Chengdu - Tibet southern highway

Hailuogou Glacier 

Hailuogou Glacier is located on the east slope of Gonga Mountain,' King of Mountains in Sichuan', which is 7556 meters high above sea level and has more than seventy glaciers, stands proudly high in the sky. Hailuogou is the largest and most magnificent one of the glaciers.

Hailuogou Glacier only has a history of 1600 years. The total length of the glacier is 15 kilometers. It is made up of Snow Basin, Glacier Tongue and Ice Waterfall. The Glacier Tongue extends into the primeval forest for six kilometers and forms a series of wonderful scenic spots. The front of the glacier Tongue is only 2850 meters high above level. It is the lowest modern glacier in the world with an ideal climate, which is available to tourists of ordinary physical strength. In Hailuogou Glacier park, you will see a large amount splendid sights of glaciers including ice mushrooms, ice pagoda forest, ice stairs ice grooves ,ice pearl lake and ice crystal etc.

A entrance ticket to the park costs 70RMB per person, you need to catch a local sightseeing bus from Moxi Town which costs another 70RMB. When you arrive at Camp No.3, you can choose to take a cable car to Camp No.4 where you can see the most splendid sights of Glaciers, or you can hike up to view platform to see the biggest ice waterfall, which will take you 1.5 hours by crossing forest. And after the glacier, you can go to Camp No.2 to have a natural hot springs.

Tagong & Tagong Monastery

Tagong, about 3-4 hours drive from Kangding, is very famous for its lovely grassland. Tagong in Tibetan means 'the favourite place of the bodhisattva'. With an altitude of 3700m, Tagong Grassland is a vast expanse of meadow lying beneath the sacred Yallah Mountain and is landmarked by the famous Tagong Monastery and the golden tower.

Tagong Monastery (Tagong si), well known landmark of the Sakya Sect, was built during Qing Dynasty. In 1265, Phagspa, who was granted the title of Grand State Tutor by Kublai Khan, stopped here on his way back to Tibet from Beijing, and presented the monastery with a statue of the Buddha. Ever since then, the monastery has had a special place in the hearts of local Tibetans.

The annual Horse Racing Festival is held at the beginning of the 8th lunar month at Tagong Grassland and attended by thousands of local Tibetan herders.

Litang 
It takes about 8 hours to Litang from Kangding. Litang is resting on open grassland framed by snow capped peaks. Every year Horse Racing Festival in Litang starts on the 1st of August, lasts for 1 week, it's a great time to visit, even through hardly can get a accommodation.

Litang is still the birth place of the 7th and 10th Dalai Lamas and also four of the Pabalas, Chamdo's religious leaders. At the northern end of the town you can visit the large Litang Chode Monastery, built for the third Dalai Lama. Inside is a statue of Sakyamuni that is believed to have been carried from Lhasa by foot.

The area around Litang also has strong connections to the epic warrior Gesar of Ling and a statue of the man, complete with plastic palm trees, decorates a square in town.

From Litang, you can either head to the Yading Nature Reserve.