Shangri-la : Part 8 - From Xiangcheng to Shangri-la

26 Oct 2012 : The place we stayed in Xiangcheng has lots of prayer flags. It is not surprising as Xiangcheng has a population of 93% Tibetans, and the remaining is the Han nationality. I walked up to the highest floor to snap a photo of the surroundings, but the view was not very exciting. I do like the paintings on the wall, though. Colourful. I like.

For breakfast, my roommate and I were assigned to find any man tou (steamed buns). Well, she did the talking while I snapped photos. We found a Chinese Muslim shop selling steamed buns. They look so delicious, steaming hot. It costs RMB1 for a bun. Unfortunately, because they were so plain, it took me forever to finish them, and it became cold in my hands.

At 8.20am, we are out from the hotel. Today, we are headed towards Shangri-la, previously known as Zhongdian. The estimated distance is 350km. I was excited to see this place because if it was going to be named as Shangri-la, it has to be spectacular! 

At 10am, we reached the border of Sichuan Province and Yunnan Province. Shangri-la is located in Yunnan Province. The police officer was pointing at me to stop snapping photos.

We stopped for lunch at Derong Town. There was a row of eateries that displayed lots of roasted ducks. I believe it must be a signature dish here. We decided to have a roasted duck since it is displayed in each stall.

The duck tastes yummy! And lunch with the 4 additional dishes of our must-have soup of vegetables, mushroom, 2 fried eggs and green pepper came to RMB88.

After lunch, we were headed towards the public toilet. The eateries do not have a toilet. The toilet is by the river. We paid RMB1 to use the toilet. The restaurant owner told us the toilet is clean, and it flushes by itself. Well, I am sure their description of the toilet could be somehow misinterpreted by me?

After the quick lunch, we were back on the road. At 5.30pm, we reached Shangri-la (3300m above sea level). I thought it did not look like a Shangri-la because there were modern buildings around me, until my friend told me that we needed to venture outside the town.

It has been 7 days, and our driving arrangement has ended today. We are on our own now. Very much thankful actually, because the ride has been cramped, uncomfortable, and smelly (we could smell carbon monoxide in the van, and we thought all the bumpy rides must have punctured the exhaust pipe causing it to leak). Good for one time experience.

Two of my friends went to look for a guesthouse to stay in the Ancient Village. And the rest of us waited in front of the entrance to the Ancient Village. Although we have not booked any accommodation, there are many places to stay in the Ancient Village. After about 15 minutes of waiting, we got good news. So, off we go, dragging our luggage across the stoned path which is bad for the luggage' wheels, towards the guesthouse.

It was about 15 minutes before we reached our place of stay. It is not because of the distance. No, it was very near from where we waited. It was because we were pulling the luggage across the uneven path, and switching between the left and right hand because it was heavy. 

The place where we stayed was right in front of a stupa. We got ourselves a good inn to stay in. We paid RMB70 for a twin bedroom, and an attached bathroom. The services provided by the inn are quite common in most of the inns in the village.

For today's dinner, we placed an order in the inn. The receptionist was also the chef! We had brought our own ingredients and just need to be heated up. The only thing we took from the fridge was the vegetables.

Our comfortable room. That night, I took my first hot shower after 4 days! It felt so good!

Herbal wine that costs RMB10 per cup.

There was a map on the wall in the inn. My friend was showing to me from where we started and the altitude  was shown in the map too. So, I can't remember what is she pointing now, because I am, after all, a banana.

While waiting for dinner to be prepared, we walked out, giving the village a tour. I tried finding for halal preserved yak meat for my Muslim colleagues in Malaysia, but the sellers did not understand what is halal. My friend did tried her best to explain, and so I flipped the packages looking for a halal sign, but to no avail. So, I did not make any purchase that night. 

There was a temple inside the village. I was panting climbing up the steps. Trying to catch my breath, although they had 30 steps only!

Cafes were abundant in Shangri-la. This is what commercialisation does. If Yading is commercialised, these kind of shops will be seen too.

My friend found a Travel Service company to bring us around tomorrow. After a short discussion, we bought a package to hire a van for RMB600 for the day to bring us around 3 places - Yila Grassland, Napahai Lake, and Potatso National Park. There was a banner that states - Heaven is too far away, do come to Yila Grassland. Wow. I am impressed. The place being compared to Heaven. Must be Garden of Eden.

And dinner that night. Soup and vegetable mix! Ingredients from the fridge. Because we only took the vegetables from the fridge, our dinner cost us RMB40 only! Do not forget it includes rice too.

Canned fish and Taiwan sausage. From us.

After dinner, we sat by the sofa, talked, ate kiwi and baby tomatoes, and I made contact with my friend I met last year on the train to Tibet. We have always been in touch via email, and he knew I was in China. He had offered his help if I needed any. And yes, I needed his help to book a place of stay for us in Kunming. I borrowed the inn's phone to call him and we did not need to pay. So, because I had terrible communication skills in Mandarin, my friend spoke to him instead. He was going to help us! Yay! At about 9.30pm, we called it a day, and I was able to sleep comfortably after getting a good hair wash!