This trip ended two months ago, and today I have time to organize it into text and share it with you. Self-driving travel is my favorite. Gannan, Inner Mongolia, and Southeast Zhejiang have all left me with many good memories. Traveling to Tibet was my dream 20 years ago, but I have been hindered by various constraints and have not been able to make it. The sudden death of my mother a year ago broke my peaceful and ordinary life. The pain of guilt and regret intertwined in my heart could not be dismissed for a long time. Take a vacation, start a new journey, and let go of your inner heaviness along the way.
Where are you going? My mother loved to travel freely during her lifetime, and traveled to many famous mountains and rivers in the motherland, but she was unable to set foot in Tibet due to physical limitations. Take her photo to Tibet and have a look. There are Gang Rinpoche and Mapang Yumco there. She prayed that I was in my forties and had a history of asthma. Although I was apprehensive, I had confirmed the itinerary from Shanghai to Kailash from the very beginning. There was no plan for the follow-up itinerary, so I will make adjustments according to the situation.
with whom? After waiting for nearly half a month, the family was burdened by work, so they couldn’t make the trip after all. Let’s go alone and enjoy the rare freedom to do whatever we want. China’s current security situation is the best, and there is nothing to worry about.
how to get to? After thinking about it, I still drive by myself. I have nearly 20,000 kilometers of self-driving travel experience, and I still have experience in mountain roads, grasslands, Gobi and other road conditions. The faithful and strong company of Heijingang many times before also gave me great confidence. The Sichuan-Tibet line passes through Lhasa to Gang Rinpoche.
After the three major elements are determined, there are various pre-departure preparations:
1. Various online guides + Lonely Planet Tibet chapter + 16-year Chinese highway atlas + Baidu map, parking + scenic spot planning.
2. Pre-departure maintenance of the vehicle.
3. Luggage preparation: medicine first aid kit, portable and cold-proof clothes, sleeping bag, field cooking utensils, stove, toiletries, washbasin and footbasin that can be stored, two sets of photographic equipment and tripod, large-capacity thermos cup and tea, sunglasses, skin care products and magic head scarf , dry food snacks, some Red Bull, GARMIN outdoor watches, etc. I put the above items in four high-strength storage cabins, put down the rear seats, and put an air mattress on it, forming an ideal camp bed. Driving alone, rest on the way is still very important .
DAY1 Shanghai — Hubei Yichang 1140KM driving 13 hours At 6 am on August 8, 2019, I started my journey from my home in Shanghai. I didn’t choose to start from the ceremonial place of People’s Square, because I didn’t take the pure 318. The whole journey is at a high speed of 120KM/hour, which is boring and long. The old rules, 2-3 hours, the expressway service area is temporarily closed to solve various supplies and discharges. In midsummer, in the service area with only bare concrete floors, it is difficult to sleep on the camp bed, so the Red Bull can only rely on it. After walking and resting, it was already 8 o’clock in the evening when we arrived at Wujiagang in Yichang, and we were exhausted. Here I also talk about my habitual thinking of booking hotels for self-driving tours: 1. If there are scenic spots near the stop, get as close to the scenic spot as possible, and if there is no scenic spot near the stop, get as close to the highway as possible.
2. The hotel must have a parking lot to ensure the safety of the vehicle and its contents.
3. Clean, hygienic and quiet rooms ensure adequate sleep.
4. Use the rest time on the road to book a hotel one day in advance to avoid unnecessary threats to the itinerary.
After a hasty meal in the restaurant next to the hotel, I started a high-reaction prevention plan before going to bed-taking spirulina, and I had the experience of self-driving at the source of the Yellow River in Gannan, which made me no longer superstitious about rhodiola and oxygen tubes. OK
Sleep well all night, get up at seven in the morning, simply observe the surrounding environment where you live, there are new properties everywhere, close to Yichang East Station, it should be a new urban area.
