Sichuan Festival Journey Huiyuan, Katok and Tagong

A morning at the Shenshuping panda base, a breeding and research center inside the UNESCO-listed Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries. Then over the Balang Shan to the Maobiliang viewpoint for a panorama of Siguniang, the Four Sisters, in clear weather.

Down into the Danba valley for the Wori manor, the former residence of a local hereditary chieftain, and on to Zhonglu, a Gyarong Tibetan village of stone houses, orchards and old watchtowers, for the night. Around 228 km and five hours of driving.

Early light in Zhonglu, then the stone watchtowers of Suopo, some centuries old, rising above the village houses. Then up onto the plateau to Bamei and Huiyuan Monastery, built in 1729, where the 7th Dalai Lama lived for several years in the 1730s.

On the eve of the festival, monks and local families gather to make incense offerings, a good time to see the monastery in preparation. Around 114 km and two and a half hours of driving. The evening is free on the grasslands above the town.

A full day at Huiyuan Monastery for its Cham festival, the first of the three on this journey. The monks perform the masked Vajra dances in the courtyard from around 9 am until mid afternoon, with drums, horns and the crowds of pilgrims and nomad families who come in their festival dress.

Your guide finds good places to photograph without blocking the dancers or the pilgrims. In the late afternoon, a short drive to Daofu. Around 80 km and under two hours of driving.

North past Luhuo and Kasa Lake to Garze, the largest town of northern Kham and one of its great religious centers.

In Garze, a Chinese-style temple stands near the hilltop Garze Monastery of the Gelug school, where the monks usually debate in the courtyard from around 4 pm for half an hour or so, depending on the monastery's schedule, with a clap and a stamp to press each point home. Around 177 km and three and a half hours of driving.

West past Dargye Monastery and the town of Manigango to Yilhun Lhatso, a glacial lake below the snow peaks of the Chola range, its shore scattered with boulders carved with prayers.

Then over the mountains to Dege and its Parkhang, founded in 1729, where printers still ink wooden blocks by hand to print scriptures as they did three centuries ago, and Gonchen, the Sakya monastery of the old kings of Dege, known for its murals. Around 183 km and three hours of driving.

South to Hepo, known for generations of family knife-makers, whose craft is linked by tradition to the weapons of King Gesar, for a visit to a workshop.

Then Maisu, a valley where Tibetan crafts are still passed down in family workshops. In the afternoon, Dzongsar Monastery, a great Sakya monastery associated with the non-sectarian movement of the 19th century, and its Tibetan hospital, then the artisans of a copper-casting workshop. Around 113 km and three hours of driving. The guesthouse is your base for two nights.

A full day in Maisu. In the morning, the Duopu valley, with its forests, glacial lakes, meadows and grazing yaks, and brightly painted meditation huts on the hillsides above.

In the afternoon, a thangka studio, where a local artist explains the stories and techniques behind the paintings, a tradition on China's national intangible cultural heritage list, and guides you through two to three hours painting a simple thangka of your own. The evening is free in the village, with time to walk among the workshops and the light on the valley.

To Katok Monastery, founded in 1159 and one of the principal monasteries of the Nyingma school, high on a mountainside, for the second festival of the journey, its Cham and masked Vajra dances before the assembled pilgrims.

Then on to Baiyu and Pelyul Monastery, founded in 1665 and one of the great Nyingma monasteries, with time to photograph the complex from the hillside across the river. Around 124 km and three hours of driving. The drive is short, leaving time for the festival.

To Yarchen Gar, a Nyingma religious community at over 4,000 meters, where practitioners, most of them nuns, live in small huts for study and meditation. Where access is permitted, a short walk to the hillside below the great statue of Padmasambhava for a view over the settlement, and down to the river.

Foreign visitors are sometimes not allowed in, particularly during local events, and if so we plan an alternative. Then through Garze to Luhuo. Around 315 km and six hours of driving.

An early start for Tagong for the opening day of its monastery festival, when the dances are performed without masks before crowds of pilgrims and nomad families from the grasslands.

In clear weather, the late afternoon is spent at the Balang Shengdu viewpoint, a 360-degree panorama of Gongga, at 7,556 meters, and Yala, also known as Zhara Lhatse, with the light going gold on the peaks. Around 176 km and three hours of driving. The guesthouse is close to the monastery for an early start.

Up for sunrise over Yala if the sky is clear, then the main day of the Tagong festival, with the masked Vajra dances in the monastery courtyard, the most photographed of the three festivals.

Later in the afternoon, Muya Monastery and the Great Mani Wall, a long field of carved and painted prayer stones walked by pilgrims, and a second night on the grasslands. The guesthouse is close by, so the day is unhurried, with time to return to the monastery or the grasslands in the evening light for photographs.

A morning of horse racing on the Tagong grasslands, with monks offering prayers and blessings for the riders, and the unveiling of a giant thangka on the hillside, the last ceremony of the festival.

Then east over the Zheduo pass to Kangding, the old tea-trading town, for a walk in its old streets, and Luding and its iron chain bridge over the Dadu, built in 1705, before the night in Shangli. Around 265 km and five hours of driving. It is a long day, so the order of stops stays flexible.

A morning photographing Shangli, a former stop on the Tea Horse Road, where porters once set out carrying bricks of Ya'an tea toward Tibet, with its lanes of wooden houses, old bridges and stone archways along the river.

After lunch, the drive back to Chengdu, where the journey ends on arrival, in time for an evening flight or a night in the city. Around 143 km and two and a half hours of driving. Lunch in Shangli is at your own expense.