Cobbler'S Hill Old Inn Shangri-La

... well. Rooves are woof shingles &amp; there are gold bells on buildings. It has a population of 125,000 &amp; is very laidback &amp; cruisy. Streets aren't busy &amp; the place feels very relaxed. Apparently in December the town mostly shuts down due to the snow &amp; you often can't get in or out.<br><br> <br><br> <br><br>Booked in a 3 bed dorm for 20 ...

... lies southeastern of the<br>Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is in the hinterland of the world natural<br>heritage site, the Three Parallel Rivers -- the Jinsha, Lancang and<br>Nujiang rivers originating from the Qinghai Plateau. <br><br> Known<br>for tourist attraction "Shangri-la," considered as the paradise on the<br>earth, Deqen had held ...

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... between, were magnificent and mesmerising. The fabled Shangri-La, with its old town not quite matching the marketing buzz, also delivered some highlights, notably its 300 year old Tibetan monastery complex, Ganden Sumtseling Gompa. Making all these places of course, are the people. In Shangri-La alone, 24 different minorities live in harmony, and our journey north from Kunming introduced us to Bai, Dai, Naxi and Tibetan people, their traditions and their styles of ...

... resources, the power of the three rivers that rush through it and the splendor of its soaring peaks, plunging gorges and bucolic mountain valleys. This is big-sky China. The official slogan of China's year of ecotourism is "Be a green traveler and experience eco-civilization." Pudacuo park serves this goal by requiring visitors to park their cars and tour the park in low-emission buses shepherded by guides such as Yang. Still, there is some concern that ...

... Dan arrived in Shangri-La on the second day and on the third all 3 of us got a bus to Chiatou, a town at the start of Tiger Leaping Gorge. We arrived quite late that day so we walked around 2 hours to the first guesthouse on the gorge, the Naxi Family Guesthouse, arriving just before dark. The owners were nice and helpfully don't seem to keep that tight a track of what you order. The next day we got charged for ...

The plan was to get up and get the 9 AM bus to Deqin. We left our big bags with Kevin and started the walk up to the bus station. On the way we got these delicious fried dough circles with hot souce. They were so good we got another one along the way. Once we arrived at the bus station we were informed that there was no 9 AM bus and we'd have to wait until noon. So we bought tickets and headed to Noah's for hot chocolate and waiting. Turned out there was no 8 AM bus either ...

... has pretty nice scenery, but anyone who claims it is 'paradise' is as misguided as Glenn Hoddle was when he selected David Batty for the penalty shoot out in the 1998 world cup. The town itself is quite dull, so to attract the tourists the authorities built an 'old town' in traditional Ming dynasty style. Its so 'old' its still being built. Throughout the town there are claims of being part of Tibet, restaurants, hotels and shops named Tibet this, Lhasa that, Yak ...

... in name, but actually more like 2/3 way (though I guess that doesn't sound as snappy), it was a comfortable place for the night with possibly the best toilet views ever, looking out over the snowy mountains across the Gorge. A shame about our bi-polar waitress in the restaurant, smiling and skipping and happy until she came to serve us, then as miserable as you can imagine. Totally understandable, what with us being so rude as to ask her to ...

... outside Lijiang town to some of the outlying villages, which again are Naxi minority. The first town was called Bai Shan and it's most "famous" inhabitant is Dr Ho. He is a self taught Chinese herbalist who has treated many people and claims to have cured cancer, rheumatism, and other nasty diseases and ailments. His office is plastered with articles from many publications written about him and his practice - he was also featured on the program Michael Palin did ...