Kangding 康定

A shot of Horse Running Festival
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After meeting with CM in Chengdu, we started the trip to Sichuan-Tibet Highway 川藏公路 right away. The first part of the “Highway” was a good, well-paved “National Highway” yet our honey moon ended quickly when the bus started to climb. We stuck at a gate near the Erlang Shan Tunnel 二郎山隧道 for several hours as the Sichuan-Tibet Highway is now undergoing a major improvement work and traffic is only allowed to go in one direction for a certain period of the day. We stayed overnight in the small town of Moxi 磨西镇 and visited the nearby Hailuogou Glazier 海螺沟冰川 on the next morning. Then we left for Luding Bridge 泸定桥 after lunch but were soon stuck again at another gate. The problem was no one could tell you when the traffic could move, a few hours or even a day, no one knows the answer! Luckily, we just waited for a few hours and arrived Luding Bridge in the afternoon.

Luding Bridge
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Luding Bridge 泸定桥 was a critical point for the Long March 长征 of the Red Army  红军 during the Civil War of China. In May 1935, the Red Army was encircled and attacked by Kuomintang’s Army 国民党军队 and was forced to move north to escape the attack, yet they had to cross the Luding Bridge guarded by the Kuomintang Forces. A handful brave Red Army soldiers climbed along the chain of the bridge and finally seized the control of it. Since then, Luding Bridge became a symbol of Long March and a pilgrimage site for the Revolution.

Visitors were also invited to join dancing with the Tibetan villagers.

Tibetan Dancing
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After a brief visit, we continued the journey to Kangding 康定, a small town famous for the "Kangding Love Song" 康定情歌. We heard that the Horse Running Festival 跑马节 would be held in Kangding three days later, so we decided to wait for it. Kangding is a town with strong Tibetan influence. While we were waiting for the festival, we went to the nearby Mugecuo Lake木格错, Tagong Grassland 塔公草原 and Tagong Temple 塔公伺 which were all very nice.

The festival hadn't let us down. It was held at a flat land of the mid-slope of Paoma Shan 跑马山 with many colourfully dressed Tibetan people singing and dancing. Visitors were also invited to join dancing with the Tibetan villagers. We enjoyed the festival and our stay in Kangding, not only because the scenery and the festival itself, but also because we met a very kind driver Mr. Wang who drove us around in the Kangding area. He always asked us whether we wanted to stop and take pictures and never rush to go home. His motto is “be happy is the most important thing”. We did have a good time in Kangding!