Travel Notes | Mengtun Valley

In Li County, Aba Prefecture, there is a place called Mengtun Valley. It has blue skies, snowy mountains, forests and meadows, outstanding scenery, aura of heaven and earth, and harmonious characters. It is called the place where dreams begin.

Surrounding the ancient sacred mountain of Ersh, there are 24 valleys, which are basically unexplored. Each valley is worth spending two or three days to visit. The descendants of King Gesar, the Jiarong Tibetans, live here. The unexplored pure natural scenery and the unique regional culture created by the Jiarong descendants are the main reasons why we drove here.

This time we chose to enter Gaoqiao Valley, where Mount Hilkido is located at the end of Gaoqiao Valley. The mouth of the ditch used to be a battlefield with the Blackwater tribe. There are a large number of watchtower ruins. There are virgin forests, rivers, waterfalls and natural campsites in the ditch.

On this alpine meadow, you can chase and play, enjoy the wind and gaze into the distance, set up camp, watch the stars at night, sing while drinking, and spend half a day leisurely.

There are several dogs in the village of Mizoguchi. They will take you all the way up the mountain and to the camp in the valley. If you happen to be a single dog, it doesn't matter, they can also accompany you.

Brother Jiao’s photography works: "Man and Dog"

If you don’t camp on this plateau grassland, it doesn’t matter. It’s also a great experience to go back to the village and live in a Tibetan home. Eat an authentic Jiarong Tibetan meal and feel the tranquility of the village in the valley at night.

The night was a bit cold, and the clouds were drifting. Brother Jiao, who had the tragic experience of shooting stars with me in the snow valley at minus 36 degrees Celsius, did not go to the roof with me this time. I put on my coat alone, set up a tripod, and managed to record the starry sky on a cloudy night in the Mengtun Valley.