Chengdu --> Daocheng Yading Tour 成都往稻城亚丁（跟团游)

I was asked to give a short talk in the newly minted Gleneagles Hospital in Chengdu on 26-10-2019. And of course, I extended my stay for a few more days after the talk, to explore the surrounding tourist spots. As usual, my wife tagged along.

We explored possible short trips to Tibet and Jiuzhaigou 九寨沟，then chanced upon Daocheng Yading 稻城亚丁 (which is located in the Tibetan Prefecture, to the west of Chengdu).

We booked our tour through C-Trip 携程网站。Paid RMB 1250/person (including all meals + lodging, except one lunch when hiking in Yading).

Note of caution about joining local tour group in China -
1. very packed and rushed journey. Breakfast at 6.30am, dinner around 7-8 pm. Meal time ~ 1/2 hour.
2. only chopsticks during meal time - no spoon or fork!
3. tea is provided in some meals. But no cold or soda drinks.
The good part is we got to see as many tourist spots as possible. No visiting of shops/factory outlets etc.

Daocheng Yading is a new tourist spot - touted as the last paradise in Earth (人间最后一片净土）. It was "officially" opened for tourism in 2014-2016. It is located in moutaineus regions (3500-4000m+), and is not for the faint hearted. Altitude sickness is an understatement; both my wife and I would pant / huff and puff when we hastened our pace of walking. I had a splitting headaches in the first night!
Had to take some acetazolamide, followed by dexamethasone to ease the altitude/mountain sickness, and breath-in oxygen via the oxygen respirator (complement from the tour agent for the first bottle).

Where is Daocheng Yading?

Our trip from Chengdu-Kangding康定-Xinduqiao新都桥-Daocheng-Yading

We stayed overnight at Longmont (龙之梦大酒店）courtesy of Parkway Pantai Group. As the hotel is located within 3rd Circle 三环内, the tour agency sent a courtesy van to pick us up from the hotel  at 5.45am, and drove us to our place of embarkation near city centre. The tour started punctually at 7am. There were about 21 of us in the tour; all except us were from mainland China.

Quite spacious 保姆车

Day 1 (27-10-2019)
Chengdu 成都 -> Kangding 康定 -> Xinduqiao 新都桥

rest station before Zheduoshan

View from the restaurant (lunch break)

First stop @ 折多山 4298m (Zheduoshan)
It was cold and windy. The view of the snowy white track leading to the peak was simply amazing!

We didn't "dare" to climb up to the peak, as we were "out of breath" just walking up a few steps.

2nd stop @ 木雅圣地牧场 （康定）

Exploring the vicinity before taking a shuttle bus to prairie high in the mountain.

Shuttle bus brought us to the mountainous region for a view of the grassland.

Oxygen to the rescue

On the way to 塔公草原

3rd stop @ 塔公草原 3750m

Need to pay to climb up the slope (we just viewed from a distance)

Didn't visit LUDINGQiao 泸定桥 (closed for renovation).
Just drive through XINDUQiao (supposed to be a heavenly spot for photography 摄影天堂）

Stayed overnight at XinduQiao 天悦酒店。Had a splitting headache in the middle of the night, despite having taken one dose of acetazolamide before sleep.

Day 2 (28-10-2019)
Xinduqiao -  Yajiang 雅江 - Litang 理塘 - Daocheng Yading 稻城亚丁

Drive up a winding road 天路十八弯 to KaZiLaShan 卡子拉山 4718m (located between Yajiang and Litang).

stopped over at the lookout point, viewing the winding drive way

Winding mountain driveway

Brief stop at 卡子拉山 Kazilashan (part of it is covered with snow).

Moving on to 长青春科尔寺 （藏传佛教黄教寺庙）- one of the sacred Tibetan temples (of the same rank as that in Lhasa).

