Shangri-la

We met at 8 for breakfast. I ordered apple/banana pancakes and french fries. Karen & Maurice raved about the fries last night so I wanted to try them before I left. I guess I ordered the regular fries instead of Sean's special fries. Oh well. I ate a few but the pancake was fantastic!

We had a two hour drive to Shangri-la. Along the way we stopped to take photos of a minority village. What was funny to me is that the roofs of these houses are made of wood, but they have small rocks on the roofs in the corners. Maybe this is to hold the wood?

We also decided to go to the Ganden Sumtseling Gompa today instead of tomorrow. I had no idea this was the first temple built for the yellow sect. That is the sect of the Dalai Lama. It was built by the 5th Dalai Lama about 400-500 years ago.

Young Ten tried to give me some details on the Tibetan religion. There was a lot to comprehend. The offerings are important. There are three things offered. The first being 7 containers of water which symbolized the snow from the mountains of Tibet. Then there are seeds from this flower "baba" (maybe I got the spelling wrong) that is from Tibet. They grind it and use it also to make breads. And lastly is the butter candles. They are symbolized as butter from the yak. The yak is a very important animal in the Tibetan culture because it can live at 10,000 ft. And they use it to do some of the heavy farm work.

This monastery was destroyed in the cultural revolution. Only now are the main temples being restored. There are somewhere between 200-600 monks living here.

Shangri-la used to be part of the Tibetan land versus Chinese. Tibetans are still the largest ethnic group in Shangri-la. The families here typically have 8 or 9 people living in the same home and usually three generations. The Tibetans are allowed to have three children.

I walked around and looked inside some of the other temples and the dorms where the monks live.

It was about 1:30 in the afternoon when we arrived at the guesthouse. I was tired maybe because of the altitude. After I checked in, I took a nap and then set out for lunch. It just started raining so I figured I would try the place across the street. Young Ten had recommended it. It was typical Tibetan food.

I was hungry. I ordered the Tibetan fried rice and the potato curry. Yes, the rice had yak meat but it was good. The potato curry was amazing too. Once the rain started, it got really cold. In contrast, it was so warm during the day. I headed back to the guesthouse after my long late lunch.

I went down to the large sitting area. They had a bar, several computers, and a tv. I wanted to have some Makaibari tea to warm up. I felt like I was still starting to get a cold. They had hot water down there and comfortable chairs so I hung out. It was still raining. An older man from Korea came to sit with me. He was traveling alone so he had a driver and guide with him. We chatted for a little bit.

Several small groups of westerners started coming in from the rain too. They were groups of men and women but they were all in their 20's. They seemed to know each other. I'm assuming they were all staying in the dorm rooms. They all started watching one of the Diehard movies.

Everyone was complaining about how cold it was. Some of the people were from the US and some were Europeans. I had about 4 cups of tea at this point.

I wanted to take a shower to warm up and put warmer clothes on. So I left and came back after my steaming hot shower. This guesthouse had no heat but I had so many layers in my bag, I just piled them on. I brought a new tea. Puerh is supposed to help you get over colds, so I thought I would try that. That had resurfaced in my bag too. I had brought a little from home.

By now the group downstairs had all moved on to a Woody Allen movie--Scoop. And yes, it was still raining. They must have had the volume on the highest level. I was thrilled when they all decided to go out to eat.

I was drinking tea and writing in my journal. I think it had stopped raining but I wasn't going out. I was still full from my late lunch.

About 90 minutes later, the dinner gang all came back. They were somewhat happier now. And instead of watching a movie, they started playing a drinking game. It was something to do with dice. And every once in a while someone would say bullshit. Then someone would always drink.

I stuck around until about 11. Partly because I was comfortable, but partly because I thought my room might be colder.

I actually slept pretty well and was cozy when I woke up. I went down for breakfast at 7:45. They told me they can only make me a sandwich for breakfast when I checked in. Now I would get to find out what type. They said they had white bread, ham, lettuce, tomato, and butter. I said skip everything but the bread and ham. I still try not to eat any un-cooked veggies. I just don't want to risk having stomach problems I also got some green tea. It was good to have something in my stomach. We were going to be busy until 1-2 today and didn't know if we would have a chance to stop for lunch.

We drove about 30 minutes to the national park. Then there were shuttle buses to the two scenic lakes. The first lake, Shudu Lake, had a walking path around it. There was a tiny island in the lake. Apparently it is a holy spot for Tibetans. We weren't able to go there. The path took us around the majority of the lake and took about 40 minutes.

