Blogs from Zhongdian, Yunnan, China, Asia

CHINA: Zhongdian...the Road to Shangri-la. We have all been on hairy precipitous roads...one of the best...the road we took from Lijiang to reach the reason for my first trip to China...Shangri-la...brilliant. The road beyond to Tibet...impassible due to heavy snow. First bend of the Yangtze...the river takes a 180 degree turn...then heads deep into China...all the way to Shanghai. Signs warning not to swim across...as if...vendors around small fires...only moving if we approach their tables of wares. Bought a Tibetan mirror and a Tibetan necklace with a pendant of a minature feather one side & a dagger the other...wore it for the rest of the trip...as well as my later trips to China...special piece among the truckloads of souvenirs I have bought to assist the Chinese economy. Into the 8 seater heading into the mountains...STOP...road blocked...Detour ... read more

Shangri La (Zhongdian) maybe Diqing Who knows where we really are. The town’s name was changed to Shangri La in 2001 to try and tap into the tourist trade. Anyway we are a long way from anywhere on a plateau, snuggled between mountains on the border with Tibet. The Tibetan influence is very strong here though it is obvious who is in charge and it stems from Beijing. A massive amount of money is being spent. To increase the Chinese tourist trade and appease the locals. We are staying in the old town which has the echoes of culture and tradition slowly being eroded by modernization. Traditional clothed women walk the streets while sports stores selling Nike overlap. The locals know they need the money but don’t want to lose their roots. Shangri La is unsure ... read more

I listened to classic and hard rock on the way north, staring out and seeing the plentiful hills of the Yunnan countryside progressively turn into bigger and grander mountains. As the bus arrived in Shangri-La, or Zhongdian as it is also known, the transformation was complete as the snow covered mountains could be seen abound. After leaving the station, and noticing the air was quite cool, I wandered through streets (yet again) until I approached the old town. I checked into Kevin's Trekker Inn just outside and then explored. This town is highly Tibetan, as can be seen through architecture, food, and even the people's faces. At one point I had been entertaining the idea of visiting Tibet, but due to the government restrictions in place and the cost just for the permit I said forget ... read more

From Dali I took a sleeper bus to Shangri-la, because I didn’t feel like spending the whole day travelling again. The stories, however, about backpacks being cut open in these buses scared me a lot. Even the owner of the guesthouse warned me about them. He said I should just put all my belongings in my large backpacks, because the robberies took place in the bus itself and not in the luggage compartment. So I packed everything in my backpack and took another bag, which someone had left on purpose, as hand luggage. It turned out that they did not put any bags in the special compartment and that I had to take everything with me in the bus... The result was that I was so afraid that someone would cut my backpack open that I ... read more

Shangri-la (aka Zhongdian) is Paradise! To back up a little, Zhongdian is the farthest north into Yunnan province that we go, and also (alas) the closest to Tibet. Turns out that Tibetan culture actually extends far more than the region on maps suggests - this is one of those non-tibetan regions that is full of Tibetan people and culture! Leaving from Lijiang, the 5 hour bus ride took us through the mountain range that features Tiger Leaping Gorge, and then breaks out into beautiful dry plains with landscapes, flowers, buildings and faces different to anywhere we've been so far. We arrived in the afternoon expecting it to be freezing but it was warm and sunny and inviting (the sky has never been so blue!). Spent an afternoon strolling the old city, similar to Lijiang or Dali ... read more