Shangri-la/ Zhongdian (June 30 - July 2)

Zhongdian County was renamed Shangri-La in 2001 to attract tourists. It’s still known as Zhongdian to most locals but everyone recognizes the new name because of the infamous book it was named after.

“Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. In the book, "Shangri-La" is a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia — a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world.”

Situated over 4500 meters above sea-level on the old Tibetan border in China, Zhongdian is, in every sense of the word, breathtaking. The town still held much of its old character but the best views were outside of town where I found myself in the middle of majestic mountains and ancient Tibetan monasteries.

On day one I was lucky to meet up with a couple I had met in Dali and they quickly told me that I should absolutely see a monastery that was 3 hours outside of town. This proved to be the highlight of my trip to Shangri-la and I could even say that the trip itself was the best part. Rolling evergreen mountains covered in clouds cleared way for gold tan hills and crisp blue skies as we neared the monastery and I was struck at how much the landscapes changed drastically within a few miles. From lush to dry, from green to gold, from humid to dry as a desert.

Once we arrived, my group and I wandered around the village of the monastery. Everything from upkeep to food was the responsibility of the villagers. Everyone lived around the monastery and made their life about it. It was incredibly humbling and was the kind of experience that makes you wonder why and if you even need all of your material possessions. Things like Community, Faith, and Spirit are true possessions that can’t be attained through monetary means, but hard work, purpose, and strength of mind. These people living in the monastery were probably far richer than I will ever be in richness of heart, mind, and soul. I know that I’ve learned to live much simpler now, and realize that sometimes a want is merely a need for something deeper. Maybe this feeling will stay with me. Maybe it won’t.

My remaining time in Zhongdian was spent exploring the old town around my hostel. Small temples and places of worship littered the streets and although most of the Tibetan-style buildings had been converted to little shops catering to foreigners, people’s smiles were still authentic and the food was still cheap. I still hadn’t gotten accustomed to the higher altitude there so most of my exploration would be intercepted with small breaks to give my legs and lungs a break (less oxygen in the air = more cramped legs) but this just added to my experience.

Within a few days I had seen most of what Zhongdian had to offer and the cold weather and rain shooed me out and I was off to Lijiang.

At the Tibetan monastery

Into the wild Clouds rolling off the mountains

xx!

Dali (June 26 - July 30)

I left Kunming a day early and decided I was going to make my trip to Dali in an overnight train. This proved to be a little less fun than anticipated and I spent most of my time trying to fall asleep with the lights on and to the hum of Chinese chatter that went way late into the night. Lesson learned: I was going to stick to buses where at least people fell asleep.

So upon arriving in Dali, I quickly noticed how really lovely this little town was. The city consisted of a few touristy streets within a town that was still holding on to its old heritage: Ancient buildings, city walls and the old city moat are the sites most frequented by visitors. The area is surrounded by mountains on the east, west, and south, and has the Erhai Lake in its center which I spent a day biking to.

Oh, and did I mention the Ganja? Yeah, that's sold here like any other souvenir...

I met a good group of people there as well. It seems that we were all looking for a break and some fresh air, which is exactly what Dali gave us. The hostel I stayed in was fantastic and even had peanut butter and jam for my toast which I grew to love every morning with a pot of jasmine tea (I can still smell its sweet perfume to this day! Mmm)

I’ll remember the old stone houses that crumbled but held on to their foundations even hundreds of years into their existences, and the fresh markets that sold scallop the size of my fist, and of course Foreigner Street that sold beautiful hand-dyed Batik fabrics. I will definitely remember biking all day to Erhai Lake, through rice and corn fields, and watching the mountains follow us the whole time. It was a good little place that offered blue skies, great pictures, and some piece of mind.

Old good-luck charms on a door

One of the great Dali gates

The farm ladies still carry all of their goods the 'old-fashion' way... She probably walks over an hour with her goods slung over her shouler like that.

xx!

Kunming (June 24 - June 25)

I stopped here after Yuanyang for a few days and originally planned to stay longer, but the sheer lack of things to see cut my time here in half. (This is fact turned out to be a blessing since I then made time to go to Shangri-la)

Kunming is a relatively medium-sized city and the capital of Yunnan province. Like all capital cities it's clean and safe. And well, that's it...! I can’t say that there isn’t a thing for everyone. Some people do love this city but I was going for character and this city lacks the old charms of so many other smaller cities.

What Kunming did do, in fact, was show me another side of China; one of day-to-day charms like markets and community bonding rituals like the great Chinese past-time of Mahjong. As I noticed before at the bus station on my way to Yuanyang, Kunming seems to be the gateway of modernity in a province that is still grasping on to its roots, and while other cities like Shanghai are tripping over themselves trying to race for an invisible finish line, Kunming is happy to be prancing and whistling while it enjoys the run.

The great game of Mahjong

Yuanyang (June 21 – June 23)

I arrived in Kunming, which was my transfer city to Yuanyang, at around 7am. The bus taking me to Yuanyang was leaving at 10am so I had a bit of time to spare. I had had approximately 3 or 4 hours of sleep on the bus so my exhaustion compelled me to stay in the station and just wait patiently.

I saw dozens of families move their entire life’s belongings from city to city through that bus station, business men from small towns hoping to make some money in The Big City, and drifters making a few dollars by selling pens and gum to travelers.

I finally found myself in the bus that would get me to Yuanyang and it was on that ride that I met Baptiste and Marie – both French speakers but Baptiste was French and Marie was Canadian.

We finally arrived in Yuanyang after having dealt with an 8 hour ride, trench-like “toilets”, cockroaches, sick Chinese passengers, and a strange sour smell we quickly connected with a cardboard box that was leaking meat juice from meats that had thawed albeit being frozen at the beginning of our journey. And yes that box had been placed under the bus along with all of our backpacks, and we definitely laughed all the way to the hostel trying to determine whose bag had marinated in the meat juice because the smell followed us all the way up.

Soon after checking into our hostel we secured a driver who would chauffeur us around the terraces the following day, starting at 6am. We then met up with a few other travelers that Marie had previously befriended in Kunming and we grabbed a good supper at one of the local restaurants and shared some beer before heading to bed before our early start the next morning.

I woke up early the next morning to the sound of rain and my heart sunk as I thought of the rainy and wet day that lay ahead of me. What would happen to the beautiful landscapes I was so looking forward to? Fortunately, the rain spit out its last few drops as we drove up a hill to our first terrace and my spirit once again regained its enthusiasm.

Although we had arrived in the middle of season and the rice was already half grown, I was still left in awe for most of the day as we toured the hills and were presented with mountains that seemed to have been carved by the gods themselves. It was with constant reminders that we would remember that these mountains had been shaped over hundreds of years by the Hani people, and were left with an intense appreciation for human tenacity.

Were they in a more accessible part of China these terraces would already have been heavily developed for tourism, and no doubt lost much of their appeal. Perhaps then it is a blessing in disguise that by accident of modern geography they lie in Yunnan, a province so abundant in natural beauty and diverse scenery that these rice terraces have so far been overlooked to a certain extent... Most of the information on this area I had to procure through blogs on the internet!

If anyone is interested in going, please feel free to contact me. I’ll try and help as much as possible, everyone should be lucky enough to witness such outstanding beauty. It was a true privilege that I saw these hills and hope to remember them for the rest of my life.

An older Hani woman carrying water up to her village

Sunset views at one of the lookout points

The small village we stayed in.

xx!