Arrive in Lijiang and transfer to the hotel.
Visit Lijiang Ancient Town.
--Lijiang Ancient Town is a largely Naxi settlement first built 800years agao, located at the foot of the Lion Hill and completely surrounded by the new city of Lijiang.In December 1986, the State Council designated it a famous ancient historical and cultural city of national caliber. In 1997, UNESCO made Lijiang a World Cultural Heritage Site. Most of the dwellings, scattered at the foot of a mountain or by the river, are brick-and-tile structures with carved doors and painted windows. Traffic across the river is facilitated by a large number of tiny stone bridges. The town is similar to the Zhouzhuang Water Town in the south of the Yangtze River.

--Black Dragon Pool:
--Dongba Culture Museum:
--Yuhu Village and Joseph Rock’s Exhibition:
--Baisha Village:
--Naxi Ancient Orchestral Music
Dongba Pictograph Wall in Baisha Village,Lijiang.
Dongba Pictograph Wall in Baisha Village,Lijiang.

From Lijiang, you'll drive about 60KM to the First Bend on the Yangtze River with imposing gorge scenery, and the Iron Chain Bridge in the Stone Drum town. The town of Stone Drum got its name from a large, cylindrical, marble tablet shaped like a drum. The scenery is magnificent as the road running through the Lijiang valley which is filled with wheat fields and drying haystacks. You will have an experience of the floating from the First Bend of the Yangtze River to Longpan Town, after one hour floating, meet the driver and trasfer to Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world. With 34 rapids of the Yangtze River, it is called the Jinsha in this area because you can find gold in the river. Afternoon, you'll head for Shangri La, the former Zhongdian which is welknown as the paradise destination for every tourist. Upon arrival in Shangri La, you will have entered the Tibetan cultural area and a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys. Walk around Dukezong Ancient Town, an important town of the Ancient Tea-horse Trade Caravan from Yunnan to Tibet and India.
-- Tiger Leaping Gorge is on the Jinsha River of the upper reaches of the Yangtze, located 105 kilometers south of Shangrila County. The gorge is 17 kilometers long with a drop of 213 meters. Tiger Leaping Gorge is divided into three sections: Upper, Middle and Lower Hutiao. At the narrowest spot the river is only 30 meters wide. The mouth of the gorge is 1,800 meters above sea level. The river is flanked by Yulong and Haba snow mountains, with a height difference of 3,900 meters. It is one of the deepest gorges in the world.

Early morning visit to the ever growing Songzanlin Monastery. In historical terms it is very key; commissioned in the 17c by DL5, it was the central monastery in the Gelukpa order’s south-eastern expansion. From Zhongdian head north, crossing two high passes on the way to the Sichuan border. Then the road twists and turns its way down to Xiangcheng. A wee village a few years ago, set along the Shu-chu River, today it’s a bustling rural town which has been given a massive face lift. Surrounding the city, residents still live in attractive stone houses. Its Tibetan name means ‘rosaries in Buddha’s hand’, while in Chinese historical annals it was long referred to as White Wolf State. 
Daxiao Snow Mountains between Shangrila and Xiangcheng.

Morning visit to Chaktreng gompa. Rebuilt in the early noughts, it’s a huge towering colourful affair. Then from Xiangcheng a long day’s drive passing through the high rocky moonscape of Haizi Shan, the road making its way across a high and sparse plateau before dropping down to Litang. Litang, at around 4000m one of the highest towns in the world, is set on a broad grassland with Lithang gompa dominating it from the north. Litang itself has played a central part in the region, from its days as an independent Kingdom, allied with Kagyü rulers of the Kingdom of Dêrge, through its absorption by the great Gelukpa expansion east in the 16th, 17th & 18th centuries, to its position as a (nominal) outpost of the Qing dynasty all the way through to its role as a centre of resistance in the Khampa uprising against the incoming PLA in the 1950’s. As with Ganzi further north, it’s a market town and administrative centre, heavily coloured by its roots as a trading post for the Khampa nomads that populate the high plains.
Kuluke Mountain Pass (4708M) between Daocheng and Xiangcheng.

Up early to catch Litang’s superb morning views and pay a visit to Lithang gompa, a huge monastery complex and one of Kham’s most prominent Gelukpa centres, founded 1580. A day’s backcountry drive south as the trail wends its way through forested valleys along the Yalong River. Xinlong is a small town set right alongside the banks of river. It’s the capital of Nyarong county, a relatively poor area compared to its neighbours. Set atop the hill behind town is Zera gompa, a teaching monastery with about 50 monks.

From Xinlong continue following the Yalong for a short stretch before leaving it to head westwards. This is a little-travelled road, past the Dorkho gompa (Sakya). Baiyu is a pretty Tibetan town with tree-lined streets and the Ding-chu river running through it. The important Pelyul gompa (Nyingmapa) is located atop a hill behind town. From Baiyu the road joins up with the Yangtze River, here forming the border between Sichuan and the TAR, and soon comes to Hepo, where the 12c Katok gompa (which other than Samye near Lhasa is the oldest surviving monastery of the Nyingmapa and possibly the most sacred site in Kham) is located way above town.

