Cold, cold... COLD in Shangri La

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Up early in Shaxi as we had a hired mini bus (50 yuan couple) waiting to take us to Janchaun to catch a connecting bus to Shangri La. We nearly didn't make it to the waiting taxi on time as we found that we were locked in our courtyard hotel and after getting no response from the owners after banging on their door managed to find a lesser outside door unlocked - all this done by the light of a head torch as it was still dark and very cold! Glynnis and Seamus were waiting and the taxi left as soon as we boarded for the 45 minutes to Jinchaun. Soon we were all aboard a small bus and off to Shangri La (still known by it's original name of Zhongdian) which is situated on a high plateau close to the borders of Tibet and the Chinese province of Sichuan. It was quite an interesting four hour trip, though certainly not as mountainous as we were expecting.
As we got to Shangri La it was obvious how the region was developing. A massive new school had just been finished - opposite it were rows of housing apartments, presumably for the students and teachers. It was quite a few kilometres from Shangri La and surrounded with bare brown country. I guess that is the grassland area but because it was winter it was very brown and dry. We did see a lot of yaks, though they were much smaller than the enormous ones we saw in the Indian Himalayan region of Pin Valley. The school was ready for the beginning of the new school year in late February. The outskirts of the city was a hive of building activity. New houses were being constructed everywhere we looked. Massive wooden pole houses, with elaborately carved and colourfully decorated fronts, they were covered with plaster covered adobe. Under the roofline 'V' each house had wooden panels, all individually painted with patterns or drawings, inserted. The houses were really beautiful and no doubt expensive to build. Again it was great to see traditional styles being used and no Chinese white tile covered cement boxes being built.

We've never been this far north in Yunnan - last time our plans were thwarted due to severe flooding and rain. This year we were told has been a very poor winter, bitterly cold with virtually no snow, so little hope of good summer snow melt. We drove into the city itself and it was so much larger then we expected. Very wide streets with virtually no traffic or even crowds of people. Most of the new building were built in pseudo Tibetan style, rectangular with brown and black patterned window trims, and many of the official buildings were highlighted with golden domes on the roofs. From the bus station we caught a taxi (10 yuan) with Glynnis and Seamus to the old town (Dukezong) - though how much of it is actually very old is debatable as the Chinese Government have mastered the art of developing 'old towns'! Zhongdian was once a logging town but after a ban on deforestation was passed in 1998 the government changed to city's name to Shangri La and decided to develop tourism in the region. Though where they got the trees from I don't know as there was a distinct lack (maybe all previously all logged) of them.

We followed our taxi driver - who kindly showed us the way through the maze of cobbled streets- to a guest house that Glynnis and Seamus had previously booked but upon finding they had no eh suite rooms available Jerry and I set off to find another hotel. We started at the edge of the old town and worked our way back - eventually finding a Chinese modern hotel room (Agui Inn - up an alley) very clean with a great hot shower, intermittent wifi, and hard beds for 100 yuan a night. No English was spoken but the lady on the front desk was very kind. We realised later we were the only guests! Though we were rugged up the intense cold was really noticeable and we soon each added another layer. I spent the whole time there wearing a double layer of thermals, top and bottom, plus a multitude of outer layers and still felt cold all the time. I even had woollen glove liners on but ended up with badly split skin around my fingers which was very painful. You could feel the cold air burning into your exposed skin! The first place we visited was the local supermarket, just outside the old town, to purchase a $6 heater which did a remarkable job of taking the edge off the cold - if you stayed very close to it....

We wandered the tiny cobbled traffic free streets of the old town - a network of lanes ran off the central square which was lined with wooden fronted shops housing the usual array of shops and travel agencies. It was great to see shops selling the beautiful Tibetan thangba paintings, each one heavily embossed in gold and involving hours of work plus many other Tibetan products such as heavy red and turquoise jewellery and copper spinning prayer wheels. Each night in the square the local people come out and dance circular dances together (you see these group dances in most Chinese cities each evening) but we were surprised to see it here, particularly in the bitter chill of the winter night.

That evening we had trouble finding somewhere to eat dinner as many of the restaurants and cafes were closed as it was winter and off season. Despite this there were a lot of domestic tourists around - it must get very busy in summer. We eventually found a small Tibetan restaurant which was warm (at least as long as people weren't coming in from the street and filling the room up with the freezing outside air. We had a really good meal though - the Tibetan stuffed bread was particularly tasty. Enormous bowls of steaming vegetable noodle soup as well. I decided I wanted a glass of wine until the owner took a previously opened, dusty bottle of Chilean white wine off the top shelf.... I would have been drinking pure vinegar I'm sure! It was far too cold to wander the streets after dinner so we headed back to our respective hotels taking care not to slip on the icy cobble stones. Any water on them had frozen over and some of the streets were covered in large patches of ice. The temperature was well below zero after dark - in fact I'm sure it was below zero all day. We found out later that the region had seen little snow this winter and the locals were very concerned about the lack of snow melt this coming summer as they rely on it for water.

