The Detailed Route of the Bingchacha Line

There are many self-driving routes to Tibet, including the seven major routes. The Bingchacha Line is considered one of the most perilous and thrilling among the seven routes. Below, we recommend a detailed itinerary for the Bingchacha Line. Let’s take a look!

Self-driving Route

Bingchacha: Bingzhongluo (Yunnan) – Cawa Long (Tibet) – Zayu (Tibet), 305 kilometers in total.

Bingzhongluo

To reach the starting point of the Bingchacha Line, Bingzhongluo, you can either start from Lushui and take G219 to reach it, or start from Deqin and take the Degong line. Our route is the former, and we can try the Degong line next time. It is said that the Degong highway passes through the core area of the Three Parallel Rivers, encompassing half of the beauty of Yunnan, but the road conditions are not good. Although the praises online are generally discounted, curiosity drives us to check it out sometime.

If you take G219 to Bingzhongluo, when you see the first bend of the Nujiang River, Bingzhongluo is close, only 4 kilometers away.

Continuing forward, when you see this peninsula surrounded by water on three sides, I was stunned for a moment. Why is there another “first bend”? My “face blindness” seems to also have “landscape blindness”. The Ma Ti Wan bends all look similar, and even this one seems to be the real first bend of the Nujiang River.

However, its name is Peach Blossom Island, named after the peach blossoms that bloom in spring. However, the peach blossom blooming season is from early March to early April. We arrived here in late April, not only missing the peach blossom bloom, but also the greenest time of the river water (from the Spring Festival to early April).

“The place where gods and men live together” – this romantic title adds a touch of mystery to Bingzhongluo.

But in fact, Bingzhongluo does not have the imagined romance. It is called “the place where gods and men live together” because there is not only the Puhu Temple, a Tibetan Buddhist Kagyu sect temple, but also a Catholic church, the Chongding Church, built by the French a hundred years ago.

After seeing the Christian church in Laomudeng Village, I was not surprised to find a Catholic church in Bingzhongluo. Instead, I was surprised by the new look of Bingzhongluo. Not only was a new highway built, but the green belt along the road was also carefully designed. It was not the casual style of a mountain town. All this is actually an extension of the Yunnan “Nujiang Beautiful Highway” project.

Staying in a homestay in Bingzhongluo, you can see the amazing changes in Bingzhongluo.

Large floor-to-ceiling windows, the bright outside is green mountains. The owner, Zaxi, is a genuine Tibetan guy who understands the tourists’ preferences, and his wife is from the Nu ethnic group.

In the morning, all the guests staying at the homestay sit in Zaxi’s kitchen, eating breakfast and listening to Zaxi tell his story. Zaxi lost his parents when he was 11 years old, and he started doing all kinds of jobs to support himself. He farmed, herded, worked outside, drove a truck… until finally returning to open a homestay.

Zaxi talks about the hardships of his childhood, the poverty of Bingzhongluo, but there is no displeasure in his telling.

“We Tibetans all believe in the afterlife. This life is for suffering, so it’s okay.” His mouth even had a faint smile.

But in fact, the happiness of Zaxi and others has come with the construction of the road, and they no longer have to wait for the afterlife.

Cawa Long

The Bingchacha Line begins, from Bingzhongluo to Cawa Long, the beautiful road continues to be beautiful.

Even the narrowest part of the Nujiang Canyon – the Shimenguan, even though it is flanked by sheer cliffs on both sides, no longer feels dangerous because of the good road passing through it.

Is the Bingchacha Line really so good after the road is repaired? I muttered to myself. However, this is just my misunderstanding of the Bingchacha Line. Everything has just begun, how can you draw conclusions too early?

After the Shimenguan, continue forward for about 4 kilometers, you will see Wuli Village on the opposite side of the Nujiang River.

You can enter the village from two suspension bridges, north and south. The south entrance is the new bridge, a pure steel frame bridge; the north entrance is the abandoned old bridge, but a rope bridge has been built next to it.

Choosing the rope bridge at the north entrance, after crossing the river here, you can walk a section of the trough carved out of the cliff to enter the village. This section of the trough was once the Tea-Horse Road.

Walking on the Tea-Horse Road, which is about one meter wide, and then looking at G219 on the opposite side of the river with cars coming and going, it feels like you have traveled through time in an instant.

This ancient trail is about 1.5 kilometers long, and you can reach Wuli Village.

Wuli Village, as its name suggests, is beautiful to see from afar, shrouded in mist. Just admire it from across the river, don’t go inside.

The Yunnan-Tibet boundary, full of ritual sense, not only has large “Yunnan” and “Tibet” written on the mountain wall, but also “Bingchacha” written on the ground. Although a closer look reveals it is an advertisement, we have to say, this advertisement is really well placed.

No one who drives through here will miss out on checking in here. I’m no exception. This is my fifth trip to Tibet.

Reaching the Yunnan-Tibet boundary means the end of the Yunnan section of the “Bingchacha Line” and the beginning of the Tibet section; but it also means the end of the paved road and the beginning of the bumpy and rough road.

The silky smooth paved road in Yunnan quickly switches to a bumpy semi-paved road. As soon as the car passes, dust rises, as if you’re back in the Ali uninhabited area three years ago.