This is one of my favorite places on the Tibetan Plateau!

Watch this video to find out why this wild land is one of my favorite places I have ever been on the Tibetan Plateau!

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Get ready for a bumpy ride! Almost all of the roads outside of Nangchen town are dirt and are still quite rugged. Driving even 30km here may take 3 hours on these untamed backroads that meander along the Mekong River.

But a little bit of whiplash is a small price to pay for the grandeur of these mountains that once protected the epic Kingdom of Nangchen. After centuries of remote isolation, Nangchen still sees very few tourists and those who make it out there are either really lost or don’t mind driving 15 hours from the province’s capital for some of the most beautiful and wild terrain in all of the Tibetan Plateau.

Introduction to Nangchen

Nangqên County is a place that is as diverse as the many spellings of its name. This place, known both as Nangchen (Tibetan: ནང་ཆེན་རྫོང་།) and as Nangqian County (simplified Chinese: 囊谦县; pinyin: Nángqiān Xiàn), is a county of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and is the southernmost county-level division of Qinghai Province in western China.

Nangchen famously borders the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south and many parts of Nangqian County are only a 30km drive from this border, neighboring the Tibetan Chamdo district. But don’t get too excited. Foreigners would need a very special permission to cross this particular border so most travelers will have to be content to stay in Qinghai Province. But if you don’t mind the bumpy roads and burly terrain, travelers will find they could spend at least 1-2 weeks in this region with no problem. And, unlike the Tibetan Autonomous Region, you do not need any special permits to travel here. Making this land a wonderland for adventurers and free spirits alike.

The county seat is called Xangda (Chinese: 香达镇), and lies in a fertile high altitude valley on the right bank of the Dza Chu (a branch of the upper reaches of the Mekong River). Today the total population of Xangda (also called Nangchen town) sits right around 60,415, and 98% of this population are ethnically Tibetan.

Geographically, Nangqian County is one of the least inhabited regions of the Tibetan Plateau with a small population spread across a total surface area of 11,539 km2 (4,455 sq mi). Today Nangchen, like many Tibetan towns, is growing and developing quickly as new hotels and paved roads replace the old dirty guesthouses and the potholed, bumpy dirt roads that mark this as a western outpost of civilization before one reaches the border of the Tibet Autonomous Region or TAR. But for now this is still a pretty remote town that is largely isolated by giant mountains and gaping rivers. Nangchen is definitely not a luxury destination, so don’t expect more than a few 3 star hotels.

But do expect to be absolutely amazed by the grandiose scenery and lots of wildlife. As home to Himalayan Golden Monkeys, Blue Sheep, Wild Ass, and Tibetan Antelope, Nangchen is a nature lover’s paradise. There are no hotels outside Nangchen town so be prepared to travel with a local guide and stay in very simple home stays or tent stays (we are happy to help you arrange these if you need some local contacts). Outside of the town, all the roads are mostly dirt and there is very little in the way of running water, flush toilets, or good internet. But this is a great chance to get away from all the noise and electronic buzzing to really engage local Tibetan nomadic life and learn to live like yak herder in the mountains.

For having such a relatively sparse nomadic population the Nangchen area has one of the largest ratios of monasteries to people. The second thing you will notice about driving outside of Nangchen town (after you experience the jaw dropping cliffs and steep granite spires) will probably be that you are in the middle of nowhere (often with no electricity and running water) and yet every 5-10km is a giant Tibetan Buddhist monastery. This is a spiritually devout land whose origins and culture run as pure and deep as it’s expansive gorges.

#Nangchen #qinghai #Tibet

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