Not a whole lot of miles covered this day, so to have time to do the detour to Pelpung gompa via a scenic narrow road. The establishment of this 18c monastery quickly made this region the centre for the Karma Kagyüpa school. It’s been designated one of world’s most important endangered monuments by World Monuments Fund. It’s a huge complex, visible for miles from its hilltop perch. Known as the Little Potala, some reckon its architecture to be Kham’s most stunning.
Back on the main road, continue following the Yangtze to Dege, a remote city with a long history, once the seat of the Kingdom of Dêrge, whose kings ruled this area independent of interference from either Lhasa or Beijing. Its most famous building is the Parkhang Printery, which has been the main source of printed materials for much of the Kham area. Today it’s possible to observe the monks at work, using the same age-old wood block techniques. Gonchen gompa, largely gutted, has now been restored, but with the original shell largely intact.

Leaving the pretty valley of Dege, ascend a steep series of switchbacks through the steep-sided Zi-chu river gorge. The scenes change dramatically to rugged mountains and snowy peaks as the trails crests the 4916m Tro La pass, passing a small Sakya monastery en route.

Shortly out of Manigange is a small detour well worth it - the 'hidden valley' of 17c Dzogchen gompa (Nyingmapa), one of the most important monasteries in Kham. Continuing on, the landscape widens out and you’re driving through a really superb stretch of country, the road tracing the Yalong River, hillsides scattered with formations of prayer flags and one of the highest concentrations of monasteries in Kham – including Dargye gompa (Geluk order – it’s the oldest of the 13 Horpa monasteries, and was once the top monastery in these parts. Renovation started in the ‘80s, and the interior painting, taking 7+ years to complete, is astounding), Yazer gompa, Beri gompa (originally an old B?npo temple that converted to Gelukpa), as well as the ruins of Beri castle, the renovated Kablung gompa and B?ngen gompa. The pace will determine how many there is time to stop and see! Then retracing the path back south, take the turn-off at the small road-junction town of Manigange (3800m), and with a bit of luck - and weather providing - this evening to the banks of Yilhun Lhatso (4500m), on the road to Dege, for tonight’s campsite. Yilhun Lhatso is a beautiful blue lake surrounded by snowy mountains, held sacred by Tibetans as evidenced by the number of mani stone piles and prayer flags. With a bit of luck, the glaciered Mt. Que’er as tonight’s backdrop.
As so many are in this region, Ganzi is something of a cowboy town, it is also THE market town in NE Kham, having gained wealth and influence as a meeting place serving the needs of the Khampa nomads to the west and north and the farmers from the surrounding plains. Up to a couple of years back, yaks roamed the streets, electricity was a rarity and the main form of entertainment for the nomads was drinking and playing pool on the outdoor tables that lined the streets. Now the shops and stalls selling all manner of Tibetan ware remain, but neon & KTV have arrived, if anything only increasing its wild west-like atmosphere. A dazzling site after several days on the road! Ganzi is quite simply very enjoyable. Surrounded by the old Tibetan quarter, and with an eagle-eye view of town, is Kandzê gompa, a large, very active, though very monastic/orthodox Gelukpa monastery that has seen its fortunes grow impressively in the last few years. Compared to many monasteries in the area, it has an almost austere atmosphere, but given time is worth the walk up.

From Ganzi continue down the pretty Sershul valley, coming first to Luhuo, with the towering Drango gompa overlooking town. Then visit Nyitso gompa near the town of Daofu. This valley is the widest in Kham, offering ample grazing lands and arable fields, consequently here are some of the wealthiest and prettiest Tibetan houses of the region. In Tagong is the impressive Lhagang gompa, where views of Mt. Yalha (3809m) and Paojiashan (5400m) can be had.

From Tagong road drops sharply from the high plateau, crossing two passes – Gye La and Lama La (4320m). Kangding was the trading post between the Tibetan Highlands and Sichuan lowlands and as such provides the last taste of Khampa Tibet.

Hit the road for an early start to this day's drive, which follows what was the old tea route between China and Tibet and is now the main military road into the TAR. The road goes via the 10-km Erlang tunnel, then crosses the 3000m Erlang pass. Lunch at Luding, site of one of the more heroic episodes of the long March. Then the road skirts north of the 7756m Minyak Gangkar (Gonggashan) to the south.
Chengdu is a huge intense city, with a history dating back to pre-Han dynasty. It has variously acted as a dynastic capital and centre of southern radicalism, before reaching its status today as provincial capital of Sichuan and home to some 6 million people. Today it carries all its history with it in the sheer complexity of its layout and culture - modern boulevards, intersected by mazes of narrow crooked side streets, traditional neighbourhoods next to high end department stores, Sichuan opera houses, the Mao statue in the main square, the street-side restaurants serving arguably some of the best food in China, the parks, Zen monastery and neighbourhood tea houses - where for centuries rebellion has been plotted. 

Visit Chengdu Panda Base Leshan Giant Buddha.

Transfer to Chengdu International Airport for returning.