is located in Danba County. Zhonglu in Tibetan means worship place together of human and God. Zhonglu Tibetan village has many attractions such as historic watchtowers and many local houses of Tibetan residents.

Drive to visit Mt. Siguniang, hiking in Changping Valley, one of the valleys at Mount Siguniang National park which are famous for the four snow-capped peaks and the three beautiful valleys stretching from Siguniangshan town with the landscapes of alpine forest, grasslands, and lakes etc. Mt. Siguniang consists of 3 big valleys, namely Shuangqiao Valley, Changping Valley and Haizi Valley; as Shuangqiao Valley is possible to visit mostly by sightseeing bus with some good hiking trails, Changping Valley and Haizi Valley are suitable for enthusiastic hikers, both valleys take one full day to explore by foot, horse-riding service (self-paid) is available throughout those two valleys also. Bring yourself with some water and snack on the way because there is no restaurant inside the valleys. If you choose hiking, today must be a tiring day, but the amazing scenery on the way definitely pay off at end of the day. Most tourists praise that those 3 valleys plus the peaks compose the most beautiful picture s in western Sichuan.

After breakfast, we will retrace back to Chengdu via Maobiling Ridge, a place where we could enjoy the full view of the Mount Siguniang. Continue drive to Wolong Shenshuping Panda Base is also known as China Giant Panda Garden. The base is highly simulated to Giant Panda’s habitat hidden deep into mountains. Wolong Shenshuping Panda Base (China Giant Panda Garden), a research center newly constructed after Wenchuan Earthquake, is about 22 kilometers from the former site – Wolong Hetaoping Base and covers a total construction area of nearly 20,000 square meters, about 20 times the area of Hetaoping Base. This project is supported by Hong Kong SAR Government and designed according to Green Samsung standards. From the perspective of appearance, the open and spacious base is like a villa in Tibetan and Qiang minority style, which allows a large activity space for pandas. Afterwards drive to back to Chengdu.