Shangri-La

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Shangri-La is such big business now that the idea of going to a town renamed after the fabled landscape in James Hilton's novel 'The Last Horizon' did not immediately appeal. Formerly Zhongdian, the local government declared the county's peaks and valleys to be that which is described in Hilton's novel. Hotels, travel agencies and even airports followed suit and the Shangri-La phenomenon was born.

We had planned to pass through on route to Deqin, a further six hours north, but the road was closed and so we stayed. In doing so we found welcoming rosy cheeked Tibetan people who danced in the town square and cared little for the Shangri-La boom.

At 3200m above sea level the two hour journey from Qiaotou was mainly up steep roads offering beautiful views when the clouds parted. As we got closer to town local Tibetan people hopped on and off the bumpy bus wearing colourful garments to keep warm. It was remarkably colder despite wearing our hats and gloves.

We took a taxi, shared with our trekking partner Marissa, through the less appealing new town to the Lijiang-like cobbled streets of Shangri-La's old town where we found a great room for £3 a night. Like so many Chinese settlements, the pre-fabricated new town was a sign of the future where young Tibetan women in short skirts passed traditional Tibetans in shawls. The old town had more character even though the shops outweighed the homes. That evening we watched as Tibetan people, young and old, danced in unison in the main square to music that blared from speakers above. I wasn't sure whether they were doing it to keep warm or as a religious ritual. It may well have been both but it was a great sight with the golden temple lit up above them.

The next day we tried to find out the latest news on the road to Deqin. Only a little English was spoken and so we were glad to come across Sean's Cafe No.2 and the affable Daisy. She spoke excellent English and told us that the road was closed for the next ten days as well as other helpful information regarding the area and travel. It wasn't until later that we found out she was the daughter of Sean who had been so rude to us at his G.H on the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Daisy couldn't have been more different as she offered advice before we had even looked at the menu. The food, like her advice, was excellent.

One useful peace of info we acquired whilst at Daisy's was that we could walk to the Buddhist monastery outside of town without paying the rather large 80 Yuan entrance fee. So we laced up and walked the two hour walk through the new town and over rolling hills with blossoming flowers. It was a beautiful day and the cold had turned warm especially with our walking.

The monastery was a huge complex of both impressive temples and Stupa's as well as rather ramshackle buildings that housed the 200 monks that lived within the walls. The Tibetan prayer flags that flapped in the wind were a poignant sight with blue skies and jagged mountain tops behind. After a few hours exploration we hopped on a bus out of the complex, past the guarded entrance and 80 Yuan (£8) still in our pockets.

The altitude had not effected us up until then but our day of walking in the sun had brought on a headache which we slept off for a few hours. Revived after a nap we had dinner at a local dumplings restaurant. By now we had realised it was a lot cheaper to eat in the less touristy new town and then wonder the old town afterwards.

One of the sights of Shangri-La town is the temple that looms over the old cobbled streets. The evening was a particularly special time to see it as the lights gave it a magical aura and a typically Chinese look. The giant prayer wheel, the main sight from town, that could be spun by groups of people pulling it was great fun and warmed us all up. It was here that Chinese tourists mixed with Tibetan worshipers and foreign travellers with no tourism in sight.

I was very glad we spent a few days in this rather special place. Shangri-La as a concept has bought more tourists to this part of Yunnan and in terms of providing jobs for locals instead of illegal logging, that is a good thing but whether it's Shangri-La or Zhongdian does not matter to us. It was it's own unique place.

The next leg of our route took us to Chengdu via a long, long journey. We left the high altitude of Shangri-La at 5pm on an overnight sleeper bus. We arrived in an unknown town in the warmth of southern Sichuan at 3am before we got the next train to Chengdu which left at midday. There was no sleeper available and only hard seat which made the twelve hour journey seem never ending. We were absolutely shattered by the time we reached Chengdu at midnight and found a suitably comfortable hostel.

The Loft was actually a very cool hostel and we did nothing the next day but chill and eat some spicy Sichuan food. It had certainly been a long trip. From here we booked our onward travel to Dan Ba another ten hours north-west. That's travel and I like it!

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Photos

Traditional home
stacks of fire wood

Town square by night
Communal dancing to keep warm