After a simple breakfast, get on the bus and leave. Goodbye to Yichang, goodbye to the Three Gorges Dam. This time, I am a passerby.
DAY2 Yichang, Hubei — 650KM from Nanchong, Sichuan. It took 11 hours to drive out of Yichang. There was a cloud of fog on the expressway. Slow down and drive carefully. After that, there were many tunnels along the way, and the driving speed was limited to 70-80KM/hour. It was already 7 o’clock in the evening when we arrived at the hotel in Nanchong. After entering the room, we found that the room was a bit noisy near the road, so we changed to a quiet room opposite.
Nanchong, the hometown of Zhang Fei, the famous city of Jialing. I have done my homework before. Next to the hotel, there is a local who is known as the best in Jialing. I love the Douhua Beef of Sister Xia. Let’s go out and experience it. When I went outside, I was dumbfounded. The restaurant was just across the road, but the whole road was dug into a deep ditch, and both sides of the road were sealed with corrugated steel plates. After walking for nearly a kilometer, I saw a gap. I actually had to go down to the bottom of the ditch and then climb up to the opposite side of the road. It seems that eating this bean curd beef really takes a lot of effort.
When I entered the store, I was the only foreigner. I ordered the signature Bean Curd Beef.
I was a bit tired after traveling for two consecutive days, so I decided to spend the day at the next stop, Xinduqiao, at the hotel in the evening. This was also the first scenic spot I stopped on this trip.
DAY3 Sichuan Nanchong — Sichuan Xinduqiao 550KM driving 11 hours
After a late sleep, the day’s itinerary starts at 9 o’clock. Nanchong to Ya’an are all expressways, Ya’an to Xinduqiao is the 318 National Highway, and the parallel expressway is also under construction. The construction vehicles going to and from the old 318 road conditions are very unbearable. Unexpected congestion began to appear, and I began to miss it. On the first day, the whole process of 120 felt hearty.
Strange to say, as soon as the car passed Luding, the summer heat that accompanied us along the way all dissipated, and even began to feel cool on the back. The altitude is rising and the temperature is dropping rapidly.
Wearing the stars and wearing the moon, I didn’t arrive at Xinduqiao Shujin Hotel until the evening. I will stay in this hotel for two nights. The hotel room is spacious, clean and quiet, and I am satisfied.
This facility in the hotel is really lovely, and this is also the beginning of my daily foot bath during the journey into Tibet.
Can anyone tell me what this Raptor in the parking lot is for?
When I fell asleep and woke up naturally, the sun was already shining. I missed the photography group arranged by the boss, so I hurried out with my photography equipment and drove around. Xinduqiao, also known as East Russia, is the base of the China Photographers Association, where most donkey friends who travel to Sichuan and Tibet stop. The alpine meadow landform stretching for nearly 10 kilometers combined with natural light and shadow is like a natural gallery, so it is called “the photographer’s paradise”. For me, I still can’t experience this extreme feeling, because it’s not yet autumn, the vegetation on the mountain has not yet shown a variety of colors, and the sun is already high, the projection and soft light effects are gone, but it’s enough to make me feel excited. Press the shutter.
Xinduqiao has already become a new tourist town, with row upon row of newly built single-family hotels next to National Highway 318, with a strong commercial atmosphere. Passing through the viewing platform of Gongga Snow Mountain, I got off the car and went there. Halfway through the walk, I was told that the slope of the viewing platform was steep and I needed to ride a horse (the charging mode was already turned on). An old horse wobbled to the top of the viewing platform. This viewing platform can only overlook the Gongga Snow Mountain, and the shooting angle is not ideal. Apart from a few horses on the viewing platform, there are also a few drone players, which is quite disappointing.
