Old Town Hostel Shangri-La

... br> <br><br>There was a big pot of chicken soup cooking in the middle of our table &amp; they kept adding raw ingredients - tofu, veggies, ham, chicken Everyone had a bowl of rice &amp; you just kept literally fishing from the pot to get out what you wanted to eat once it was cooked. The soup was great, some of ...

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... sides reaching so high their tops were in the clouds. Below us was the Yangtze River - the longest river in China. <br><br>After "28 bends" we stopped for lunch consisting of peanuts and broccoli at a guesthouse along the way. The hike is scattered with guesthouses along the way that provide lodging and food for hikers along the way. We hiked for a total of 6 hours, making our way to the "Halfway Guesthouse" about 4pm. The Halfway ...

Goodbyes said, it was time for me and my band of merry men to hit north to Zhongdian and the cold. Not, however, before the good Mama impressed us once more. She refused to let us go without a barrage of kisses, photographs, 'good luck necklaces' and a bag of fruit to see us well on our journey. What a legend! The cynic in me says she just knows how to market her hostel well, but who cares? Easily the best hostel I've stayed at in Asia ...

... work, that would be fine, but they are harping on this in a work of exploration, which doesn't jibe. What are people really looking for when they look for Shangri-La? I think they are looking for exactly what the protagonist of "Lost Horizon" was looking for. Conway, the key character, is burned out after fighting in WWI. At Shangri-La he discovers what he has been longing for all his life: a philosophy, a spiritual dimension, a chance to pursue his interests ...

... food, and all over they sold yak kebabs and other dishes with yak. Dave and I came away inspired to start an organic yak farm to make our own yakgurt supplies... something we'll have to table for later. One of the things about Shangri-la that impressed the most upon us was the nightly tradition of dancing in the town square. Every night hundreds of people gathered to dance to traditional Tibetan music, set to a dance ...

Tashi Delek, ich bin wie geplant von Kunming nach Zhongdian im Norden Yunnans mit einem weiteren Nachtbus gefahren, nun drei Naechte im Bus:-) Zhongdiang heisst auch Gyalthang, dies ist der tibetanische Name. Mehr als 80% der Bevoelkerung hier waren Tibetaner, der Rest andere Minoritaeten. Inzwischen sind aber doch einige Chinesen hierhin gezogen. Die Stadt liegt auf 3200m Hoehe, ja, dies ist wieder ...

... and two cans of oxygen then got on a bus that took us higher up the mountain at 3,356 meters (10,990 feet). Our goal was to reach the top of the climb at 4,680 meters (15,327 feet). There are stairs with benches and some refreshment bars selling energy drinks, oxygen, water and food along the way. Your stamina and breath disappear very quickly. The weather started out very poorly with rain (clouds) the whole way up on the gondola. It drizzled off and on as ...

... just carried on past them as as far as we were concerned we had paid to enter the park so why should be pay again...On the way down - before it started getting really steep - a chinese man raced passed us, it didnt take a genious to work out that he was somehow going to stop us from going further unless we paid up but we wernt sure so we carried on. Sure enough we got to a part where they had made a gate which had glass cemented to the man made concrete arch it sat in. The ...

... we were rewarded with the beaming happy smiles of the Tibetan people. We returned back to the old town on the local bus again, and decided to have another look around the old town. Armed with a different map, we actually came across Harmony Guest house! Except that it was closed. Continuing on, we climbed a hill to reach a giant golden prayer wheel that we had seen lit up from the guesthouse the night before. It had appeared to rotate occasionally which we had though must ...