Blogs from Kangding, Sichuan, China, Asia

Hi All, Really enjoyed these few days here in Kangding. Kangding is a city on the edge of the Tibetan plateau and has served as a trading post between Tibetans and Han Chinese for centuries. Visited 2 monasteries, Nanwu Si and Jingang Si. Both have a long history but the current buildings are relatively new as they were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Both are wonderfully colourful. We lingered longer in Jingang Si as the monks were at prayer so we sat in the hall listening to the drums, cymbals and amazing long horns which were being played as they chanted their mantras. There was a dining hall around the back and we sat and had a vegetarian meal with some monks for 5 RMB, 60 pence. One monk was keen to practice his English and ... read more

Nach dem gestrigen Tag konnte es fast nur besser werden. Der Wetterbericht bewahrheitete sich nicht, es regnete nur die letzten 50 km. Die Straßen waren fantastisch. Meine Bedenken wegen der großen Strecke waren auch unbegrùndet und somit war ich vòllig zufrieden. Obwohl wir jetzt aus TIBET heraußen sind, gibt es noch vieles, was tibetisch ist. Hausformen, die Gesichter, Kleidung usw. Mir kommt vor, dass hier das tibetische Leben vielleicht sogar einfacher ist, als in Tibet. Dort war auf JEDEM Hausdach die chinesische Fahne, wohl um bei niemandem einen Zweifel aufkommen zu lassen, wo wir hier sind. Nicht Tibet, sondern China heißt dieses Land... Hier wehen auch Fahnen auf den tibetischen Hàusern, aber es sind Gebetsfahnen. Es gibt auch viel mehr Chörten hier. Keine verfallenen, diskreten Bauten, sondern große, hohe Gebilde, die an markanten Plätzen stehen und ... read more

Po pár dnech v Chengdu jsem se vydal na západ do hor, napřed do města Kangding (炉城镇) poblíž Velkých sněžných hor (大雪山山脉). První den jsem se chtěl trochu aklimatizovat, jelikož město je v 2600 metrech a poté se chystám do poloh kolem 4000 metrů nad mořem, kde už hrozí Akutní horská nemoc. Při hledání nějakého rozumného hostelu mě náhoda a hlavně jeden Fin a čínský Thajec zavedli do hostelu Zhilam, který vede Američan s českými předky, třemi dcerami a především schopností poradit. Dokonce půjčuje mapku a desetibodový popis alternativní procházky nad městem, na které jsem se dokázal ztratit těsně před prvním bodem, abych se napojil u bodu tři, znovu se ztratil kdesi u bodu osm, ztratil mapku a popis, podrápal se při půlhodinové cestě trním, abych nakonec spokojeně dorazil zpátky do města, k jednomu z tibetských ... read more

Where to start…I feel I have done so much since my last update. Plans changes at the last minute as everything here. I was supposed to go to Herzou and Linxia and from there go back to Xining, where I left my big bag. Many people told me that had bad experiences in Herzou. A place where the local police nicely and politely invite the foreign to leave the town. For other tourist Linxia was a city that is not welcoming tourist either. He was not able to find a hostel or hotel that accepted tourist. Here there is not such a thing as truthful resources for tourist information. As I did not wanted to go over the places that I have already been I decided to go south and take the long way back to ... read more

Kangding is situated at 2600 m (about 8500 feet) above sea level in a narrow valley at the confluence of the Zhedu and Yala Rivers. It's a small city of 82,000 population, really a small town by China standards, although it's the political center for the Ganzi-Tibet Autonomous region as well as being the local county seat. The mountains rise incredibly steeply, and we keep seeing peaks above the ones we thought were the tallest as we look around more and when the clouds recede. There's one of over 7000 m elevation around here, although I don't think we've seen that yet. After enjoying a few days at our very comfortable accomodations 4 km north of town, we moved to a room across from the bus station in preparation for our 6 AM departure for Garzi ... read more