Sacred Kora of Chenresig Mountain
Trekking in the Yading Reserve, Dabpa

Oct 16, 2000

Dear Friends of the Kham Aid Foundation,

A few days ago my field team here in Kham completed a kora (circuit) of sacred Mt. Chenresig.  It's a fantastic trip in a fantastic part of Kham, a place I would put way above Yosemite (in California) for awesome and pristine scenery.  However, I don't want to bore you with a lot of drippy superlatives, when what you really want to know is, how do I get to this place?

Here's what you need to know.

First of all, there are three sacred mountains here: Chenresig (Avalokitesvara, 6032 meters), Jambeyang (Manjusri, 5958 m), and Chanadorje (Vajrapani, 5958 m).  (See MAP). The nature reserve is called Yading, and is located in the southern part of Dabpa (Chinese: Daocheng) County, in western Sichuan.  The Tibetan name is Nyiden and it means "facing the sun." The county government is promoting tourism to this area, in an effort to develop the local economy.  As a result, more and more Chinese are coming to this place, however these people are generally obliged to come during Chinese holiday seasons, which occur during the first week of May and the first week of October.  At other times the crowds are very thin.

I should emphasize that "development" is relative.  Yading is nowhere near as developed as Yosemite Valley, or Yellowstone, or even Jiuzhaigou (in Amdo).  Next year they are planning on opening an airport there, so the floodgates will open. Go soon to experience Yading in an untrampled state.

(If you use a search engine such as Yahoo to do a search on the term "Daocheng" you will find a bit of information about it, and photos.)

The first step is to get to Dabpa (Daocheng). This takes two days by public bus from Chengdu. The second day of the bus ride is rather long, and takes you across several high passes, passing through Litang.  If you really do this trip in two days without stopping, we strongly recommend the drug Diamox to minimize the effects of altitude sickness.  But we think it's much better to take 4-5 days to do this trip, visiting Kangding and Litang along the way.

You might also arrive at Dabpa by coming north from Gyelthang (Zhongdian) in Yunnan.  I don't know if there is a direct bus; most likely you will have to change transport at Sangdui, which is the turnoff for Dabpa on the Gyelthang-Litang highway. You could also check for flights from Chengdu, supposedly to start in 2001 or 2002.

In Dabpa you will notice several travel agencies with English signs.  The best hotel in town is the Blue Moon Valley Hotel (Lan Yue Gou Binguan), which is operated by the Yading Tourism Company. This hotel is very clean, has hot showers, but charges way too much at 80 yuan (US$10) per bed for a double (try bargaining them down).  Their own agent/outfitter is located in the hotel.

You do NOT have to use an agency to visit Yading.  In fact, we don't know of any real advantage offered by these agencies, unless you want to hire a vehicle for the trip.  We went through friends and found a local Dabpa man who went as our guide, but you do not even need to do that.  There is reportedly some kind of public bus that goes to Yading regularly, and at the reserve entrance you can make all necessary arrangements for your trek.

Note that the road is impassible during winter, and so the reserve is staffed only from April to the end of October.

The road from Dabpa to the reserve takes about six hours, and goes south from Dabpa. There is a stop at Riwa for lunch, and this is the last place you might conceivably purchase any supplies.  As you approach the reserve, you will have spectacular views of Chanadorje and Chenresig.  At the end of the road is a place where you buy tickets (68 yuan per person).  There is a tent-hotel here, and a restaurant, which are reportedly not so nice, but you don't need to stay here, because the next place with accommodations is not far away.

Village on the way to the Yading Reserve entrance.

At the reserve entrance, there are a lot of horses standing around with their Tibetan owners. These people and animals provide transportation into the reserve.  Most visitors use these horses to travel around the more accessible parts of the reserve, between the locations where there are tent-hotels where you can stay.

