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Zhongdian is a small town high in the mountains just outside of Tibet. The population, architecture, food, etc. are Tibetan. In 2001 the Chinese authorities officially changed the name to Shangri-La (or as the Chinese say "Shangri-Li-La") to capitalize on their claim that Zhongdian is the basis for the fictional city in James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon. This is purely a marketing strategy to make it the next stop in the popular Dali, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge trail. Knowing this going in made the town an interesting study on how the Chinese economic mega-machine approaches tourism.
Having said that, it was actually a nice place to spend a few days. The "old" town, which is partially authentic and partially expansion, was as close to Lhasa (Tibet) as I was going to get this trip. I took an old school motorcycle through the mountains and highland fields around Zhongdian. They have these great yellow wild flowers that grow all over the place and the Tibetan villagers wear amazingly colorful clothes that mix with the flowers while they work the fields. The high altitude made for a nice cold ride.
Every night a hundred or so people gather in
the old town's main square, form a circle and dance to music being pumped out of bad speakers from one of the shops. Its not organized, just a random gathering of all ages and types with a few westerners mixed in to screw with the syncronicity.
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Brenda
non-member comment
WOW, cannot wait to see pictures of you and Adriano, how neat you two have to meet each other. So kind of him to make quick plans to hook up with you, know you had a blast talking about all the places you have been in the last year with him and in different languages you both speak. Travel Safe Ryan, Love You, Brenda