The Sally’s Cafe Tagong is a very good place to venture a little farther inland Tibetan Sichuan. On the advice of the owner, we leave for two days to celebrate the horse (Saima), which takes place every year in a valley near Tagong.

We are loaded for a destination that remains unclear even today. We leave for an hour drive and climb to a tiny village on a mountainside. We go off for a hour to get to the other side of the mountain. We are more than 4000 meters above sea level but our lungs are pretty well instantly.

Once past the ridge, we enter another world: the Tibetan nomads. The white tents are grouped inside a wide valley Bustling hundreds of Tibetans are all in costume and many of them on horseback. Many yaks dot the valleys that stretch out of sight.

It is not yet noon, but we are already invited to join us to diners in a tent. We are surrounded by Tibetans do not speak Mandarin, they hardly seem surprised by our arrival and we propose to share their meal. This is the first in a long series of gestures of hospitality. The sinophone Tibetan guide who accompanied us until we leave any free time in the afternoon.

We allow free rein to our curiosity and take part in public for all the day’s activities. Indeed, the audience is fascinating as the activities themselves but very interesting.

A great race which stretches over several valleys opens the festivities. Riders will find wood pallets numbered and then bring the village center.

We are also witnessing a splendid demonstration of cavalry. Horses come and go in the middle of a path made of spectators. Simple parade, it becomes a race to retrieve and scarfs apples litter the ground.

Then, other riders we make a final demonstration of their art: they are dressed in colorful clothes with long sleeves and parade at full gallop, reindeer dropped by making full arm motion. Their passes are colorful.

The festival concludes with several hours of songs and dances. Despite the scorching sun, nor dancers, nor the public fatigue after more than 3 hours of entertainment.

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The Onkor Festival (Harvest Festival) is one of the most popular and busy festivals in the rural areas of Tibet. During that time, people enjoy with horse racing games, costume fashion show, songs and dance archery and picnic etc. The best places to catch this festival are in rural Tibet.
It is said that the Onkor Festival has enjoyed a history of more than1500 years. According to the relevant Tibetan documents, aqueducts were constructed in the Yalong area at the end of the 5thcentury AD, people began to use wooden ploughs to plow, and the agricultural production was comparatively developed. In order to ensure the plenteous harvest, the Tibet King sbu-de-gung-rgyal asked the hierarch of Bon religion for guidance. Following the tenets of Bon religion, the hierarch of Bon religion taught the peasants to walk around their field, beseeching the Heaven for a plenteous harvest, which is the origin of the Onkor. But the Onkor was not a formal festival at that time, only an activity before reaping the crops.

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The Bathing Festival usually falls on the first ten days of July according to Tibetan calendar. Lasting a week, it is also known as the Bathing Week. As the Qishan star(or Venus) rises to the sky, the mass bathing starts. Tibetans believe that at this time the water in the river becomes its purest and has curative powers. Therefore, Tibetans consider it opportune to take advantage of this one-week period each year to bathe in the river! During the seven days, tens of thousands of Tibetan men and women go to river or lake to have baths. The tents, big or small, dot the beach and Lingka into a colourful world.

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The Butter Lamp Festival, Chunga Choepa in Tibetan, falls on the fifteenth day of the first Tibetan month. The event was also established in 1409 by Tsong Khapa to celebrate the victory of Sakyamuni against heretics in a religious debate. In his dream, all beautiful flowers and trees appeared in front of Buddha. He commissioned monks to make flowers and trees with colored butter. This tradition has been maintained to this day. Various giant butter and butter sculptures, in forms of auspicious symbols and figures, are displayed on Barkhor Street, such as flowers, birds, and animals, Large scale butter sculptures about stories of Buddha, Princess Wencheng, Han story of `Monkey’ and also Scaffoldings several stories high will be erected at many monasteries and thousands of lamps will be hung on them. The lantern show is held on the evening and last all night until dawn. The preparation takes a good part of four months. People keep singing and dancing in great joy throughout the festive nigh.

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