Yunnan - Part 3: Shangri-La

Shangri-La

Well, this one should be short. Our next stop in Yunnan after the gorge was the famous city of Shangri-La, formerly known as Zhongdian. The Chinese renamed the city years ago to draw in tourists. Supposedly this is the city/area mentioned in the book, Lost Horizon by James Hilton.....although he never actually visited the place! After visiting the city - twice - I decided it’s not all that. I will say however, that I did visit during the “off season”. Many places were closed up for the winter......so maybe one day I will give it a chance during the summer.

Shangri-La was very cold during our visit! I saw snow and ice for the first time in about a year! In fact, it was so cold I had to go to a local “department store”(a term I use loosely) and purchase some wool socks - which of course were far too small for my big ass feet. Like most places in China(that I have been to), there are no heaters in buildings - including our hostel! We relied mostly on heavy blankets and an electric blanket. We froze our asses off. I only had a fleece and a windbreaker as well. Ice on the streets made walking somewhat treacherous in some areas - Bill and David falling down.

We didn’t stay long in Shangri-La(both times for me - once with Linda). We visited a couple of monasteries. One being the Sumtseling Monastery, which is supposedly modeled after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. This monastery was rather large and had many temples within it. We got to see were the monks slept - basically on wooden planks with a blanket! We were even invited to sit and eat fruit with some monks. We were unable to communicate with them, as they only spoke Tibetan. In fact, a lot of people here only speak Tibetan......and almost all signs are in Tibetan and Mandarin. Before we went into the monastery, we had to walk through a village - which we had to pay to get into! This village was one of the most rundown areas I have seen. It was odd to see this large, amazing monastery as the backdrop for this poor little town. We had to walk up a long, long flight of stairs to get to the monastery. Awaiting us at the top were two little children - maybe 3 or 4 years old - one boy and one girl. They “demanded” money from us! They were dressed in traditional Tibetan clothing and looked very ornate - almost like they were trying out for a Tibetan beauty pageant! They told Bill to give them money for a picture - and he did! I however, just kept walking. Forget that. Later when I returned with Linda, they asked her for money while I was not around...she gave them about 20 kuai.....then asked for more! One little girl actually stood in Linda’s path and refused to let her walk down the stairs until she got more money! I had to block a path in front of the girl so Linda could sneak by! Little assholes!

Not much else was done in Shangri-La. Visited some local shops - those that were open! Bought nothing - everything seemed overpriced. Additionally, I am having a difficult time picking out authentic goods from the regions I am visiting. It it hard to tell if something is simply mass produced in a factory in Shenzhen! I have seen goods in Yunnan that I saw in Yangshuo - they are not very near each other! I guess I can always tell people it’s authentic - they will never know! We ate some local food - mostly yak meat. Tastes pretty much like regular beef to me. The hostel we chose was nice. The owners were very friendly and gave us tips on where to go and how to leave. One man even carried Linda’s luggage to get a taxi - almost half a mile! Visiting Shangri-La really made me want to see Tibet. I am hoping I can make that happen - maybe this summer!

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