Kham

Kham

The eastern region of Tibet, Known as Kham, incorporates the eastern Tibetan autonormous Region (TAR), Western Sichuan and Northwest Yunnan. It has a rugged terrain characterized by mountain ridges and gorges running from northwest to southeast.

The nonthern and western Kham consist most high altitude grasslands that are above 4000m. The southern Kham has numerous rivers, including the Mekong River, Yarlung River, and the Salween River flow through, which form lands and weather allowing Tibetan farmers to grow barley, wheat , and other vegetables and fruit trees. The eastern Kham is between 2500m – 3500m, are covered in thick evergreen forests.

Kham was the home of many early Repoches, lamas, including the founders of the Drigungpa and Karmapa. In1070, many buddhists fled persecution in central Tibet to Kham, where they set up influential monasteries, and returning to central Tibet to spearhead the so-called second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet. Those ealy built monasteries are still standing on its original site, even some of those were destroied in the 20 century, but being rebuilt after 1990′s 20th century; There are two main routes through the region to Lhasa. The Southern road takes in the best of the alpine scenery. The Northern road is a higher route that riding through ancient temples, and herdings; The best times to travel through on this two routes are from late March to May, and from September to early December. At another months the roads temporarily blocked from a couple of hours to a few days due to a landslide caused by rain. However, Kham has a different climate from the other region of central Tibet. The summer monsoon brings a lot of rain from early June to September, Snowfall generally starts in the late October.

Kham Map

Kham also gains much of its charm from its people, whom is called “Khampa“, is known as the warriors of Tibetan. Nowadays, Khampas are dressed in sheepskin cloaks and braided hair, cruise the region’s roads on their motorbikes in stead of horses. Linguists and anthropologists refer to Kham as the ‘Ethnic Corridor of Southwest China’, as its vast and sparsely populated territories are inhabited by over 14 distinct ethnic groups, 12 of which are virtually unknown outside of Sichuan.