Jiarong Tibetan Ancient Watchtowers

The Origin of “Jiarong (Gyarong རྒྱལ་རོང་)” Jiarong Tibetans are one of branches of the ethnic Tibetans, and now living mainly in Danba area. There are two origins for the word “Jiarong”(嘉绒) , also go by “Gyarong རྒྱལ་རོང་”. One means “Jia Mo Cha Wa Rong” (嘉莫察瓦绒), or simplified as “Jiarong”, an old administrative region referring to the area surrounding the sacred mountain known…

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Drive from Xinduqiao to Danba (Tips, Photos & Map)

Yesterday we traveled all the way from Daocheng back to Xinduqiao (358km) via Litang (148km) and Yajiang (286km), getting over Rabbit Mountain Pass (4696m), Kazila Mountain Pass (4718m), Jianziwan Mountain Pass (4659m) and Gaoersi Mountain Pass (4412m). Last time we entered Xinduqiao Town around 2:00pm on October 09, for the first time, driving from Kangding to Xinduqiao, and spending 2 hours photographing the bucolic…

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