Yunan Tibetan Hostel Shangri-La

... were there so we wandered around that. Very pretty & same as the ones in Yellowstone Nat Park in the USA. WE had paid 26 yuan each to get this far & now had to negotiate with another driver. It wasn't going well at first & not looking like we would get out of town but eventually got the minivan for 40 ...

... are easy to start and things are cheap.<br><br>Sometimes I feel a bit oppressed by capitalist culture. I look down a street and see a whole long row of fancy, expensive shops which I would never buy from. Even at home, outside my apartment, every building has to make money. I only personally buy at a few shops, often somewhat far from where I live. I am surrounded by shops that seem even a bit alien to my subculture. As time goes on, will shops become more and more expensive and ...

... wood, softly lit, and immediately comfortable. We soon sank into the crimson sofas sipping the complimentary/homemade tea, staring into the bright glow of the wood-burner. A tranquil base for a place set in such awe-inspiring beauty.<br><br>We took on this natural beauty twice. Firstly by bike, leaving the town behind us, and pushing ourselves through steep mountain roads. This trip led us past gentle Tibetan villages, whose people work the land, and ...

... the little ******* kiddies who jumped in front of your camara, then tried to demand money for the photo. One cheeky blighter had the audacity to try to take my wallet... He got nothing but an earfull for his efforts. Apart from the picturesque snow, the only upside to the cold is that it has scared off most of the other potential tourists. Felt like we had the place to outselves.... Unavoidably, we found some fresh snow in the monastry ...

... the Nazi party, while the military power of Japan was running amok in China. These were highly turbulent times. And I venture to suggest that the situation today is not greatly different: we have worldwide economic chaos happening, we have clouds of war hanging over Afghanistan, Iraq and a number of other hot spots. Shangri-La is the ultimate escape from all this-it presents a place where peace and harmony reign, where spiritualism and contentment abound. We want ...

... someone you know already! Oh, this is hilarious....yesterday at the monastery Ryan was wearing his Penn State shirt (never leave home without it!) and this lady passed and was like...go Penn state! we started talking to her and it turns out she's from Allentown! And her parents and sister live in Lancaster! It's a small world! I hope everyone is doing well! Email whenever or post comments on the blog! I'll check back soon!

... habe, kam der Besitzter, Mr. Abu, und hat mich in sein Haus gebeten und mir dort alles gezeigt. Ich merke bereits, dass ich langsam in entlegenere Gebiete komme. Hier geht es etwas anders zu: Vor den Restaurants haengen die Fleischbrocken um zu trocknen, die Leute tragen Trachten, so langsam verschwinden die chin. Schriftzeichen und werden durch tibetische ersetzt und der Speiseplan aendert sich: So gibt es hier viel Yak und reichlich Yakbutter ...

... of hours...well if you havent got tv! 17/09 We decide to stay one more day as it is now beautiful sunshine, and pure blue sky. W hire bikes and head out of town, but are soon argueing with each other over directions, why cant a map have english road signs if the streets do? Why dont we have a compass, why have we passed this same road three times? Argh, we cant find our way out of a city which seems to only have 5 streets ...

... We had no clue where Audrey and Arjan were at this point as we hadnt seen them in ages so had no idea whether they too would make it but i thought to myself that if audrey was finding it hard at least they had options on this route.. We pushed on and finally got to the half way house at 5.30ish where we were met with open arms. It wasnt long after (20mins) that audrey and arjan strolled in as well so we were all together again and i must say i was really proud of audrey as ...

... reluctant to change the bigger note, so motioned to pay for only one. He handed over only 1 ticket and motioned us in. We climbed up the stairs to the main part of the monastery, and with the main entrance closed (it sounded like a prayer meeting was on inside from all the chanting), so we made our way around the side. Their was another ticket check here to go up, and we now thought it wasn't so smart only having one ticket. But they didn't seem too fussed when Glenn produced only ...