With an empty stomach I was ready for the 5 hour bus ride from Lijiang to Shangri-La. This morning, we wore long pants for the first time on our trip. When came the time to board the bus, Jenny’s face and mine changed expression as we realized we booked our tickets on a small 30 seat bus (without any washroom!). Luckily, we had reserved seats number: 1, 2 and 3. Well, we boarded the bus a bit reluctantly but at the end of the day, it was probably a better ride than on the luxury bus where people lower their seats right into your face. Jenny enjoyed the views offered by her co-pilot seat. Although the distance between Lijiang and Shangri-La was not long – we noticed along the way that it took 3 hours to cover 125 kms. The good news was that the bus ride was only 4 hours instead of five.
Well in case you have never heard of Shangri-La, according to Chinese tourist literature (and Wikipedia) it is a:
“fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia—a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance.”
As for aging slowly, we have pictures of Jenny dancing with the locals that would seem to support this claim. In an order to better market the region to tourists, the Chinese government renamed in 2001 the town and county of Zhongdian to Shangri-La. Other countries have also claimed to hold the location of Shangri-La.
Shangri-La is very different from Lijiang as it is considered a bit off the tourist beaten track. Nonetheless, we found a good hotel and quickly discovered some great atmosphere in the Old City. Each evening from 7pm, the locals hold some traditional dancing in the town square – everybody is invited to join in. The circle of dancers start small but as people join in the circle grows to take up the entire square – what a nice experience!
Thursday was a rather slow day as we did not want to venture too far out of town. We visited a nearby monastery on top of a hill and started to do a bit of souvenir shopping.
I always appreciate vacation time for getting/taking the time to read paperback books. Well, half-way through the vacation, I have already completed two 700 pages paperbacks (Angels & Demons; The Bourne Sanction). I’m now holding on to them in hope of doing a book exchange in Lhasa, Tibet. Until then, I guess I will need to join Jenny and Victoria in listening to the Chinese TV shows and cartoons.