Shangri-la

When you think of Shangri-La you think of a place of unparalleled beauty, up in the mountains of the Himalayas, where people live to several hundred years.  It is a mystical, harmonious valley, a happy land isolated from the rest of the world.  This is the image that James Hilton painted, who then came up with the idea of Shangri-la in his book Lost Horizons.

The Shangri-La City that we visited in northwestern Yunnan Province was named after the fictional city in the book in 2001.  It was formerly known as Zhongdian, and was renamed to promote tourism in the area.  

Our van drove from Dali through scenic mountain roads to Shangri-la in about 4 hours.  About halfway we stopped at a rest stop to use the restroom.  We checked into a modern-looking Holiday Inn where we'll spend 2 nights.

A rest stop on the highway

Our guide Sophia met us in the morning at the hotel.  In later conversations with Sophia I learned that she is of Tibetan background.  She learned English on her own so that she can become an English-speaking tour guide.  Employment opportunities are better if you speak a foreign language.  

The first place we visited that morning was the Songzanlin Monastery, one of the most important temple/monastery in Shangri-la.  It was inspired by the Potala Palace in Lahsa and is sometimes referred to as the Little Potala.  About 200 monks reside in 200 associated houses.  The monastery is perched high up on a hill.  It is quite a climb to walk up there but there are shuttle buses to take us up there for 10 yuan or about $1.50.  It was worth the price because it'd have been quite a climb at this altitude (3,380m or 11,090ft) and would take us about 30 minutes to walk up.

Our guide, Sophia (middle), and the tour group

3 buildings that make up the Songzanlin Monastery

Entrance to the monastery 

Inside the monastery

Sophia explained the meaning of the three buildings.  We were given time to explore and climbed up to the top of the buildings.

Gold figurines on the roof

View from the roof

One significant feature of Tibetan Buddhism is the prayer wheel.  I also saw that in Bhutan and Tibet.

Prayer Wheels

A long walk up

Another part of the monastery

After the monastery Sophia took us to the home of a Tibetan family.  It is a big house and all family members live in the house.  She explained the different use for different parts of the house.  The heat generated by the cooking is heating for the house in the winter.  She also explained what they eat for breakfast before they go out to work on the land.  Barley is a big part of their diet and provides the nutrition they need.

Fireplace and kitchen

Another part of the living room

Part of the kitchen

The Courtyard

What they eat. The bowl on top left is barley powder

The Matriarch

In the afternoon we were taken to Pudacuo National Park, also known as Potatson National Park.  It is the first natural reserve park in China.  We took a short hike around Bita lake and enjoyed the beautiful mountain scenery.

View of the lake

Boardwalk for hiking

Description of the area

A white yak

Clean toilets

Boat rides are available

Clean vacuum toilets

A launchpad for drones

Our last stop for the day is Dukezong Ancient Town, which is 1,300 years old.  It is the best preserved and largest Tibetan cluster in China.  The name "Dukezong" means "Moonlight Castle built on a Stone" and it is also known as the City of Moonlight.  We walked through the streets with many of the shops selling either souvenirs or food.

Thangka Institution

I came across an entrance that said "Shangri-la Thangka Institution."  A Thangka painting is a Tibetan Buddhist painting usually depicting a Buddhist scene, deity or mandala (a geometric configuration of symbols).  They are used as teaching tools about the life of Buddha.  One of the most extensive collection of Thangka is in the Mogao Caves near the town of Dunhuang on the Silk Road in western China.  I was fortunate to visit the caves in 2014 and saw the paintings in many of the caves.

To end our day we had dinner at the Ancient Town.  My travel companions had a craving for western food and found a Pizza Hut in the square.  I had no choice but to be part of this dinner.

Pizza in Shangri-la

It had been a long day and we were glad to be back at the hotel.  When traveling it's always a challenge to either find a place to do your laundry, do your own or if you are lucky enough, the hotel has laundry machines.  This particular Holiday Inn in Shangri-la has two washing machines and two dryers and no one was using them.  I happily washed my dirty laundry and was set for the next few days.

