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Published: September 12th 2011
Shangri-la (and Lijiang) – An unexpected diversion but an insight of what is to come in Tibet.
Because the heavy rain meant we were unable to trek the Tiger leaping gorge it was a quick impulse decision between myself, Steffi and Bianca to head to Shangri-la for a couple of days to experience the Tibetan culture and undertake a bit of exploration and trekking. The roads leading from Lijiang to Shangri-la are very much under construction, which is a similar story to the rest of China with large scale development everywhere you go. It’s very difficult to describe the roads but basically they are a cross between mud and rocks, when wet it’s like driving through a shallow stream and when it’s dry it is like going through a sand storm. Two hours of these roads were going to make for an interesting journey. From time to time you got stretches of nice tarmac roads, however at these points the locals decided to make the most of the ability to get some speed up and about every 500 yards there would be a crashed car on the side of the road in the huge drainage ditches because they had failed
to realise how slippery the roads where. I did get a bit nervous when our very safe bus driver clipped a huge rock that sent the back of the bus across the other side of the road, but he didn’t seem to care so neither did I (externally that is, inside however I was sh*tting myself!)
Once we arrived in Shangri-la there was a noticeable change in temperature and altitude, the air was clean, the skies were blue and there was space on the streets to walk without continually knocking into everyone, all in all a very welcome change from the busy cities and the manic daily life ever present in most of China.
Things were clearly different in Shangri-la, the thing that struck me first were the smiles on the faces of the locals, it put you instantly at ease and you just wanted to smile back in recognition of their happiness. It would appear most people here lead quite simple, humble lives doing very hard manual work but I guess there must be some truth in the saying “the best things in life are free” because the sense of community and friendship between the locals was
clearly evident and a touch infectious. This was no more evident than at the daily gathering to undertake the local dance in the square, I didn’t try it here because I felt I had done my bit in Lijiang.
Once we dropped off our bags we went to explore, it’s became apparent Yak’s are quite popular here and as you will see I did the very touristy thing of riding one, it had to be done, but be warned it was bloody painful, enough said! Because the ride was so uncomfortable I decided it was only fair to eat a Yak burger as recompense for my suffering…… The Yak burger was delicious, certainly up there as being one of the best burgers I’ve ever had, McD’s could take a lesson or two here. However I was put off from eating horse meat after I saw pretty much a complete dead horse in front of me at a local store, it just goes to show presentation is key.
The same evening we met up with a local tour guide called Tom who we hired to show us round the following day. During our meeting Tom mentioned the local tea,
called Tibetan Tea which is basically a butter tea, I had to try it as you can see in the photo. I decided to leave out the post tasting photo because it was not a great sight, is summary the tea was disgustingly sweet and this is coming from someone with a very sweet tooth, but I just had to try it and it seemed to amuse the rest of the group who all sat there happily with their normal tea.
The following day we set off with Tom to a local Monastery called Sumtsenling. It was a beautiful monastery with about 900 practising monks. Tom took the time to explain in great detail about many of the traditions relating to Buddhism and the daily lives of the monks as well as all the drawings on the walls. There is no way we would have had half the experience without Tom’s input, I’m certainly sold on the fact that local guides can bring a whole new dimension to your experience.
The final part of our tour was to trek across some of the local mountains and finish with some food and drinks with a local family. The trek
was exactly what we had all hoped for, there was no one else around and the path was barely walk on, we were passing through fields, mountains, villages and forest areas without seeing anyone it was so picture perfect that you just allowed yourself to switch off and follow the leader (not to dissimilar to the cattle or in some cases the Chinese!)
The day finished with us spending time at a local farmer’s house trying some Yak’s cheese and taking in the surroundings of their family home. The cheese was terrible and after one bite I felt a Dragon’s den moment come on “I’m out!”
This would bring about the end to my time in Shangri-la, it was a brilliant time spent with two great friends Steffi and Bianca who are now hopefully enjoying the remainder of their holiday in Thailand. Don’t forget to send me some info on where to go and what to do.
The next day I headed back to Lijaing for a few days, because I did not get to see anything of Lijiang on my first visit I spent a couple of days exploring and trying to get all my laundry
done after the Tiger leaping gorge, I was in desperate need of some clean clothes because it was getting to the point where inside out and back to front were no longer an option!!! I’m sure my roommates loved me for the first day, the joys of dorm rooms I guess, but I didn’t mind because it felt like pay back for all the soring I’ve had to put up with. Travelling is brilliant fun but sometimes you long for the comforts of home and your own bed.
Whilst in Lijiang I met Maam who is from Thailand, she had just come back from the Tiger leaping gorge as well. We somehow convinced each other that we should go clubbing, but to our surprise the clubs closed at 11:30, what is that about???? So we called it a night and went back to the hostel where when I opened the door to our room I was presented with a view of a 50 year old woman in a pair of Bridget Jones pants with her butt looking right at me. It was not the imagine I wanted to take to bed with me, but again another example of the
draw backs to dorm rooms. I don’t know why I’m sharing these things with you but it seemed to make me laugh at the time. But I also just wish she would learn to close the door when she went to the toilet also…… she really did treat the place like home!
On my final day in Lijiang Maam and I spent it wondering the streets, visiting Black Dragon Pool Park and generally enjoying the peace and quiet. It was a really great end to my time in Yunnan province, which is by far the highlight of my time spent in China. The cities are incredible but the countryside is out of this world and sums up what I thought China would be like. Although sadly I feel the next 20 years bring about unrecognisable changes to these beautiful places, I really hoped I’m proved wrong.
Well that’s pretty much it from Yunnan, it’s time to head off to Chengdu for my last couple of days before Tibet, to say I’m looking forward to this part of my trip is a mild understatement!
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