A Canadian man told us this when we met him in the street next day. He was a fascinating man as he had lived in the region on and off for the previous 20 years studying the Tibetan culture. We met him as he was walking home one afternoon with his four year old son who was on his sixth visit to China already. He also told us how prices had sky rocketed in the city - he had taken out a ten year lease on a house in 2003 for only 10,000 yuan - if he wished to renew the lease next year it will cost him over a million yuan! He plans on moving to a tiny village and renting a house there.

Next morning we were due to meet Glynnis and Seamus after breakfast to visit the large monastery - Ganden Sumtseling - together. Again we had difficulty finding somewhere to eat but eventually stumbled on a lovely warm cafe run by a Portuguese lady where we had toasted sandwiches. The monastery is three kilometres from the city and it was easy to get there on a local bus for only 1 yuan each. The bus took us to the ticket office where we had to buy tickets for me at 115 yuan. Jerry got a seniors discount and got in for 75 yuan. A lot of money to see what is a religious site. We were then directed to another bus which drove us to the monastery proper. I will admit that it was worth the entrance fee as it was spectacular. The current building is relatively new though a monastery has stood on the site since the seventeenth century. During the 1950's invasion by the Chinese which led to an anti Chinese uprising by the Tibetan population the monastery was nearly totally destroyed. Today though it is home to around 700 monks though we saw very few during our visit and is the largest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan.

It's yellow walls and golden roof decoration glowed against the brilliant blue backdrop of the sky and nearly took our breathe away when we first saw it. It was set up on a rise so we had many steps to climb before we reached the buildings. For the next couple of hours we wandered through the colourful prayer halls, admiring the colours and detail inside. We even managed to get into the main prayer hall through a side entrance as the main door was closed. The interior of the prayer halls are hung with silk banners in vibrant colour, add that to the beautiful paintings which cover the walls and ceilings and you have a riot of every colour of the rainbow. Even the many pillars are ornately carved with flowers and dragons and painted in glorious colour. The most amazing part of our time there though was being allowed out onto the actual roof of the biggest hall. It was quite an experience to be amidst all that golden splendour which adorns the roofs. They are actually copper which has been painted with a gilt paint. I would love a tin of it as the finish is like they've been dipped in molten gold. From the roof we also had a fabulous view of the surrounding countryside - in bleak shades of grey and brown.

We got a glimpse of the mountain range behind Deqin, 170 kilometres away. We had planned on visiting Deqin and even beyond to see the Meili Xue Shan (mountain range) which sits astride the Tibetan border. It's highest peak at 6740 meters is still unclimbed and close to Deqin. However the intense cold in Shangri La had changed our minds. We decided that it would be foolhardy to get any colder and the temperature there was considerably lower. We were not the only Western travellers to change our mind. I honestly don't know how the local people cope with the severe cold. Anyway it is not as if we have never seen high mountains before...The visit to Shangri La was well worth it though just to see the monastery. And the winding cobbled streets were also fun to wander around too. Being a Tibetan area many of the streets were draped with prayer flags and after our visit to the monastery we got off the bus in the centre of the new town where we visited the markets and bought some more prayer flags to take home. The market stretched down the footpath leading to the old town and most of the stalls were selling Tibetan products and Chinese New Year decorations. Many shops also sold clothes for the monks as well as traditional brocade robes trimmed with fur which made up the festival costumes for the Tibetan population. The ladies shopping in the market all wore floor length dark skirts with embroidered blouses. They all had bright pink woollen scarves knotted around their heads and faces trying to ward off the cold. We purchased some brass bells to hang up at home as well.

After arriving back at the old town we made inquiries about visiting the monastery at Benzilan which was halfway to Deqin but though the price quoted for a private car was acceptable (550 yuan for a long days hire) when we found out that Benzilan was set in a valley and we would have even less views of the mountains then we did in Shangri La we decided to not do the day trip. Before dinner that evening Jerry and I found our way up Turtle Hill situated in the centre of the old town where we climbed the many steps (Shangri La is at 3000 meters so you notice steps!) to the tiny temple and the huge golden prayer wheel on top. The prayer wheel is enormous and weighs so much it is impossible to move. During festivals dozens of monks do manage to turn it.

Another enjoyable evening meal with Glynnis and Seamus, we met again for breakfast the next morning before we went our separate ways. We really enjoyed having some company for a few days - they were a lovely couple. After a bit of quick guide book research in front of the heater Jerry and I had decided to travel the back road back down to Lijiang, via the small town of Baishui Tai, to see the limestone terraces there. After that we planned a couple of days at Tiger Leaping Gorge. Hopefully it would be slightly warmer.

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Comments

[Rosemary]

Ah yes most normal, even in the tourist places you still see this all the time. Hate the cold too, the effort of getting dressed to leave the house is almost too much at times.