Hongyuan (red plain) got its name as Red Army passed this place during the famous Long March, a tough traverse of grassland where there was no nomads living there at that time. Primier Zhou Enlai named this county “Red Plain” in order to memorize the Red Army Long March. In the year of 1936, the Red Army passed across the the huge grassland area which was a tough traverse and during those days no nomads were living there at. Today, the grassland is covered with thousands of cattle and sheep, it is hard to imagine the wild past. When spring falls down the grassland flowers are blooming. The endless green grassland is really colorful. People can enjoy the beautiful landscape: the clear blue sky, wild blooming flowers, limitless pasture, the herds of yarks and sheep wandering here and there.

On the grassland near Hongyuan, several white Chortens stand in alignment, their white sacred shape contrasting beautifully to the grassland and blue sky. In Hongyuan, apart from visiting these Chortens, you can also rent a horse from Tibetan nomads to ride on the vast grassland.

Zoige (Ruo'ergai) in Chinese is pronounced uoergai. At an elevation of 3,470 meters, surrounded by grasslands, Zoige is a town with few modern buildings. There were no newspaper for sale in Zoige during our visit! Maybe local people either don have time or interest to read newspapers. Vegetables, transported from lower land, are very precious. Fortunately there is a beautiful monastery at the east end of the town where you can spend most of your time. Visitors are always invited by monks or nuns to have a cup ofTibetan butter tea. Because it is located in the romote area the supply of electricity is a problem. It always has electricity cut-off even some places have electrical metwork.

The first bend of the Yellow River, whick is about 65km west to Zoige, is worth visiting. The river coming from west turns northward around Tangke, flowing through a wonderful landscape of wild flowers, meadows. You can stay overnight at a fabulous Tibetan monastery.