West of Sichuan

an attracting place for backpackers

Hi, I just came back from west of Sichuan, the trip is marvelous. The following is my itinerary which may be helpful for those who wanna go there.
5.2
We left Beijing for Chengdu by air.
5.3
We take a bus to Xiao Jin from Chengdu (RMB 64) and get off at Ri Long, the entrance to Four Girl Mountains which has three gullies, Changping Gully, Shuangqiao Gully, and Haizi Gully. We went to Changping Gully (RMB 40 for bus ticket and 70 for entrance ticket). We ride horses to get into the gully because the road is narrow and muddy. I always believe that the beautiful scenery only lies in the place hard to get. Fresh air, chittering birds, exuberant forests, hospitable Jiarong Tibetan people. Spoiled by city life, I felt that I accessed into a different world.
5.4
We rented a local car to Danba where locates the most beautiful village in China, Jiaju Tibetan village. Usually, the Tibetan farmhouse consists of three layers, the bottom is for cattles, the middle for their own residence, the top flat one for worship and grains. 104 colorful farmhouses were built against the mountains and spotted among green trees and grains. It’s so beautiful.
5.5
We continue our trip by driving west to Dangling. There we arrived at the top of a snow mountain of over 4100 meters high after 3 hours of horse riding and 2 hours of walking. I suffered badly from altitude illness, headache and vomit. Fortunately, I recovered soon after taking medicine and one night sleep. We spent night in a small camp, and beside the camp is the beautiful Calabash Lake, it looks like a calabash on top. Higher snow mountains far away and green forests mirrored in the lake, it’s so beautiful, I don’t know how to describe it. If you continue forward, you can see another lake (over 4300 meters high) which is bigger and prettier than the Calabash Lake. I was weak after vomit so I did not make it.
5.6
We walked down the mountain in 2.5 hours, and drove back to Danba.
5.7
We stayed almost the whole day in the car, except sometimes getting out to take pictures. We drove along Bamei, Tagong, Xindu Bridge and finally we got to Kangding. One place I have to mention is the Temple of Huiyuan. The temple was built in the 16th century with the support of Qing emperor. It is also in this temple find the 10th leader of Tibet. The paintings in the great hall are fantastic, using natural pigments produced in the mountains, so even today they are still vivid and colorful. We unexpectedly met in the temple a HUOFO (which means incarnation, I don’t know how to speak it in English, I use capitals to show my great respect to HIM). There is also a young Lama standing beside him serving as an interpreter. We knelt down and HUOFO said something we totally don’t understand. After we got up, the interpreter said HUOFO had blessed us and spoke each one’s weak points. We all felt incredible because it’s so true. That’s an unforgettable experience.
5.8
We left Kangding for Chengdu by bus (RMB 116) and after almost 7 hours arrived at Chengdu.
5.9
We arrived at Beijing after 2 hours of flight.