September 28, 2005 Kangding, Sichuan, China, elevation 2,560 m (8,400 ft)
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It felt good to get away from Chengdu. I took a bus along a curvy, mountain road through lush, beautiful valleys eight hours to reach Kangding, a large town at the start of the Tibetan world. It’s in a beautiful valley setting. I rode a pony up a nearby mountain, and it is really a peaceful place.
The town itself isn’t that nice, but it has an interesting, rough around the edges frontier feel, and a river rages through the center of town, drowning out the incessant horns. The Tibetan women here don’t wear the colorful aprons over their long skirts, the monks greet me with the Chinese ni hao, and the monasteries look Chinese, adding to the feel that this place is at the interface between two cultures.
There’s not a lot of sights here, but it’s an interesting place nonetheless.