The charge for a horse is generally between 30 and 80 yuan per day, but can be much higher during the Chinese holidays.  Payment goes directly to the horse owner.  You can bargain the price, but they won't let you take a horse away without the owner coming along.  The owner leads the horse by a rope while the visitor rides.  There is some kind of regulation that each horse must be accompanied by a person to lead it, but this is probably negotiable. What we did was hire three horses to carry our equipment, and two more horses for riding.

From the reserve entrance you can walk/ride for 45 minutes south along a fantastically beautiful wooded trail, very well maintained and dotted with dozens of large mani piles, to Tshonggo Gonpa (Chinese: Chonggu Si). This is the place Joseph Rock called "Bandit Monastery." Here there is a tent-hotel and restaurant serving somewhat expensive Chinese stir-fry. Or you can camp in the meadow beneath Mt. Chanadorje.  A monk may come down and ask you to pay 10 yuan per person camping fee.  We recommend giving at least double this amount because the monastery is very poor and it seems that few if any visitors are leaving offerings there.

You can use Tshongo as a base to explore the area, or you can start a kora of Chenresig, which amounts to the same thing--the only difference is that when you do the kora, you keep on going.  Proceeding clockwise from Tshongo, walking/riding southeast about three hours will bring you to the Luorong Pasture, where there is another tent-hotel and restaurant (a better one than at Tsonggo).

The trail is pretty easy to find, and this is one of the few places in Kham where you might trek with a backpack and no guide. However, even here, it's better to have a local guide with you, for safety and route-finding.

By the way, we met only one other Western traveler in Yading, a Spanish man who was with a group of Chinese.  In China, Yading has been publicized quite a bit, but not at all in the West.  We didn't meet anyone who could speak English in town or in the reserve.

Party of pilgrims walking the south side of Chenresig.

As you travel clockwise, the stupendous Mount Jambeyang comes into view. About three hours past Luorong, veering toward the west now, you will walk right beneath Jambeyang, going through a narrow defile to a place where you can see pasture below.  On the left is Jambeyang, and on the right is Chenresig. The views are incredible.  You will see a lot of people climbing a steep hill on a faintish trail toward the foot of Chenresig. This is because there is a lake up there, a magical lake which, if you sit quietly and gaze at it for a while, will show you your future.

From this lake, most visitors turn back and return to one of the tent-hotels.  There is no more accommodation or food on the trail ahead, so if you continue you should be prepared to camp.

When we did the kora, there were no nomads camped in any of the pastures (though there might be in other seasons).  Therefore you will have to think about shelter for your horse wranglers, if any are traveling with you.  (At Tshonggo and Luorong, there is some arrangement for locals and they will disappear and reappear the next morning).

Continuing on the kora, about one hour past the lake, there is a pass.  Just after the pass, the trail forks, and it's easy to miss this fork if you're not looking for it. Turn right here (north). Continue about one hour more and you will come to a small pasture with a stone shepherd's hut.  This is where our wranglers stayed during the kora, while we stayed in tents we had brought with us.

The hut was dirty but they cleaned it up and warmed it with a fire. The valley has magnificent views of Chenresig and Jambeyang.  This hut is a really long walk from Tsonggo (where we had started that morning), and we reached it at 5 pm quite exhausted.  Therefore it might make sense to stop at Luorong, even though this makes a short first day, and resume the next morning to reach the hut.

Stopping for prostrations beneath Chenresig.

On the second day of our kora (which might be the third day of yours, if you overnight in Luorong), we continued northeast on the trail for two hours to another pass, rather difficult.  We did not measure the elevation of any of the passes, but we estimate that this one, the highest one, is at least 4800 meters.  From here it's about four more hours of easy downhill walking through larch forest beneath the stunning north face of Chenresig.  You will pass a small emerald green lake, called Tara Lake, which is hidden by trees. Then you will reach Tsonggo Gonpa, the starting place of the kora.

We camped here again for one night, then walked out to the reserve entrance the next morning, and drove back to Dabpa.

About that  team of filmmakers and climbers who were said to be in the neighborhood, we heard a few rumors but nothing substantial.  We are still investigating and hope to report on this matter soon.

Happy trails,
Pamela Logan