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Give up Yading temporarily due to the unsual weather Today is 11 October,...
Today is 11 October, and last night we arrived at Daocheng (稻城) safe and sound, but in pretty low spirits, seeing through the hotel room windows it was snowing outside, wet and chilly.
While dining at the canteen in our lodging hotel, one of the staff members told us that there had been a fairly big snow the day before and there would be more snow in the coming days. And this year's weather was rather unusual, she added.
Yes, we do have a general travel plan for our 20 some days self-drive trip. But we are not the sort of an overplanner who applies excessive schedule pressure. We are open to any ideas that would maximize our time.
Then we plan to go further south along the National Highway No.214 and get to Shangri-la (200 km ) where we are going to stay for two nights. After Shangri-la, we will return to Daocheng ( 421 km 稻城) via Xiangcheng (乡城) on 14 October and visit Yading Nature Reserve on 15 October.
This is a loop trip with a total length of 1132 km from Daocheng and back to Daocheng. It is our first time to travel on the overland loop like this. We like to have our self-drive to to be the sort of off the cuff and we three are all delighted with our adjusted loop travel plan. Self-drive gives us much flexibility though we understand driving is stressful.
We retrace along the provincial road S217 from Daocheng to Litang, again a scenic drive with stunning views. We don't stop on route due to the tight schedule with a bucolic panorama fleeting by from both sides our vehicle of rolling hills, grazing yaks and Tibetan houses.
We get back to Litang Town around 11:30 am and take a picture of its West Gate, a huge symbolic west entrance to Litang Town, known as "World High Town".
At Litang, we again get onto the National Highway G318 and turn west for our 170 km overland trip to Batang (巴塘).
Batang is the county in the west of Ganzi Tibet Autonomous Prefecture with its seat at Xiaqiong Town (夏邛镇). It borders with Mangkang (芒康) in Tibet on the west with their border line following the north-south Jinsha River (金沙江). The road condition looks good, a wide and flat asphalt road.
It is a sightseeing drive from Litang to Batang. About 30 km out of Litang Town, we soon see the well-known Maoya Grassland (毛垭大草原), golden color in autumn unfurled before us.
The tableland plains are hemmed in by the high mountains in four sides with a fall of over 1000 meters.
At the west end of Maoya Grassland, we find ourselves driving upwards, knowing we are approaching Haizi Mountain (海子山) with average elevation of 4500 meters. "Haizi" literally means"lakes".
It is said that there are totally 1145 lakes in Haizi Mountain and its density of lakes is very much unique in China. When we are driving through Haizi Mountain, it is snowing with all the mountain areas on the top blanketed by white snow.
Haizi Mountain Nature Reserve is a Sichuan provincial level reserve. The reserve has a lunar landscape without any trees and lakes, and even little bushes and wild grasses. All kinds of gravels and rocks and lakes are only what you can see here, the largest ancient ice relic on Qinghai-Tibet Plateaua, known as "Daocheng Ancient Ice Cap" 稻城海子山古冰帽.
Going over Haizi Mountain Pass, we get to a viewing platform on the left side of the National Highway G318, a good place to stop to grab a bite for our lunch.
To our pleasant surprise, below the platform and in a distant, there are two mirror-like lakes known as the Haizi Mountain Sister Lakes (海子山姊妹湖) according to the roadside signboard. The two lakes sitting side by side, blue and limpid, are fed by the snow mountains.
The Haizi Mountain Sister Lakes are located in the middle way between Litang and Batang. Batang Town is still about 81 km west from the viewing platform. Batang is the county in the west of Ganzi Tibet Autonomous Prefecture with its seat at Xiaqiong Town (夏邛镇).
We get to the gas station by G318 in Xiaqiong Town ( the downtown area of Batang County ) around 3:30 pm. After a brief break at the filling station, we again start up our trip along G318 west for our next destination - Mangkang in Tibet (芒康).
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