Diqing

Following the course of the Chongjiang from Qiaotou, the road turns past a fabulous, deep, wooded gorge, then winds past Yi villages in the high hills, makes one last ascent through the woods, and then suddenly reaches the Tibetan Plateau. A long, rolling plain bounded by thickly forested mountains stretches before the eyes. Villages checker the plain and great drying racks, shaped almost like chairs for giants, dot the landscape and stand surreally in groups beside the villages. Occasional pagodas, like small steeples mounted on domes, stand on the lanes between the settlements and off the main road......