On the way down the mountain, I saw a girl leading a shepherd dog, which was not dressed like a local. It was the first time I saw a girl traveling with a dog. Coincidentally, her Volkswagen station wagon with Zhejiang license plate was parked next to my car, and she was driving alone. It seemed that the dog was for self-defense as a companion. I went up to strike up a few words and wanted to follow up with the company, but I didn’t expect that they didn’t answer the words, and immediately started the drill car and disappeared. The sun at noon is very hot, and there is still plenty of time, so let’s go around the town, add some oil by the way, and withdraw some cash for emergencies after entering Tibet. After going deep into the town, I found that Xinduqiao is a quiet and peaceful place. The Tibetans chatted leisurely in the sun, and there were flowers on the window sills of every house.
After completing various supply tasks, I decided to go back to the hotel and take a nap. After all, I was a bit tired from the journey in the first three days, and I have a bigger test waiting for me.
I went out of the room near dusk and chatted with the boss at the front desk about Gongga Snow Mountain. The boss warmly reminded me: You told me which viewing platform to go to. The rooftop on the roof of our hotel is much better than the viewing platform. It was shot there. Going up to the top of the building, as expected, the peaks of the Gongga Snow Mountain against the backdrop of the setting sun still have the meaning of sunshine shining on the golden roof.
The food in the hotel is clean and delicious. After entering the Tibetan area, such fresh and delicious vegetables will become a luxury. After dinner, I went out for a walk, ate fruit, took spirulina tablets, and soaked my feet, as usual. Only by driving alone and taking care of yourself and your car can you go further. Tomorrow, we will go to Batang, the last stop in Sichuan on the Sichuan-Tibet line.
DAY5 Xinduqiao–Batang 366KM Driving for 10 hours Sufficient sleep is of great help to restore physical strength. It feels so good to start driving refreshed. The road is getting more and more difficult, but it is not as boring and monotonous as driving on both sides at high speed. I don’t feel tired when I move around to change scenes, stop and go to take pictures.
The residential style of Kangba along the road from Xinduqiao to Batang is quite distinctive.
There are many grasslands along the way, and the scenery of the nine bends and eighteen bends at the source of the Yellow River is also presented in many places on the road, with soothing water flow and herds of yaks.
Passing by Litang, which is famous for Cangyang Gyatso, and crossing Haizi Mountain 4658M, the Batang Sister Lake under the dark clouds glows with a deep blue light.
The road to Batang is not very difficult. There are many tunnels along the way that greatly limit the speed of passage. Most of them have a speed limit of 30K, and some have an excessive speed limit of 20K. Every time I follow the rules, I see a lot of Sichuan A license plates It’s a bit unpleasant for the car to overtake and roar past. The altitude is gradually rising. When passing the 4,600-meter pass of Haizi Mountain, there is no obvious discomfort in the body. The packages of dry food in the car began to swell.
At dusk, I finally arrived at the hotel in Batang. After I settled my luggage, I went out to eat quickly. In order to save time, I arrived at the destination early every day. I basically dealt with breakfast and lunch, which was the only main meal.
Batang is a pretty big town with an altitude of 2,850 meters, which is why I chose it as a place to stay.
On the way back to the hotel, I bought some small apples and oranges at the local farmer’s market. When entering the plateau, daily fruit and vegetable intake is still a must.
Tomorrow I will enter Tibet. The planned destination is Basu. Baidu map shows that it will take 13 and a half hours to drive for more than 400 kilometers. The various homework and road books I have done before also told me that Batang to Basu crossed the Hengduan Mountains, crossed the Jinsha River, Lancang River, and Nujiang River, and passed the famous 72 turns. The Tibetan line (Shanghai-Nie line) is the most difficult one. Tomorrow is the real test for me, I have to get up early.
However, the legendary road in the road book and the 30K traffic speed trap on the roadside seem to have not been fully understood, and I feel a little uneasy. When I went back to the hotel and saw that the door of the next room was open, there were guests. I went to inquire and found out that they were from Chengdu. Yes, go in the same direction with me, only know that the road ahead is not easy to walk, and I don’t know anything about the road, and they are bringing their children, so it is unlikely that they will go together early.
