The eastern border of the "real" Tibet

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The RG had said that tickets to Kangding only went on sale at 2:30PM the day before travel - the fact that our tickets, purchased on the dot, only got us seats in the second of 2 minibuses that were laid on in addition to the main bus made me suspect that that wasn't true. It was a cold and smoky journey on bumpy roads. The first part of the journey was climbing out of Litang's valley via a 4,700m pass, where we saw a large yak herd plodding across the hillside like wildebeest over the Serengeti, then through some misty terrain, before the gradual descent to Kangding. People at the roadside constantly leapt out to dangle bags of winter worms at us as we drove by. We were even beset by vendors at the lunch stop.

Kangding itself looked fairly dull so we immediately bought tickets to Chengdu for the following day.

One noticeable thing this far west is just how light it is in the evenings. This is because China has just one timezone, based on Beijing time (8 hours ahead of GMT), meaning the time in western China can be more than 2 hours ahead of the time in countries at the same longitude.

One other noticeable thing is the crotchless pants that many Chinese babies wear. Instead of keeping it all in via a nappy/diaper, they let it all out. This does diminish their cuteness somewhat.

Dull but possibly useful info
Getting there: Take a bus from Litang to Kangding. There may only be one (not sure), at 6:30AM, costing 81 yuan and taking about 7 hours 45 minutes.
Stayed at: Tai Ning Business Hotel (when walking towards the town centre from the bus station, this is the first hotel advertising it can take foreigners). Cost 100 yuan for a double. Free Internet access. Would stay here again.

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Photos

Yaks and tent
Shot through dirty bus window