Ever since I can remember, Tibet has had this mystical attraction to me, as I guess it has to a lot of people. Unfortunately, when we wanted to visit it, the region was closed off for tourists. So, we decided to visit western Sichuan (aka Kham Region), which is mostly inhabited by Tibetan people and so this region is already considered as Tibet. Our plan was to hire a 4×4 car with a Tibetan guide/driver and drive to Kangding, Litang and then on to Daocheng to visit the Yading Nature Reserve. To be able to see everything, we would need to drive over 1600 kilometers in about 8 days.

When we arrived in Chengdu, to begin our trip, we were not so sure if our plan would succeed. We had heard roads had been flooded by rainstorms, so we were already thinking about a Plan C by now. But when our driver showed up on Sunday morning and gave us the green light to travel together with him, we were excited to leave! We got into the car and drove off into the West. We got to Kangding by dinner time, still in the illusion that we would get to litang the next day. The reality though, was that by that time the political situation had changed again. By now, more and more cities where being closed off. So, the next day, it turned out to be impossible to go to Litang. This also meant it would be impossible to go to the Yading Nature reserve. And so, on our second day into the west, our entire planning fell apart.

The only way to go was North, to the Tagong Grasslands, which turned out to be absolutely breathtaking. The road was in the worst condition but the views made up for it. Immediately out of Kangding, we were surrounded by lush green hills and snowy mountaintops, by big black yak herding in the fields, by white Stupas covered in Tibetan praying flags and by an amazing blue sky, but most importantly by a fresh air that I had missed so much.

Tagong itself is a small village at 3700m altitude, centralized around a monastery, where dogs run around freely and where Tibetan people sell yoghurt made of yak milk. The Tibetan women wear beautiful earrings and bracelets, Tibetan men wear yak skins and cowboy hats, while their long, thick black hair glistens in the sunlight. We visited the monastery and walked around the praying wall, admiring the landscape once more.

By dinner time, my dad and I felt nauseous and our heads felt like they were going to explode any minute now. Kind of like a hangover, but without all the fun of the night before. Nope, altitude sickness had gotten the best of me. Diamox (medicine against altitude sickness) saved me that night.

Since Tagong is so small, there wasn’t much left to do there, so we decided to go further North, to Danba. Another lovely village surrounded by hills, and famous for its watchtowers, which were used to warn the town in case of danger. We also drank some Yak Butter Tea there, which is probably one of the most disgusting things I have ever tasted! It looked brown/greyish with big chunks of fatty butter floating on the surface… but I couldn’t leave Sichuan without tasting it!