Shangrila, formerly known as Zhongdian. It has renamed to Shangrila City in 2001 in order to attract more tourists
The author of novel Lost Horizon describes Shangrila as a mystical, harmonious valley. The statement is so true to me because the city is consists of continuous snowy mountains, endless grasslands and azure lakes.
We went to Shangrila with a travel agent from Li Jiang – Aladin(www.ly234.com). The travel packages that offered by this travel agency were on the high side but hey this agency was strongly recommended with reliable reputation. Please be aware, there were a lot of local tour came with cheaper price, but the hidden cost almost endless. You can customize the itinerary or go with the standard itinerary that provided by the travel agency. We have designed the itenerary our own and sent it to them.
It took around 4 hours to reach the Shangri-La from Li Jiang. Our initial plan is to visit largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan which is Song Zan Lin monastery. But the tour guide from Aladdin advised us to visit to Dong Zhu Lin Si which also another Tibetan Buddhist temple. Because Song Zan Lin has been commercializing due to tourism and overcrowded too. The entrance fee for Dong Zhu Lin Si was much cheaper than Song Zan Lin!
Dong Zhu Lin Si as beautiful as Song Zan Lin. It was a serene and holy place. It has many beautiful intricate paintings inside and houses several precious status. There were monks chanting in the main hall.
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| The main hall of Dong Zhu Lin Si |
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| Guardian lion statue |
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| Inside the Monastery |
After visiting the temple, we went to Feilaishi. It tooks about 30 mins from Deqin, a town in Shangri-la. Our tour guide shared the living cultural and historical of Shangri-la with us along the road. I found that the mythology of Kawagabo peak- highest mountain in Chinese province of Yunnan was very intersting. Kawa gebo means “God of Snow Mountain” in Tibetan. Many mountaineering team tried to conquer, but they all failed. No one ever made to the peak of the mountain.
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| The first bend of the Jin Sha river |
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| Prayers flag at here reminded me of the Nepal trip |
Aladin travel agent arranged a cozy guesthouse for us. The view from the room's window was stunning! The guesthouse just sits opposite of Kawagebo peak. We took a good rest and get ready to Ming Yong glacier the next day.
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| I loved sitting by the window to enjoy splendid view of the mountain |
You can either walk up or hire the ponies to Ming Yong Glacier. It took about 4 hours to get nearer to Ming Yong Glacier. Trekking at high altitude was exhausted but we choosed to walk as I wonder will it be uncomfortable to ride on a pony for 4 hours?? We started our journey to Ming Yong Glacier early in the morning before the weather become hot.
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| Heading to Ming Yong glacier |
We have prepared some snacks, energy bars and drinks too. You can get the compressed biscuit from mart too.
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| Passed by Tai Tze temple |
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| Kawagebo peak with Ming Yong glacier |
For those with good stamina can continue further up to the Lianhua temple. We were almost K.O so uable to make it to the temple.
On a side note, I felt sad to know that Mingyong Glacier has been receding due to global warming.
After a tiring and fun filled day, we headed back to the guesthouse to enjoy the local food and free time with travel mates.
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| Kawagebo accompanied by bright little stars |
