The Third Qinghai-Tibet Loop Touring the Good Rivers and Mountains of the Motherland Day 24 Milin-Ranwu Lake

Day 24

August 14, 2020
Departure place: Milin
Destination: Ranwu International Self-Driving RV Camping Camp, Basu County, Qamdo, Tibet
Main attractions: Wild scenery of National Highway 318
Height: The accommodation site is 3922 meters above sea level, and the highest point is the Sejila Mountain pass at 4720 meters.
Weather: Overcast to light rain and then overcast

If National Highway 318 (Southern Sichuan-Tibet Line) is the Chinese people’s landscape avenue, then in the spring when the peach blossoms are in full bloom, the section from Bomi to Linzhi is the most beautiful part of the entire landscape avenue.

But once the peach blossoms withered, this section of the road became the most common existence in the entire landscape avenue. Especially in this season.

The whole Linzhi is called the Jiangnan of Tibet, and Bomi is the Jiangnan of Linzhi. This place is moistened by the warm and humid air currents from the Indian Ocean that travel north along the Brahmaputra River Valley. It rains a lot, especially in July and August, when it rains continuously every day.

How can we enjoy the scenery when we rarely see the sun?

This is the main reason.

The second reason is that the scenery on this section of the road is relatively monotonous, basically a landform of valleys and dense forests. If you keep watching it, you will inevitably get tired of it.

The third reason is that the active geology of the mountains in this section, coupled with the raging rain, has led to constant landslides and mudslides all year round. The most dangerous ghost gate on the Sichuan-Tibet line - the Tongmai Pailong natural barrier - is located on this section of the road. Although natural dangers have been circumvented through the construction of bridges and tunnels, this stretch of road is still full of dangers. In July this year, a large mudslide occurred here, and it took the armed police and soldiers more than a week to clear the road by building a temporary bridge.

Therefore, outside of spring, this stretch of road is really not comfortable.

When I woke up this morning, sure enough, it was a cloudy day. It was wet everywhere, and it seemed like it had secretly rained again last night.

Considering that we might not be able to enjoy the scenery and take photos during half of today’s road, we first walked around this beautiful hotel after getting up in the morning.

It was almost 10 o'clock after breakfast, so we set off slowly.

This is our trajectory for the day

When I got up in the morning and opened the curtains, I found that the room was covered with glass on three sides, and not far to the south was the Brahmaputra River. I have to say, the shape of this room is quite sexy.

The hotel has a unique shape

Looking out from the second floor balcony where I live

After all, there’s nothing to see on the road, so I might as well just enjoy the scenery in the yard.

Outside the courtyard is the Brahmaputra River. I expect the scenery here should be better in spring and autumn.

Okay, let's go. We left the hotel and headed to Bayi Town, Linzhi, where we took the 318 National Highway.

We realized that when we arrived at Linzhi, we would say goodbye to the Brahmaputra River. Therefore, shortly after leaving the hotel, we decided to park the car and take a final look at the scenery of the Yarlung Zangbo River, although the scenery here was not very good.

A peach tree by the river is full of peaches with crooked melons and split dates. The peaches here are not edible, but they only bloom in spring for everyone to see.

While they were talking about peaches, a plane flew over the Yajiang River. It is very close to Linzhi Airport, so it is normal to encounter planes. It is said that due to the climate, the landing conditions at Linzhi Airport are very poor, and many times the plane cannot land. I also discovered an interesting phenomenon. From Shigatse, to Lhasa (Gonggar) and then to Nyingchi, the airports in these three places are built on the edge of the Brahmaputra River, and the runways are completely parallel to the river.

Look, there's a handjob!

The veteran driver had a great time taking photos, using both a camera and a mobile phone

As the saying goes, the mantis stalks the cicada, but the oriole follows behind.

Along the 318 National Highway all the way up the mountain, it didn't take long to reach the Sejila Pass. When spring came this year, it snowed heavily here, and the parking lot at the mountain pass was blocked by a police car.

Sejila Pass is also a good location from where you can see Namjagbarwa Peak in the distance. Unfortunately, I didn’t see it the first two times. This time, of course, is no exception.

The second uncle said, should I clock in? I still have to clock in.

Leaving the mountain pass, we went all the way down the mountain to Lulang Town - the legendary "China's Little Switzerland"

We came to a field where we didn’t know whether it was wheat or highland barley, and stopped the car to enjoy the scenery.

Although the weather is bad, there are many tourists in Lulang. Most people are riding horses and shooting arrows in the artificial attractions on both sides of the road, but we prefer this style

In a small pasture next to the road, several horses are grazing leisurely. This kind of picture is very relaxing

A strong black horse passed through the group of horses and ran to a place to enjoy a delicious meal alone

Look how happy my second uncle is taking photos here

Leaving Lulang and continuing forward, you will reach the dangerous road section from Tongmai to Pailong (blue brackets). Considering that there are constant mudslides and landslides here, we need to be extra careful in light rainy weather like today. When walking here, I did see traces of falling rocks and landslides on the roadside. In addition, the surging La Yuequ and Forced Dragon Zangbo also pose a huge threat to the roadbed here.

At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, we were hungry, but we didn't want to eat self-heating meals, so we had to find a restaurant on the road. We kept looking until it was almost 2 o'clock before we found a Sichuan restaurant in the blue circle (actually when we passed Lulang, there were many restaurants, but they were all full of cars and people, so we gave up)

After dinner and getting ready to set off, a tanned cyclist passed by. I gave him a thumbs up and he smiled shyly at me.

After crossing the Pailong Bridge, we have been walking along the breathtaking Paolong Zangbo. The Polong Zangbo is extremely turbulent, and the river is full of landslides like this. The roadbeds of several roads were also destroyed by the river water. However, the river water this year is smaller than last year

The reason why the river is so big is that not only does it rain a lot, but it also has a lot of snow-capped mountains. The second uncle stood on the edge of the cliff and slapped the fog-shrouded ice peaks of Yunshan Mountain. Could it be that he had the ability to see through clouds?

When we reached a certain place, the river suddenly widened, the clouds in the sky became thinner, and some light fell down like pillars. We quickly stopped to take photos. It’s a pity that the camera can’t restore what the eyes see

At 5:30 p.m., we arrived in Bomi County and basically completed the most dangerous section of the Sichuan-Tibet Line. Everyone let out a long sigh of relief. Next, we rushed all the way to Ranwu Lake (the blue circle in the picture is a small internet celebrity wading section)

After leaving Bomi, we said goodbye to the dense forest and entered the high mountain canyons of Polong Zangbo and Egong Zangbo (the upper reaches of Polong Zangbo).

In July last year, the flood in Egongzangbu became even stronger. Standing on the bridge, I felt a strong rumbling tremor, and I was worried that the bridge would collapse anytime and anywhere. Today, these two photographers are very brave