Top 5 Chamdo Tourist Attractions You Have to See

Chamdo is the third largest city of Tibet (after Lhasa and Shigatse). Thanks to its vast land and abundant natural resources, Chamdo posses many popular tourist attractions such as snow-clad mountains, stunning rivers, dazzling waterfalls, vast forests, ancient monastery, tea-horse road, etc. Standing in ancient Gaden Jampling monastery, you can feel the religion and culture of Tibet. Looking at Meili snow mountain, also known as Prince Snow Mountain, you will be deeply surprised by the nature that has an amazing power to calm even the most unsettled mind down and set anyone in the mood of serenity. Walking on the tea-horse road, you can almost hear chaos of businessman and clops of horses. Apart from these, there are many other natural and historical sites for you to explore. Now, you can follow this post to get the top 6 attractions in Chamdo.

 
Chamdo Attractions

Top 1. Galden Jampling Monastery
Top 2. Rawok Lake
Top 3. Tea-horse Road
Top 4. Lhegu Glacier
Part 5. Karub Ruins

Top 1. Galden Jampling Monastery

Galden Jampaling Monastery locates in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. It was founded by Jansem Sherab Zangpo, one of disciples of Tsongkapa, the founder of Gelug Sect, in 1437. In 2013, this monastery was listed as national key cultural relics protection. The most important feature of this monastery is Holy Dance that is held to celebrate the victory of Sakyamuni against the heretics in a religious debate. Usually, this festival falls on January 15th of Tibetan calendar. During this festival, monks wear ferocious masks and perform religious dance to exorcise the ghosts, meanwhile, pray for a good harvest next year. Besides, hundreds of precious and exquisite Thangka, murals and Buddhist are also worth visiting.

 
Galden Jampling Monastery

Admission fee: Free
Photographing tips: To get a good picture, you can go to shoot from the mountainside of Damala Mountain.
Best time for visiting: Each year, from Nov. to Mar. 
Opening hour: All day

Top 2. Rawok Lake

Covering an area of 22,000 square kilometers, at an altitude of 3,850 meters, with length 26 km and width 1 to 5 km, Ramwok lake is a barrier lake in Bashoi County of Chamdo City. Besides, it is also the main supply of Palong Tsangpo, a branch of the Yalu Tsangpo River. In the north of this lake locates the famous Lagu glacier. Every time when ice melts, the water flows into the river, which keep the lake water abundant. By the lake are the verdant grassland and plants in harmony with the blue lake and snowy mountains. The narrow Arm-tso Lake winds its way about ten thousand miles westward into a valley. The biggest highlight of this lake is that lake water appears different colors in different seasons, from aquamarine to turquoise. If you are planning a Chamdo tour, don’t miss this lake.

 
Rawok Lake

Top 3. Tea-horse Road

Tea-horse road, an ancient commercial passage that first appeared during the Tang Dynasty. After the change of dynasties, this road has become a tourist attraction currently. In ancient times, it greatly promoted exchanges of culture and religion between ancient China and other countries. At that time, Mabang (caravans) was the major traffic tool. Year after year, thousands of caravans traveled the rough road while the hoof beats and the sounds of clear bells broke the tranquility of the canyon. As a vital pathway, this road connects China with outside world. While walking on this ancient road, you can feel peace and tranquility filling your mind and body. It seems that everything is still and surrounding mountains stand silent.

Top 4. Lhegu Glacier

Glaciers are the sources of all rivers in Tibet. Located remotely at high altitude, their true face remains a mysterious to most people. Lhegu Glaciers is the headwater of Yarlung Zangbo River. It consists of six glaciers that encompass the Lhegu village. Among the six glaciers, Yalong Glacier is of special beauty thanks to the black-and-white ripples. And Raog Lake is the largest lake in east Tibet. Its headwater comes from the Lhegu Glaciers. The glacier meltwater feeds the lake all year round. As the climate warms, the size of Raog Lake expands continuously every year. What are more astonishing are the iceberg floating into the lakes. There are some icebergs in few of the ice lakes in front of Lhegu Village. The ice lakes present different colors due to the difference in geology and soil constituent. Anyway, it is worth visiting if you travel to Chamdo.

 
Lhegu Glacier

Part 5. Karub Ruins

Located in Karub Village, Karub Ruins is one of the three large primeval cultural ruins in Tibet from the New Stone Age. And the other two are Lesser Enda and Gyangqen. Among them, the Karub Ruins(Chinese name: 卡若遗址) are the earliest Neolithic Age remains so far found in Tibet. Currently, most of the pottery are displayed in the Tibet Museum. A mass of millets and animal bones prove that Tibetan people have been engaged in farming and breeding live stocks since 4,000 years ago. Additionally, Karub Ruins also provides detailed materials of the origin of Tibetan, which greatly promotes the study of early Tibet. At present, Karub Ruins have been listed in a key cultural relics under the protection of Tibet Autonomous Region.

 
Karub Ruins

Location: Karub Village, Jagka District, about 12 kilometers southeast of Qamdo county seat.
Opening Hours: 8：00a.m.—7：00p.m.
Admission Fee: Free
Traveling Hours: 4 Hours
High Altitude Sickness: Take some medicines for relief and keep warm all the time.
Best Time for Traveling: Summer
How to Get There: There is no regular bus to Karub Ruins,so tourist can take a minibus (CNY3) to Xement Plant, turn right and then walk for few minutes; Or tourists can take a taxi to Karub Ruins, which costs around CNY100 for round trip.

Tips: You are highly recommended to take some thick clothes to keep you warm at night, since the nighttime temperature will drop to below zero.