Then we hopped on another shuttle bus. The bus first took us to a grassland where nomadic Tibetans bring their yaks to graze in the summer months. We didn't see any of the nomads, although we did see their yaks. Apparently, many yaks are bred with bulls. But there are still yaks in the wild as well. We had 5 minutes to get off here and take pictures. Then we had to be back on the bus--no exceptions!

From here we drove to Bita Lake which was about another 15 minute drive. You had two options. You could either take the ferry boat and then walk 20 minutes. Or you could walk most of the way around the lake and it would take about 1 1/2 hours. I chose to walk the entire way. It sprinkled a little but the sun was out even during this light rain.

Both lakes were beautiful. The rhodadendrums were in bloom as well as purple flowers that are supposedly poisonous, and many small wildflowers. There were some gorgeous green meadows. The view of the other high mountain peaks were all around. There was even another meadow area of grazing yaks. In the mountains this time of year it was just after the bud break. There would be even some more beautiful wildflowers on the forest floor in June and July.

We were definitely above 3600 meters at this point as Shangri-la is at 3200 meters. What was pretty humorous was that some tour guides must have scared the Chinese tourists. Many of them were carrying around oxygen cans and actually using them at this altitude.

My guide had chosen to take the ferry boat. I must have worn him out at the Tiger Leaping Gorge. Actually he told me his hip was bothering him. It especially acts up after long car rides. So I met him at the very end of Bita Lake. Then we were on a shuttle bus once again to the park entrance. We stopped briefly at another tourist spot to see a Tibetan village. There we saw another temple and some Tibetan handicrafts to purchase.

On the way back I paid attention to the way the driver was going. Young Ten said I might want to rent a bike tomorrow and drive around Napa Lake. There was also a hot springs I could check out.

When I got back to the hotel, I took a shower and had lunch. I was hungry from all that walking. Now I would finally get to explore Shangri-la.

So yes, the book by James Hilton called Lost Horizon, supposedly takes place here. I saw it years ago, but you can bet I will both read the book and rent the movie after being here. There is also a movie about the tea horse road. I think it may be Chinese, but it was filmed at the Tibetan Village I visited today. I'll have to check that out too.

There was something I liked about Shangri-la's old town versus Dali or Lijiang. Maybe because it was more rustic or not completely taken over by tourists and shops yet. Sometimes you just get a feeling about a place. I liked it here very much and also being in the high mountains.

The location of my guesthouse was perfect but they are not so friendly or helpful here. Apparently the guesthouse recently changed ownership. There is a big square where locals are selling mostly jewelry and all sorts of snacks. Apparently in the evenings, the locals like to dance.

There are several temples in this city. One is really close to old town. I walked nearby. I figured I could check it out tomorrow. There was a really cool cafe just below it on the hill called Artistic Space of the Sacred. It had great views. I sat down to try the Tibetan wine. I couldn't get wine by the glass here. So I think I effectively communicated to my server that I wanted to buy the bottle and take whatever I couldn't finish with me.

A guy from Hong Kong arrived soon after I did. He had been living in the UK for the last 20 years. He had just quit his job. He was burnt out, stressed out, sick of traveling so much for work, and wanted to figure out what was next for him. He was working at nuclear power plants and was sent all over the world. He said he never was able to take off when he was traveling. He almost died like 10 times he said. Half of the time he didn't even have time to see his parents. He was taking six months off at minimum. We talked a lot about where we had both been so far. He said he was up around Everest base camp and got pretty sick. He said that not only do you get headaches, but your body really doesn't respond. You get diarrhea, and also a constant pins and needles feeling in all your extremities because they are not getting enough oxygen. He said he had taken so much medication up there and then he finally gave up. He didn't know where he was going from here. Maybe next was Tibet.

I left with my wine bottle. It wasn't going down too fast. It was very young with lots of tannins. Maybe it will taste a little bit better tomorrow. I headed back to the guesthouse occasionally walking in interesting shops. There were mostly Tibetan and some Indian items available here.

I went back to the same Tibetan restaurant for dinner. I had the yak fried rice again. It is so good. Then I headed back to the guesthouse for puerh tea. It would be nice to finish both the Makaibari and my tiny stash of puerh I brought from home. I need more room in my luggage. I still have sniffles. But it doesn't appear this cold will materialize into anything worse.