Riding to Daocheng County – Yading from Shangrila (Deqin)

Shangrila to Yading was one of the shortest distance we ever traveled within a day .. no highway today only small road, even smaller than national road and so small that even google map is missing the road. It was smaller than the road through Tiger Leaping Gorge and that was on google map albeit barely after massive zooming in.

Towards the Mountains & Daocheng County

Today would also be the only day that we reach the hotel the same time as the big bikes as they could not really speed through those small winding roads. We still did not see them since they were riding as fast as they could and we were stopping way too much as the scenery was too awesome to ignore.

Easy road first on flatlands, then how do we know we are on a small village roads? We see yaks walking the road and thats when the fun really starts. It was a moody day as well for a ride, cloudy and rain was constant in and out the whole day but not heavy just super cold that even a light rain cause us to gear up.

Yaks on the Road 

Gear up for Wet Weather 

Slowly we climb up elevation going to Yading, supposely today was the day we hit 4500m elevation, as we climb towards the clouds the view just kept changing and gets more and more spectacular. Photos does not do it justice. Most times we just took a photo then stare into the landscape for a long moment.

Winding Roads up the Mountain Valley 

More Stops and more Beautiful Views 

The roads were beautiful but also dangerous, if Tiger leaping george was nerfed by all the edge barriers constructed during covid, this area was still raw with plenty of landslides and falling rocks. We climbed and the scenary changed, the local tribes house and architecture also changed to something unlike stereotypical China. Squarish blocks and almost medival looking.

Squarish Blocks Buildings in Yading. This one is actually a Temple 

The mountains looks like something out of a fantasy movie, and before we know it, we reached Yading.

A View Like a Fantasy Book 

That night we all went to the only muslim restaurant in Yading which would become the next three meals for the day as well for the rest and I would eventually ask for a job at the restaurant.

Traveled on: Jun 2023