When I came downstairs, I first went to the parking lot to hang up the four-wheel drive of the vehicle, and then took some cold-proof clothes. When the door was closed, I saw a police car with a Tibetan license plate. After a few policemen got off, they went to inquire about the road. , a fat policeman answered me: You are asking the right person, we are opposite the Jinsha River checkpoint, and now 318 is building roads and no roads will be issued. I asked if the whole 318 was like this, and he said that it was not clear whether it was implemented in other areas like Nyingchi, and the police were very enthusiastic.
Back to the room, took the last hot bath before entering Tibet, and then raced against time every day: washing clothes, booking a hotel, writing a simple diary, making notes on daily stops, packing luggage, taking spirulina, all for before 10:00 Go to bed and get enough sleep.
At five o’clock in the morning, I was woken up by the alarm, washed up and checked out. At this time, Batang was still immersed in the thick night. I had already started the car, and the headlights were turned to the brightest. I’m the only early passerby.
At six o’clock in the morning, I arrived at the Jinsha River checkpoint in the Tibetan area, and it was still completely dark.
After swiping the ID card and passing the bayonet, a large washboard road appeared in front of the vehicle, and the vehicle began to bump violently. The storage boxes behind the vehicle collided with each other and creaked. The driving speed was less than 20K, and the sky gradually began to light up.
The road section is in the state of road construction, so various deep pits caused by various road excavations appear regularly every 100 meters or so, and the road without pits is completely unpaved. Smoke and dust started to rise in the road ahead, there really was someone earlier than me, huh? ! Gradually catching up, I saw a BMW X5 driving carefully in front, and decisively fell off with it, leaving it to eat dust.
The river was as red as blood, and boulders rolled into it.
landslide section
falling stones
Along the way are rushing streams rushing through the valleys, making loud noises. Find a suitable road section to pull over, go down to the stream, and have lunch with the scenery.
After patiently walking the rough washboard road, the scenery began to appear.
The beautiful Mount Lau, the little oriental Switzerland.
The clouds are as low as smoke rising from a mountain
Crossing the pass, you can appreciate the beauty of the four seasons in one mountain. There is still a little heat at the foot of the mountain. It starts to rain halfway up the mountain, and the windshield is crackling with dense snowdrops at the pass. In such weather, there are still cyclists on the road going against the wind, and their perseverance is amazing.
Three big rivers cut deep into the Hengduan Mountains, forming a spectacular Grand Canyon. The 318 here is narrow and narrow, and it is impossible for you to stop and take pictures. The endless hairpin turns began, and the thin air made Black King Kong panting. When climbing in third or even second gear, the engine roared helplessly. It was almost impossible to overtake when climbing, so we had to choose the opportunity carefully when going downhill. .
There is almost no vegetation on both sides of the Nujiang River. National Highway 318 is like a huge wound cut on the exposed mountain. The wound that cannot heal will fester, and landslide accidents are inevitable. Natural moat and thoroughfare, man and nature are always difficult problems.
Nujiang Bridge, check in, stop at the viewing area and take pictures. A van came over, and a driver and two girls got off. It seemed that they were chartered tours. The driver came and chatted with me: “I saw your car at the Bandaca crossing, and there was a raptor behind it.” Whoosh “It’s over at once, have you got the speed limit road?” I was confused, the speed limit road? Help? ever? I said, “Is Bangda the three-fork intersection? Didn’t you see the barricade?” The driver said, “It’s the three-fork intersection with the barricade. Maybe you didn’t pay attention. We’re all queuing there. Look at you!” It’s strange to pass by.” “Then what should I do now?” The driver said, “You’d better try your luck at the destination Basu checkpoint first, the police will let you pass if you’re in a good mood, and they’ll let you go if you’re in a bad mood. Let you go back and get the road…”