Enroute to the temple

Reaching the Temple

the temple was build in 1580

just outside the temple

the decor of the door to the main entrance

Stopped over at 兔子山 （Rabbit Mountain）

Glimpse of the rabbit ears in the middle

Stopped over for a stroll round 海子山 (located between Litang and Daocheng township), remnant of ancient ice blocs.

Last stop for the day - Daocheng White Pagoda 稻城白塔

View of Daocheng town from the Pagoda

Overnight at 藏密大酒店 @ Shangrila 香格里拉 (Apparently, this is the more authentic one than the one in Yunan).  Gearing up for the highlight of our tour tomorrow - Yading Natural Reserve!

Day 3 (29-10-2019)
Daocheng Yading Exploration - hiking and more hiking!
Many of us were apprehensive of being out of breath while ascending the mountain range - hence, bought a few bottles of oxygen respirators. We bought 4 (some of our group members bought up to 10 respirators).

Woke up 6.30 for breakfast. Depart for Yading at 7am. It took about 1 hour to reach there.

Arrived at Daocheng Yading!

Group photo.

Took a bus ride from the ticket booth (entrance) to Yading (~ 1 hour ride). Then changed to small tram that took us to 洛绒牧场; from the prairie, we began our slow but steady hike up to the two lakes high in the mountainous range, namely 牛奶海 / 五色海。

View from the Tram station

冲古寺9前），仙乃日神山（后）

 

The walk from 洛绒牧场

It began with a walk on flat terrain - enjoying the view of snow-capped mountain and the autumn leaves.

Horse riding for the first 1km of the hike

 Herds of mountain goats 岩羊 were grazing the grass.

Then came the challenging parts - hiking up the steep slope. The one leading to 牛奶海 is less forboding than that leading to 五色海。We took the path leading to 牛奶海 first.

牛奶海

We stopped for lunch at 牛奶海， before venturing up to 五色海。

五色海

hiking up to 五色海

五色海

It was called 五色海 because of 5 shades of colour depicted from the lake when the sun casts its light onto the lake

Climbing down the slope (descending from 五色海)

洛绒牧场

Stopping multiple times, panting and catching our breaths, gulping in puffs of oxygen along the way. And yes, we made it to the top - completing the full circle and viewing the two lakes!

Visited an ancient Tibetan Temple 冲古寺 before returning to our hotel.

We did not visit 珍珠海，which is another 1km+ hike up from the temple (would probably take another 1 hour + return trip).

Truly exhausted by the time we reached our hotel. And we used up one bottle of the oxyen respirator only.

Day 4 (30-10-2019)
All our tour members were too tired to go for 2nd round of Yading exploration.
Had breakfast at 8am, and then went for a short walk around Shangrila.

Embark on the journey back to Chengdu - stopped over at 柳树林 and 红草地. Had lunch at a Tibetan village - which is a "decoy" for promoting silver wears/utensils (which supposedly is good for our health).

柳树林

红草地

Tibetan tribal home for lunch

Stayed overnight at XinDuQiao.

SCENERY ON THE WAY HOME, taken from our bus....

Day 5 (31-10-2019) 
Drove all the way back to Chengdu - reached Chengdu at 2pm. Checked into our hotel (Pathfinder Zhuimeng Youth Hostel).

youthful decor @ hotel lobby

Walked around Chuxi Rd 春熙路, the main shopping district in Chengdu.

生蚝 Fresh Oysters for dinner

Free and Easy Day in Chengdu (1-11-2019)
Explored the ancient royal tomb of Ming Dynasty 明蜀王陵。

Then 塔子山公园。

大慈寺 （唐玄奘visited this temple in ancient time)

Very exhausted and tired - retired early at hotel. Then walked out for dinner at 8pm.

Finally departed from Chengdu the next day on 2-11-2019. (9.55am flight).

SUMMARY:
It was indeed an exhilirating journey, savouring the last untouched frontier of nature.
Arguabley, it is indeed the last paradise in mother Earth!