Swizzy's go East!: On 3200m above sea level in Shangri-la!

From Qiaotou we organised another private taxi that took us all the way up to Shangri-la (3200m above sea level). The journey by car took us about 2hours and is very scenic. The landscape changes very much a long the way, from rocky and sparse to a lot of endless green fields with beautiful mountains in the background and the dark blue sky - really beautiful!

We arrived in Shangri-la late in the afternoon. After finding a guesthouse to stay for the next 3 nights (Noah Cafe & Inn), we went to have a look around the small old town of Shangri-la.

Beautiful landscape on the way to Shangri-la / Schöne Landschaft auf dem Weg nach Shangri-la

Lucky enough we were just on time to catch one of the daily routines in Shangri-la: The dancing on the main square where old and young are coming together and jointly perform a dance (in a big circle) to traditional chinese music! The street-parade (Techno party of Zurich) of Shangri-la so to speak!

Very cool to watch, and for the girls to try and get the moves right :)

Brrr....it was cold on 3200m above sea level! / Brrr... es war kalt auf 3200m über Meer!

Dancing lesson on the main square / Tanzuntterricht

Do you get the moves right, baby?! :) / Machst Du die Schritte korrekt, baby?! :)

More and more people were joining the fun... / Mehr und mehr Leute kamen dazu....

Beautiful Shangri-la... / Schönes Shangri-la...

....until at the end the circle was closed (two-three rows) / ....bis am Schluss der Kreis geschlossen war (2-3 Reihen)

After this exercise we felt hungry and adventerous to try the local cuisine. We expected it to be different, since Shangri-la is very close to the Tibetean border and therefore their cuisine has some different influences. We as well got round to try a bottle of the local wine, which was a very sweet, strawberry flavoured wine - interesting!

Local wine - tasted like strawberry / Lokaler Wein - schmeckte nach Erdbeeren

Yak meat with Chillis / Yak Fleisch mit Chilli

Some more Yak meat... / Und noch mehr Yak Fleisch

And the signature dish - some kind of a stew! / Und der Hauptgang - eine Art Eintopf!

With Yak meat, potatos, spring onions... / Mit Yak Fleisch, Kartoffeln und Frühlingszwiebeln...

*Cheers!*

The next day our small tourist group planed to go and see a local monastry, where still monks are living. The Songzanlin Monastery is located on a hill a few kilometers north of the town and one can go there by local bus.

Breakfast the next day - dunno what it is exactly, but it is a bit similar to bread in taste / Frühstück am nächsten Tag - weiss nicht genau was es ist, aber es schmeckt ein wenig wie Brot

Tomato, eggs and noodles soup - a classic! / Tomaten, Eier und Nudeln Suppe - ein Klassiker!

Still in waking up mode.... / Immernoch am aufwachen....

Still very rural up here... / Immernoch sehr ländlich hier oben.....

Local people in the bus... / Einheimische im Bus....

The guy at our guesthouse already informed us, that they recently started charging 85RMB per person to go and see the monastry. They would pull you out half way on the bus ride, and force you to pay. Only option to avoid paying, according to instructions we received at our guesthouse is, that you get off the bus and then just walk the rest of the way yourself.

Once the bus stopped at the checkpoint the responsible guy ask us 'friendly' to get out of the bus and showed us the way into the visitor centre where we were asked to pay 85RMB per person. Still we thought, that it would not be worth the money and we rather take a walk to have a look.

The first 'Albino Yak' we've seen / Das erstel 'Albino Yak' das wir gesehen haben

There was some sort of temple next to the visitor centre / Es hatte einen Tempel neben dem Besucher Zentrum

Therefore we made us on our way up the first hill.... up, up and up we walked and arrived at the top, we saw the monastry in the far distance and had to realize, that it is way too far to just walk (except if you're happy walking another hour).

Taking a detour to escape the 85RMB charge / Wir gingen einen Umweg um die 85RMB nicht bezahlen zu müssen

View on Shangri-la / Aussicht auf Shangri-la

C'mon baby!

Well done! / Gut gemacht!

So we just sat down and watched from the far distance... Which was o.k. We sat there for a while chit-chatting until all of a sudden another couple came up the hill... :) So we were not the only ones that wanted to avoid the fee. After a while we descended back down.

Our team grew bigger - two Frenchies joined us on the hill! / Unser Team wurde grösser - zwei Franzosen sind dazugestossen!

Romanitc sparks between Chris and Caroline / Romantische Funken zwischen Chris und Caroline

We felt like exploring the local wet market - which was very interesting! Pasci was a bit shocked when a still bloody cow heart was put in his face *blearch* !! We had a quick bite at the market before returning back to our guesthouse.

Fresh vegetables at the market / Frisches Gmüse am Markt

And fresh ducks... / Und frische Enten...

So fresh, they still were flying / So frisch, dass sie immernoch flogen

Awwwww......so cute! / Awwww.....so härzig!

We got hungry with all this food around us! / Wir waren hungrig mit soviel Essen um uns herum!

The meat section...Porc, beef, chicken and yak! / Die Fleischabteilung....Schweine-, Rindsfleisch, Poulet und Yak!

.....and fresh heart! / ....und frisches Herz!

What can you buy in this shop?! ;) / Was kann man in diesem Laden kaufen?! ;)

Bringing home the fresh vegies.... / Sie bringen das frische Gemüse nach Hause...

In case you're tired, just take a nap in the park! / Wenn Du müde bist, dann mach einfach ein Nickerchen im Park!

Two doggies were playing / Zwei Hunde am spielen

Ronnie, Chris and Caroline had to leave back to Lijiang on the next day.We had another day here but first had to get some of our duties done - our laundry.

So we only had half a day left to roam around and see some more of Shangri-la. We decided to have a look at the 'chicken-temple' which is a bit out of town but in walking distance.

The streets of Shagnri-la / Die Strassen von Shangri-la

Chicken Temple in Shangri-la / Poulet-Tempel in Shangri-la

View of Shangri-la / Aussicht auf Shangri-la

The temple was not very spectacular (just lots of praying-flags) and there were actually NO chickens...so don't know where the name came from. Anyway - we enjoyed the walk up there.

In the evening we decided to try another local speciality: the local version of hot-pot. We had plenty of ingredients and we enjoyed the delicious soupe! *Yummy*

Heating up the charcles for our hot pot / Sie mussten die Kohlen für unseren Hot-Pot aufheizen