Blogs from Shangri-La, Yunnan, China, Asia - page 6

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Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La March 21st 2008

I'm once again a few days behind as I've been in the Tiger Leaping Gorge for the past three days and they don't have a lot of internet access there! So here goes with a little catch up. Monday the 17th..... As I'm not going to Tibet (probably a wise choice at the moment) I find myself in Shangri-la, or also known as Zhongdian The five hours to here by bus from Lijiang was made all the easier by the spectacular landscape I passed through on the way. I think I might have made a mistake in a previous blog by mentioning that Shangri-la's Tibetan name is Zhongdian if I did I was wrong and the Tibetan name is in fact Gyeltang or Gyalthang. Apologies to any Tibetan readers! It seems I'm coming here right at ... read more

Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La March 15th 2008

Dag allemaal, Met lood in onze schoenen en te veel kilo's op onze rug slenterden we op 5 maart moedeloos de Chinese grens weer over. Na drie zalige maanden van luxe, easy traveling en warme temperaturen stuurden we onszelf weer het onverbiddelijke China in. Ons plan was om zo weinig mogelijk tijd door te brengen in Han-land (90% van de Chinezen zijn Han: het rochelende, boerende, overgevende, lawaaierige, weinig cooperatieve ras waar we stilletjesaan genoeg exemplaren van gezien hebben) en zo snel mogelijk door te trekken naar de minderheidsvolkeren in het zuidwesten van het land. Gelukkig liep ons plan gesmeerd: in amper vier dagen tijd doorkruisten we 4 provincies en legden we zo'n 2000km af. De eerste halte werd Dali, een toeristisch maar charmant Naxi-dorp waarvan de originele omwalling nog rechtstaat. De winkel met "real Belgian ... read more
Litang
Shangri-la
Dali

Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La February 29th 2008

So I think this is now our sixth day in Shangrila and we're feeling fully recovered from our bout of giardia and ready to get back on the road.. G was having a hard time recovering and refused to take any meds until we managed to get enough for both of us, so we checked out the local pharmacy and later the hospital to see if we could get more metronidazol. After getting in contact with an American doctor, we managed to get more than enough meds. Luckily G managed to recover without needing any. We were actually thinking of leaving a couple of days earlier but it's been snowing and the roads were quite icy. We really enjoyed the Tibetan culture and people in this area and visited the Songzanlin monastery where you get basically ... read more
G-Scarf
Monastery
Traditional Dress

Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La December 23rd 2007

I am wearing most of my clothes; leggings, trousers and waterproof over trousers, 5 tops, a down jacket and my over jacket, plus two hats, 3 pairs of gloves and 2 pairs of socks. My fingers and toes are still completely frozen, but none of this is bothering me as the amazing night sky full of stars is reflected in the big river which is gently flowing past me on my right. The moon rose at about 4 am as we were packing up our camp, struggling with the ice encrusted tent and stiff bags. Now this silver light casts long weird shadows of the spidery poplars across the frozen road. We pedal along in the dark, our head torches switched off for this clandestine ride. This really does feel like madness, the afternoon before it ... read more
Best Road to Cycle in the World?
The Great Artist- Nature
Cold Sunset

Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La August 31st 2007

Many different locations have been suggested for the site of James Hilton's fictitious Shangrila - somewhere in the mountainous tangle of the Himalayas and Kunlun Mountains. The Chinese government are promoting the area of Zhongdian in the extreme north of Yunnan province as their candidate. Zhongdian is the capital of the Dechen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and close by is the spectacular Ganden Sumsanling Monastery, sometimes called the Songzanlin Lamasery, built by the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century. This was once referred to as the summer palace of the Dalai Lama and certainly looks like the Potala Palace in Lhasa. It is the home of 800 monks today, many of them very young boys. There are massive renovation and reconstruction works in progress ( Summer 2007) and the entrance is a sea of mud ... read more
Prayer wheels
Beautiful restoration work at the monastery.
Young monks tamping a new roof

Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La August 9th 2007

www.diariodeunviaje.com (todo en nuestra pagina web) SHANGRI-LA (tambien llamado ZHONGDIAN) (9-10/8) A 3.200m de altura y ya en la provincia de Yunnan, se encuentra esta ciudad con un bonito y pintoresco casco antiguo. La noche anterior habiamos quedado con una pareja de neozelandeses y otra americana para alquilar una minivan de Xiangcheng-Zhongdian, ya que nuestros amigos catalanes se han tenido que ir en ambulancia. Negociar el precio de la furgoneta es complicado porque entre los conductores hay una mafia montada y ninguno se atreve a bajar el precio. Todos piden 700¥/van independientemente del numero de personas que sean. Ademas, se aprovechan de que en Xiangcheng los autobuses son escasos y muchas veces no queda mas remedio que compartir una furgoneta entre varios. Al final tenemos que aceptar los 700¥, pero cuando llevamos una hora de trayecto, ... read more
Mercado de comida en la plaza
Cena romantica (chill out y noodles)
Baile multitudinario

Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La May 13th 2007

Today we met with Pasang, Poo Poo (true) and the 4x4 - our guide, driver and transport until we reach Nepal in 3 weeks time. Independent travel in Tibet is not allowed, and since we cannot think of many things worse than joining some of the tour groups we have crossed paths with, we have decided to splash out and do this trip properly by hiring a Landcruiser and these 2 Tibetans. To start things off we have a 180km drive today broken up with 2 monasteries and 2 high passes. The first monastery is probably not the best of starts, but we guess it can only get better from now on, as it is being heavily refurbished but all at the same time, so it looks like a bomb has hit the place, pathways ... read more
One of many high passes
Gemma at the top
Prayer wheels at another high pass

Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La November 23rd 2006

Shangri La, auf ueber 3200 m, es ist kalt hier. Bitterkalt. 2 Hosen, Muetze, Handschuhe, langes Unterhemd, Pulli, 2 Jacken, Mamas selbstgestrickte Wollsocken... ... und trotzdem frier ich hier. Im Bett gibts gottseidank Heizdecken, so das die Naechte auszuhalten sind. Die Einheimischen hier halten sich abends mit ca. 2 Stunden durchtanzen am Marktplatz warm. Ich weiss nicht wieviele Menschen das sind, aber der Marktplatz ist voll, das Alter der Tanzenden reicht von 3 bis 90 Jahren. Schoen anzuschauen wie alt und jung, Mann und Frau miteinander tanzen. Am ersten Abend gingen wir mit den zwei Norwegern essen, und als wir auf dem Weg zum Hostel waren, lief mir Sylvia wieder ueber den Weg, die zu der Zeit eigentlich schon in Thailand sein wollte. Wir kamen gemeinsam aus der Mongolei und reisten gemeinsam weiter bis X'ian,wo sich ... read more
Shangri La
Shangri La
Shangri La

Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La October 13th 2006

Kanding - Tagong - Litang - Xiang Cheng - Zhong Dian/Shangri La - Lijiang - Kunming Shangri La is generally recognised as being some kind of heaven on earth, a remote & hidden Himalayan paradise. No one really knows where it is, in fact most suspect that it doesn't really exist at all. It was perhaps made most famous by James Hilton's 1933 work of fiction 'Lost Horizon' - the book being largely based at a mysterious monastery hidden in the impenetrable depths of the Himalayan mountains. Various towns & regions in China, Tibet, India & Bhutan have all tried to claim the name Shangri La as their own. In fact as you arrive at Zhong Dian bus station in South West China the signs even welcome you to Shangri La rather than Zhong Dian. But ... read more
Prayer Flags
Tagong Locals
Learning English

Asia » China » Yunnan » Shangri-La August 22nd 2006

Shangri-la otherwise known as Zhongdian is close to the Tibetan border at about 3,300 m. The flight back from Lhasa was again beautiful and I soaked in the aerial vistas. Although the 'old town' is mostly new (in old style) the local people are genuinely friendly - the women distinctive in their pink headgear. I hung out in the square with Hank (a dutch off duty tour guide) eating baked potatoes and kebabs from the stalls. Also had a brief addiction for local icecreams. One of the highlights was the tradional? dancing round the square in the evening - everbody getting into it. A wee side trip to natural limestone bridge and hot pools was a bit of an anti-climax but the company of seaoned travellers was a pleasure - tales from all over the planet. ... read more
Zongtian dancing it up
On the road from Shangri La
Lijian




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