Yajiang-Litang-Daocheng Tour: Letong Ancient Town + Changqingchun Ke'er Monastery + Daocheng White Pagoda
Altitude: 2,600 m ~ 4,014 m ~ 3,700 m
Distance: about 290 km, driving time about 6 hours
After breakfast, you will depart from Yajiang for Litang. Along the way, you can admire the steep and magnificent scenery of the "Eighteen Bends of the Heavenly Road," pass through the "Jianziwan Tunnel," then cross "Kazila Mountain" (pass at about 4,713 m), and finally arrive in Ding Zhen's hometown, Litang. This is one of the highest cities in the world and is known as the "City in the Sky," where the clouds are within reach, snow mountains embrace the grasslands, and colorful prayer flags flutter in the wind, creating a stunning scene. The Sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso once expressed his longing for Litang in poetry, giving it the name "City of Tsangyang Gyatso's Poetry."
After that, you will visit [Letong Ancient Town], which appeared in the promotional film "Ding Zhen's World." This is the largest traditional Tibetan village complex in the world, with more than 4,000 traditional Tibetan houses, known as the "Thousand-Household Tibetan Village," and is the best choice for exploring Tibetan culture and experiencing Kham customs. Here, following the scenic area guide's explanations, you can visit in turn: the 318 Memory Museum, the Kham People Micro Museum, Renkang Ancient House (where thirteen highly respected living Buddhas were born), and the Tsangyang Gyatso Museum. If you are lucky, you may even run into Ding Zhen.
Then, visit [Changqingchun Ke'er Monastery], the oldest and largest Gelug Buddhist monastery in the Kham region, and listen to its legendary stories. It is also the largest Gelug monastery in southern Kham, with rich collections including Buddhist scriptures, gilded Buddha statues, murals, saddles, and other precious historical and cultural items, as well as butter sculptures known as "the finest in Kham." Please note: due to important religious ceremonies or other reasons, the monastery may sometimes not be open to all tourists or foreign tourists. In such cases, we kindly ask for your understanding.
After the visit, you will continue onward, crossing the vast and boundless Wuqian River, climbing over "Rabbit Mountain" (pass at about 4,696 m), which resembles a rabbit, and passing the largest ancient glacier relic on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Daocheng Haizishan Ancient Ice Cap. It is located in the Haizishan Nature Reserve at an altitude of about 4,500 m. Haizishan has a unique "glacial lake group" landscape, with 1,145 glacier lakes of various sizes scattered like brilliant diamonds among the jagged sea of rocks, forming the wild wonder of the "mountain of a thousand lakes."
Afterward, you will pass through Sangdui Town. If it happens to be golden autumn, you can enjoy the stunning scenery of the "Sangdui Red Grassland," where the wetland grasses are as red as flames, complementing the surrounding golden poplars, blue streams, and distant snow peaks, like a brilliant colorful plateau oil painting with a powerful visual impact.
As you approach the holy "White Stupa," Daocheng will be right before your eyes. Daocheng White Stupa, also known as "Dorzhi Drakar Stupa Forest," is the largest white stupa in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a landmark sight upon entering Daocheng, and one of the iconic cultural landmarks of the Tibetan region. Its main stupa is 37 meters high, round on top and square below, entirely white, with a pure gilded top and decorated with hundreds of animal reliefs and 512 brass prayer wheels, surrounded by 119 smaller stupas, forming a spectacular stupa forest. You can take a panorama from directly in front of the white stupa, which is especially sacred under the evening sunset.
Tonight, you will stay overnight in Daocheng County.
Tips
1. Today's itinerary will go to high-altitude areas, and we will cross four mountains over 4,000 meters. To prevent altitude sickness, our company provides portable oxygen bottles for emergencies.
2. The Sangdui Red Grassland is seasonal and cannot be seen year-round. Its peak season is only about two weeks from late September to late October each year.