Zhongdian aka Shangri-la

Zhongdian in Yunnan cleverly grabbed the name of Shangri-la, the legendary and fictitious place of peace and tranquility in James Hilton's novel "Lost Horizon". Zhongdian is a Tibetan town in northern Yunnan which, like Lijiang, is quite touristy and has interesting architecture but is somewhat untidy.

Our group with our Tibetan guide Pema.

Zhongdian street scene

Zhongdian street scene
Our hotel Nang Ka Ming Dian has interesting features but lacked trained staff (mainly young giggly girls)
Evening entertainment consisted of public dancing in the town square - Kay eagerly joined in.

PETER'S LETTER (3)

Hello one and all,

Greetings from Zhongdian, or more easy for the tongue, the new name of Shangri-la. It was a tourist marketing ploy by the Chinese authorities so who knows if it has worked. There are tourists a plenty though nowhere near the number as in Lijiang. Besides, this is a more Tibetan style of town so offers something different and perhaps not what the Han Chinese visiting Lijiang want. I mean yak meat isn’t one of the top flavours in the world.

Anyway, since I left you last we have ventured forth to higher ground, in fact this morning we were at 3 700m in some beautiful mountains of a National Park nearby. That is about the same altitude as we will be when we get to Lhasa so that is a relief to know that the body can cope with the altitude. It was always a big worry. Keir says it’s because our brains have shrunk and so there is no real pressure on them as would be the case with folk with brains. Poor Kay is the only one of the group to have suffered headaches and vomiting though shortness of breath is usually a common nuisance, particularly when climbing on the walks we have been doing.

Yesterday we managed the Tiger Leaping Gorge, along with many thousands of tourists- as per normal. It was something like a stroll along the cliffs at North Head, at sea level, if there were a concrete path set up there and if they happened to route the City to Surf that way. The mighty Yangtze was flowing well but thankfully the rocks weren’t dropping from the overhanging hills even if there was plenty of evidence where they recently had done so. We were told that there were 4 tourist killed there recently. Not sure if they were bowled into the water of just crushed but that is just idle conjecture on my part. In final analysis it was worth the trouble though it was very much a stroll with spectacular cliffs and the adrenaline rush of “danger”. Maybe.

That was on the way here so our little bus, driver, tour guide named Bema (a Tibetan lad who has reasonable English) and the six of us, meandered along these winding roads climbing higher into green mountains with odd fields of crops and animals- yaks, horses, cattle and pigs. The architecture changed to the Tibetan style of blocky earth brick buildings with decorated timber eaves and shingle rooves with stones to hold them down. Picturesque is a word that comes to mind. Somewhere in there we stopped for the usual lunch of about a dozen courses which we manage to eat about half the amount supplied. Eating in the evenings never seems to take on the same proportions thankfully. There I was hoping that the walking and the amount of vegetables in the diet might have helped to reduce the girth. So far none of my trousers have started falling down and I won’t look any thinner I am sure. Let’s blame the bulkier winter clothes for that.
As mentioned, today’s outing to the National Park was particularly beautiful and once could have been in Canada had a Moose instead of a herd of yaks shown up. There were nomadic herders there too for they use the sub-alpine meadows for summer grazing. A different notion of a national Park but certainly it works well for tourists and the locals. There were two beautiful lakes within it and on one we took a $5 boat ride to another pint where we walked to the road system to catch a bus back to the entrance. All very well organized as the Chinese can be with transport, and thankfully the numbers were not at all obvious or anything other than delightful walking companions. They have discovered the digital camera with a vengeance so there are always people snapping away, usually blocking a path or the view. Still, a small matter lest you think I complain too much.

On that note I had better end and get this laptop back to Kin-Mun who discovered that the hotel we are staying at here has wi-fi connection. Wheeee- your very own internet café without the soft chair or the smoker’s smoke!!

Cheers for now,

P & K