Heavy rains last night caused landslides and kept us from visiting the Gyarong village, Chongio and Suopo…View image, originally scheduled on the itinerary and too dangerous to attempt. The only option would have been a very muddy two-hour walk in each direction up the mountain something that none of us relished. Instead, Mr. Wang drove to Jiaju Village, a more touristy Gyarong village…View image… that had guesthouses, restaurants and huge tour buses on the road (including one that almost wiped us out)…View image.

The Gyarong people are Tibetan even though they dress differently from the Khampas. The short story, according to Dondup (take all his facts with a grain of salt), is… “the Khampas slaughtered the Gyarong men in battle eons ago and took their women in marriage. The result is a half Tibetan-half Chinese mix -”Jah” means Chinese, “Row”, Tibetan.” Tourists are drawn to this spectacular mountain area in ever increasing numbers to see the distinctive, unique Fortress-like houses (many turned into guesthouses) and ancient watchtowers. That is why Danba is referred to as “The Land of Fairy Tale Villages.”

Jiaju houses and watchtowers spread over the hillside in the Danba area, China 

a typical Jiaju Village Tibetan house, China 

Jiaju Village sign, in Chinese only, China
Mr. Wang parked the car and we began walking up the road…View image, admiring colorful and multi-level houses set among fruit orchards, conversing with the Gyarong people (via Mr. Wang and Dondup’s translations)…View image, and hearing about their lifestyle.

- Each house belongs to a single family with an average size of five persons. It is a detached multi-layer wooden house with a flat roof. The bottom is usually for livestock, kitchen and sitting area with bedrooms on the next level. The flat roof is used to dry grain…View image…store tools or sleep if the days are too hot. The outside walls are decorated with Tibetan symbols and colors. There are always prayer flags on the houses, changed every year.

- Marriages are arranged.

- 150 families live in Jiaju Village.

- We spotted just one old watch tower used to keep an eye out for enemies and too crumbly to go near.

old watchtower in Jiaju Village, China
The gate…View image… to one house had four stones on top of each post that act as prayer flags…

entrance to the Jiaju owner’s property in China
Mr. Wang suggested that we walk through one of these incredibly colorful guesthouses…View image… (watch the video below)…to see how the Gyarong Tibetans live…View image. Chinese tourists had spent the night here and a bride-to-be was busy posing for wedding pictures in both her wedding dress…View image… and typical Gyarong outfit.

stunning bride-to-be in a fancy Gyarong traditional outfit, China
The “Fairy Tale Villages of Danba” are completely unique and I encourage you to visit when you come this way. Back down the mountainous road…View image… where even the road workers were dressed in traditional Gyarong fashion…

Gyarong roadworkers outside of Danba, China
Lunch and then time to visit the Danba Market. After all, what would a small town be without an interesting market?