{"id":37632,"date":"2025-12-16T23:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T15:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=37632"},"modified":"2026-03-10T14:26:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:26:25","slug":"day-12-sichuan-danba-river-valleys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2025\/12\/16\/day-12-sichuan-danba-river-valleys\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 12 @ Sichuan – Danba River Valleys"},"content":{"rendered":"

We continued towards Danba<\/strong> county after leaving Tagong Grassland, and the two hour drive from there took us on roads through tight valleys with towering mountains on both sides. We reached Danba just after noon, and were treated to a complimentary lunch by our tour company as their gesture of compensation because of the frequent accommodation changes [not their fault, as several properties they’d booked for us turned out to be unavailable at short notice].<\/p>\n

Danba county is located in Garz\u00ea Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and is considered one of the country’s most beautiful countrysides. Even in winter, some of the late autumn colours remained. I can imagine how stunning the place would look in autumn! We spent the day here visiting the Danba Suopo township \u2014 where we’d also be spending the night \u2014 the Dadu River, and in a scene right out from LOTR: Return of the King, the many stone watchtowers in the town. These watchtowers were built between 300 to 600 years ago for defense and also for relaying messages back then. The video where I flew just above the river bed was also out of necessity: there were power cables crisscrossing across the river that the drone wouldn’t have detected, so I had to fly under them!<\/p>\n

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Stopping by to observe Yala Snow Mountain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Map of the cities in the region.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Arriving into Danba township at noon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Danba Suopo Watchtower.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Danba township overlooking the Dadu River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The town is built on the sides of both mountains.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Danba Suopo Watchtowers. Many of these are on private properties, and can still be climbed up.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Mid-afternoon finally softening the harsh lighting we’ve been seeing every day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sun setting on Danba.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n