Shangrila - a fake utopia

"Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the novel "Lost Horizon" by British author James Hilton. It has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia — a happy land, isolated from the outside world."



Today various places claim the title of Shangrila, but in 2001 Zhongdian County in northwestern Yunnan province of China officially renamed itself Shangri-La County...



...yet another Chinese fake and the disspaointment of the trip (`cause to be honest my expectations were high)


Managed to find 3 reasons why you should still go to Shangrila:

1) red bushes in autumn were nice (then again autumn leaves in Latvia are so much more ;)



2) really stylish & cool cafeterias (not that you can`t find that in other places)



3) if it`s on the way and you simply have to pass it (like we did)



And some more reasons why not to bother:
1) it`s an artificial creation based on myth that attracts tourist and makes it all
much more expensive
2) not yet finished building the fake OLD town


3) did I mention the sky-rocketing prices for activities & sights?
4) there are much nicer & authentic places to visit in Yunnan province & in
neighbouring Sichuan province
5) obvious tourist trap


Shangrila "Old town"




Biggest prayer wheel in the world (so they say)




All right!!! This trip is over...time to use up all the oxygen ;)...this couple was not willing to waste a single drop even though they had no symptoms of Altitude sickness (in Shangrila it was possible to by oxygen to deal with Altitude sickness)


Some farewell check-in Chinglish ;)


Gan Bei for a fantastic trip!

Xiangcheng!

The changing scenery on the way from Litang to Xiangcheng!





Xiangcheng was the true surprise of the trip! Located cosily in a low valley it was nice, warm, quiet, beautiful & tourist-less! It`s recommended as a sleepover place to move on to Shangrila in Yunnan province, but we had arrived there early in the afternoon, so we had enough time to actually see the town & start liking it a lot!

Some houses of Xiangcheng..





Our (already drunk) guesthouse owner inivted us for a bottle of wine and we shared some culture.


Highly enjoyable stopover :)!!!
Next on to Shangrila...

Litang - a very high experience @ 4014 m!

The drive from Tagong to Litang (one of the highest towns in the world)...

Litang monastery @ sunset time


...was the most extreme of the whole trip because:
1) we crossed the highest passes of this trip (highest being 4718m)
2) we did that in complete darkness
3) driving on a high mountain dirt road (no road)`cause it was all under construction/destruction
4) ..and after several "almost breakdowns" our minibus finally broke down 10 km from Litang...around midnight...luckily we were 2 minibuses travelling together (they must have expected something like this to happen), so we were towed to Litang...arriving there after 1 am.

All in all SOMETHING TO REMEMBER!


Relaxed ambient of Litang


Tibetan new age horse ;)


Litangers :)





Praying time (takes a lot of time!)...circling around stupas, monasteries & spinning the prayer wheels


Teenage style hit - all the youngsters were wearing these funny looking caps!



Market. Yak meat



Litang monastery


Monastery school





...and again impressively bright colours and very chilled atmosphere!







Old Tibetan village in Litang


On the way to hang praying flags and fly Tibetan "wishing horses" (small pieces of paper you fly and make wishes)


Praying flags!


Minibus drivers gamble to win "package of 7 foreign passengers" - full minibus that means a guaranteed profit of the day without having to wait till the bus fills up (which is not guaranteed)!


..it will be a very beautiful & relaxed ride to Xiangcheng which will be described in the next post ;)