DaoCheng and Yading: Summer 2015 (moved from old blog)

 YaDing and DaoCheng

It has been 6 months since I actually went on this trip but I figure better late than never. 

Ganden Sumtseling Monastery In Shangri-La

Back in August, Karen and I went on a mini adventure into the northern part of Yunnan and then over the mountains into the southern part of SiChuan.

I started a few days before Karen by getting the overnight bus from Kunming to LiJiang,spent a few days there and then went up to ShangriLa. Last time I visitied ShangriLa I had fallen asleep on the bus and ended up there by accident. It was November and it snowed so I shivered for 3 whole days. This time the weather was beautiful and sunny with amazing blue skies.

I had an afternoon to myself before Karen turned up so I wandered about and chilled out. After Karen arrived we visited the monastry and walked around the old city before an early night. We had booked a bus from ShangriLa to DaoCheng which left at 7 am 

view from th bus

bathroom break without a bathroom

the next morning. 

The bus journey itself was the most uncomfortable and miserable 12 hours that I can remember. The bus was an old rickety thing that had no space to sit comfortably. We bounced and jumped over pot holes and gravel roads all the time swinging terrifingly close to a sheer drop. Despite the miserable bus journey, we drove through some beautiful scenery and stopped in some incredible places.   We arrived in DoaCheng stressed out, exhausted and beaten up. 

ChengGe Temple 

Daocheng is at the south of Gantse Tibetan Prefecture, at the southwestern border of Sichuan Province. DaoCheng town is a tiny place, its basically a glorified crossroads with a bus station that just happens to be near a mountain national park. We arrived, found our hotel and crashed. We had planned on a whole day in DaoCheng with plenty of time to see everything DaoCheng has to offer. We went for a walk and had seen everything before lunch time. About a five minute walk out of town is the impressive ChengGe temple. It right on the edge of town so we had amazing, uninterupted views right out into the grasslands. 
We booked a bus thought the hotel for the next day, its only 2 hours over the mountains to YaDing national park.