I can finally say I have been to Shangri-la.  Although it's not the peaceful, tranquil place that I envisioned it is still a beautiful city.  The mix of Tibetan and Han Chinese demographic makes the place an interesting cultural crossroad.  The name Shangri-la definitely attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world.

A group of tourists dressed as locals

One surprising thing I saw while out looking for dinner the first night is a truck selling only durians.  Having grown up in Southeast Asia where durians is a common fruit and not well-liked by others, this was a surprising sight.  But I read that China has been obsessed with durians the last few years.

A durian vendor

Dali

I am now back in Arizona.  For various reasons:  travel schedules, poor wifi, too many things going on, I have not been able to keep up with this blog while traveling.  However, I am glad I am back on track.

Our guide Winnie and her driver escorted the four of us to the Kunming Railway Station.  It was crowded.  We were all anxious to board the train.  In the moment I carried my suitcase onto the train.  After a few minutes I realized I had left my backpack on the platform.  All my valuables were in that backpack - passport, laptop, iPad, money, itinerary, etc.  I quickly ran to the door and yelled at the agent that I am looking for a blue backpack.  The train was getting ready to move.  I was ready to jump onto the platform to retrieve my backpack.  Luckily, she yelled back that she had given it to another agent who was just getting on board the train next door.  Whew!  That was a close call.  I got my backpack from the other agent and just felt a big big sigh of relief.

What is the lesson here?  Carry as few things as possible when you travel.  It's easy to forget something when you are in a hurry, focussed on something else.  Always be aware of the most important things - passport, phone, documents, money, computer, etc.  Are they with you?

Our guide, Hua, met us at the train station and immediately took us to Erhai Lake.  We took a stroll around the lake and admired the scenery.  This is one of the iconic areas of Dali.

Disembarking at Dali

Erhai Lake

The 3 Pagodas

Dali is a city located in the northwest part of Yunnan province.  It is at the crossroads of trade routes between Burma, Southeast Asia, Tibet and China.  It was settled by the Bai people about 3,000 years ago.  There is a new town about 10km south of the old town called Xiaguan  But Dali old town is where we spent our two days here.  

I first head of Dali as a place for young Americans to settle here, as a laid-back place.  Many Chinese from big cities have also settled here to escape the high-pressure environment in those other places.  This article in the New York Times in explained why Dali became an attraction for many young Chinese:  Welcome to Dalifornia - an Oasis for China's Drifters and Dreamers.

Located just behind the pagodas is Chongsheng Temple, a beautiful Taoist temple.  Taoism is a religion or philosophy that is the main religion for many parts of China.  You see similar religious idols in most of the temples we visited on this China trip.

Chongsheng Temple

Kwan Yin, Goddess of Mercy

Other religious idols

Another part of the temple

After the temple we went to Dali Ancient Town.  Like many old towns in China this one also caters to tourists, local and foreign.

We first came across a Christian Church

The characters say "God is Love"

Typical shop in the Old City

A Pedestrian Walkway

More shops

The next morning we explored the Xizhou Morning Market.  Here the locals come to shop for their daily groceries.  It is similar to a farmers' market except that it is much bigger and more varieties of fruits, vegetables and meat are being sold.  

Different types of fruits sold

Chives and other vegetables

More variety of vegetable

Pig's Feet

Selling chilis and other vegetables

Grains

Noodles

Herbs

We next move to Xizhou Ancient Town, a settlement for the Bai people.  It is one of the best preserved towns for the ethnic Bai people.

A well-preserved building

Entrance to a house

Street is lined with Jacaranda trees

A senior citizen riding her tricycle

We walked through a beautiful rice field with a train running through the field.

Train running through rice field

Close-up of rice grain

A street vendor

We were treated to a local dance performance by a Bai dance troupe.

As we walked through town we passed a beautiful lake.

A Lotus flower

Bridge over Lake

We then moved on to Zhoucheng Village, nor far from Xizhou.  It is referred to as the "Hometown of Bai Embroidery."  The Bai tie-dye method has been used for generations.  We were given a lesson on how indigo is made into blue dye.  We tried our hands on tie-dying.  The patterns were already pre-made for us.

They all came out beautifully; something that we were able to take to remember Dali.

An Indigo plant

Pattern for tie-dyeing

Putting together the pattern

The end result