5 Days in Yushu

Land at Batang Airport (about 3,900 m) and go slow; the ridge-top monastery has stood above Gyegu for over 600 years, and the museum lays out the plateau, the rivers and the rebuilding after the 2010 quake, magnitude 7.1.

1. yushu jiegu monastery
2. yushu prefecture museum

Hundreds of millions of carved stones have piled up at the mani site since 1715; the grassland toward the airport holds herder camps at about 4,000 m — in July the horse-racing festival fills the meadows.

1. yushu gyanak mani
2. yushu batang grassland

About 20 km south, the gorge carving dates back some 1,300 years; Leba Gorge adds a stream lined with prayer stones — a quiet half-day loop from town.

1. yushu princess wencheng temple
2. yushu leba gorge

The Tongtian runs some 800 km as the upper Yangtze; the Three-River-Source monument by the river marks the headwaters protected inside Sanjiangyuan, China's first national-park pilot from 2016.

1. yushu tongtian river
2. yushu sanjiangyuan monument

The Longbaotan wetlands about 70 km west sit near 4,200 m and shelter breeding black-necked cranes in summer; return for the roughly 2-hour evening flight to Xining.

1. yushu longbaotan reserve