Discover Sichuan. Road Trip Xinduqiao 新都桥, Litang 理塘, Shangri-la 香格里拉 via G318 Highway (Episode 5)

Описание: Today's itinerary took us to high-altitude areas, where we crossed four mountains with altitudes of over 4,000 metres. It was a long drive from Xinduqiao to Shangri-La town, covering 420 km.

Our first stop is the popular “18 Bends” or 天路十八弯 viewing platform where one can view the magnificent multiple bends of the G318 national highway from an elevated area. The road winds uphill 26km from the county seat of Yajiang to Jianziwan Mountain Pass.

The China National Highway G318 runs from Shanghai to Zhangmu on the China-Nepal border and is the longest China National Highway at 5,476 kilometres in length.

One of the highest passes and rest area along this route is the Kazila Mountain (卡子拉山) with an altitude of 4,718 above sea level. Because of the high altitude, the trees are sparse, mainly alpine meadows.

The landscape and vegetation changed with altitudes as we travelled along the highway.

There are some small towns along the way that we passed through on this extended road trip. We break for lunch at one of the local restaurants serving Shan Si delicacies.

Litang County (理塘) with altitude of 3600m-4600m is praised as the “Holy City in the Snowy Land” and is one of the important destination on the way of National Highway 318.

Several famous Buddhist figures were born here, including the 7th Dalai Lama, the 10th Dalai Lama, the 11th Tai Situpa, among others.

Litang is one of the highest-located places in the world, elevation of urban area is over 4000m, so Litang used to be called “Gaocheng” (高城) in Chinese, means the highest town.

Litang Old Town is located on the north part of Litang downtown. There are a lot of traditional houses and nice little lanes in this town

The Litang Chode Monastery lies at the north of the town and was built in 1580, honouring the third Dalai Lama. The Litang Monastery is the biggest Gelukpa monastery in the Kham region. It became one the biggest monasteries in Eastern Tibet with more than 4000 monks.

Rabbit Mountain is so called rabbit because of the very special rock formation at the top with the shape that resembles rabbit’s ears. With an altitude of 4,696 metres above sea level, this view point is between Litang and Shangri-La town.

We have finally reached Shangrila town after 11 hours since leaving Xinduqiao. Shangrila town 香格里拉 was formerly known as Riwa. This would be our base for our visit to Daocheng Yading.

00:46 318 National Highway 18 Bends
01:35 Kazila Mountain
03:20 Litang
06:39 Rabbit Mountain

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