Chateau De Woody Guesthouse Shangri-La

... waked up at 5:30, as usual. Nothing moved on the road. At 9 I went to breakfast - Yoav was there. I leant that there were minibuses to Chiato at 8 & 9, my g.h told me only about the bus to Lijiang at 11, for which I booked.

We droved 40 minutes to to Chiato. The tourists busses go until the point with the big stone, on which the tiger jumped in order to cross the river. What a mass! No quietness. Also - the narrow gorge starts there.
Shangri-La, Yunnan, China rivkapi

... get a big dish of mushrooms and green onions in broth. We'd hoped for more variety of vegetables but lacked the language skills to find out exactly what we are ordering.

We offer some mushroom to the other guests but everyone has enough food already.

A group of Chinese guests share some of their food. A mysterious incinerary vegetable dish (which requires a lot of rice to eat) and a meat dish (just Steve partakes).

... 1500;א צילמת 97; את האתר המיוח 91; ההוא, אלא לקחתי תמונו 14; בהשאל 92;. פה עשיתי את התיקו 03; והמצל 02;ה ל ...

... evening we made it up to the Ganden Sumtseling Gompa - a 300 year old (though currently under construction is a new 'Potala Palace II') Tibetan Monastery complex housing 600 monks. The approach to the site is breathtaking with a setting that is truly worthy of the Shangri-la name. A marsh sits at the front of the main gates, which you can walk around and the setting is amongst the intimidating Yunnan mountain range. Its all ...

... hot water but . . . no heat in the room although there is an electric pad so you do get nice and cozy once in bed. After the 1st or 2nd day inShangri-La I seem to be suffering quite a bit from the altitude, very sore throat and vocal cords not working properly!!! Not a good thing. I am getting worried that maybe I should not go to Lhasa. I still manage to have a lovely visit at the Tibetan Monastary ...

... du matin, depart. On roule 4 heures et le chauffeur arrete a la frontiere du Sichuan. On va voir la police. Il me demande ou je vais.... Yading. Ah, oui, Yading, tu vas voir, c'est tres beau. Amuses-toi et bonne journee! Finalement, c'etait juste la police de l'autre etat qui voulait pas que j'y aille.... ah, c'est chinois!

... boom of tourism and having its soul ripped out and to shreds, and trying to keep up on a more sustainable level. Things are gearing up, for sure though, as stodgy, unappealingly no-frills communist style modern buildings are being torn down and replaced with older, "authentically Tibetan" style ones. Streets are being lined with "attractive" lamps, and souvenir shops have already popped up all along the alleys of old town. All the revamping notwithstanding ...

... a chat and some milk tea, which she forced down me despite my protestations. When we drove back to meet Kerry and Richard (the guy we traveled this route with) he invited us to his own house where we sat with his whole family eating potato dumpling. They gave us Tibetan names which I cant remember, however Richard's translated to Dalai Sun, and he removed his hat to reveal a full crop of bright ginger hair to their delight. Despite having thick jet black hair ...

... walked, which promptly clouded over about two hours after we finished. Maybe they'll make a believer out of me yet! Tiger Leaping Gorge, the first on the Yangtzi River (you'll remember I took a cruise along this about a month and a half before), is named for some colourful legend involving a tiger leaping across the gorge from a rock halfway down. Obviously. More important (from my perspective) is that it is quite stunning, and made for a ...

... spectacular as the last few days. When we got to the bottom I realised how nice it was to be in the cool of the mountains and away from the traffic! Even though it was hard work I felt a bit spoiled being up there, with no cars and less people. I would definitely recommend getting to Tiger Leaping Gorge if you can - apparently the government has plans to put dams in the gorge which would fill the gorge up and change it forever. Definitely worth seeing now!!