Mengda Heavenly Pond Exotic Attarctions Tibet ~ Asia Tour and Tourism

Mengda Heavenly Pond in Xining province China. Drive along the Yellow River to Mengda Heavenly pond Nature Reserve, famed as “Highland Xishuangbanna in Qinghai”. The nature reserve, centered around the mountaintop Heaven ly Lake (Tianchi) has forests of virgin trees, a large variety of exotic flowers and many wild animals. Jishixia Gorge is mysterious with its winding roads and towering mountains on both sides. It is a flourishing area of natural beauty, contrasting sharply with the great swathes of sterile land that cover Qinghai Province.

Mengda Nature Pond or Mengda Nature Pond Reserve is very popular with hikers who are looking for something slightly different to the norm. The climate is wet and mild, which ensure that the countryside stays lush and green year round, making for lovely scenery. Located around 110km southeast of Xining in the Xunhua Sala Autonomous Prefecture, the (Mengda ziran baohuqu) is a flourishing area Mengda Nature Pond Reserve,xining of natural beauty, contrasting sharply with the great swathes of sterile land that cover Qinghai Province. The reserve, centered around the mountaintop Heavenly Lake (Tianchi) has forests of virgin trees, a large variety of exotic flowers and many wild animals, that make it good for hiking and boating.

N recent years the reserve has become a bit more popular on the tourist trail and so has not such a peaceful atmosphere as it once harboured. It is still possible to enjoy the place, however, protected as it is from mass tourism by its remote location. You can ride a horse from the foot of the mountain which will take you on a three hour round trip via the top (not counting getting off to boat, hike or do other activities).

Drive westwards along Yellow River, today’s highlight is the visit to Kanbula National Forest Park in Jianzha County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, situated about 131km away from Xining, the Kanbula National Forest Park faces the Yellow River and is close to Lijiaxia Hydropower Station. The park is featured with its stone peaks of Danxia landform (Danxia landform is named after Danxia Mountain situated in the border area of Renhua and Qujiang counties, the northeast environs of Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province.), forests and man-made sight. It is a "historical documentary" of the evolvement of the rise of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its climate, carrying a precious value of research on west China's environment evolvement since Cenozoic. Proceed to Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, located on the eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Taste some Xining flavored snacks in night market.

Xining is the capital of Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China. Xining is located on the eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the upper reaches of Huangshui river. It is the political, economic, scientific and technological, cultural and traffic center of Qinghai Province with an average altitude of over 2,200 meters (about 7,217 feet). The activities of human beings in this region can be traced to 2,100 years ago. During the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties, owing to its developing agriculture, Xining was paid more attention due to its economic and martial significance. As well as being the important hinge between the central plains and the western part of China in ancient time, Xining was the most common passing channel of the famous silk road.

Xining has a history of over 2100 years and was a chief commercial hub on the hexi corridor caravan route to Tibet, handling especially timber, wool and salt in ancient times. The trade along the Hexi Corridor was part of a larger trade corridor along the Northern Silk Road, whose use was intensified in the first century BC after efforts by the Han Dynasty to control this route.

Under the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) a county there called Linqiang controlled the local Qiang tribesmen. It was again a frontier county under the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties; during the 7th and early 8th centuries it was a center of constant warfare with the Tuyuhun and (later) the Tibetan peoples. In 763 it was overrun by the Tibetans and while under Tibetan control was known to the Chinese as Qingtangcheng. Recovered by the song dynasty in 1104, it received the name Xining (meaning "peace in the west") and has been the seat of a prefecture or superior prefecture under that name since that time. With the rise of Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism), which began in the 7th century AD, Xining became an important religious center; Qinghai's largest lamasery, a holy place to the Yellow Hat sect of Buddhists, was located at Kunbum, some 19 km to the southeast.