Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Yunnan Trip 2010 - Shangrila 12th May

Yes, we're heading more north today. We're making our way up to Shangrila. hmmm... i guess to most of us, Shangrila is a rather mysterious place.... but i must tell u after heading there.... its no longer mysterious to me. u can say that i got to know some facts and reality of Shangrila.

Anyway we moved out pretty early today... and the morning in Lijiang was pretty cold. Juz a jacket may not be enough...somemore this was almost the end of spring... i can't imagine how winter is like... think it maybe unlivable for me... hahaha....After our breakfast, we had to bade goodbye to Xiao Deng, and we'll meet her tomorrow again. Coz when we're in Shangrila, we'll have another tour guide.

Xiao Deng leave us at the 1st bend of the Great Yantze River. and that is also where we will have a toilet break. well.... I believe most of us have hear quite a number of toilet horror stories... hahaha... i've got my share of toilet stories too... and this is rather an interesting episode.... there are quite a number of toilets at the toilet break segment.. i guess is also where most of the tourists buses will stop.
Numerous toilet houses at the place where we stop for a breather

and Xiao Deng had chosen a somewhat cleaner toilet for us... and all the toilets here are 'owned' by the natives... hence u gotta pay in order to use it. anyway by the time we got down to stretch our legs, we needed to relieve our bladders. shocking for majority of us... the toilets have no doors!!! hahaha..... in each 'cubicle' there is only a drain going down... and u're susposed to relive yourself and release ur waste properly into the drain. and there are no such things as sitting toilets... meaning westernised toilet seat. all are the squatting kind. hahaha....anyway its good for training of the legs.... =P
That's how the toilet looks like in a cubicle

at this resting spot, there was somesort of a market.... people were selling some antiques and also strawberries. this period happens to be the strawberry season. so there were bushels and bushels of strawberries on sale, blueberries and some sort of cherries. pretty cheap. we bought some to eat... hahaha... for vitamin C input.
Market at the 1st bend of Yangtze River

 1st bend of Yangtze river

after the buying and snapping of pictures... its back into the coach with no Xiao Deng. and now.... we're heading to Shangrila. its about another 3 hours of bus ride. along the way, we passed the yu long xue shan and the Haba Shan. Today's weather was clearer and we could see the snow-capped tops of both mountains. the sight was really very beautiful. Pity that i was not able to capture the mountains.... coz the coach was moving at quite a fast speed.

at the tiger leaping gorge, we met our next tour guide, who will be showing us the sights of Shangrila (香格里拉). She is of Tibetian group. and I must say, u can tell the difference between the Tibetians and the Han chinese. well... one thing is the skin colour another is the 2 red patches that are very distinct on Tibetian chinese... but if u were to ask me to differentiate between a Tibetian and a Nahki, i think i may not be able to do that. Coz they look the same to me. because the people are living in high altitudes, almost all the people have dark skin and the 2 red patches on the face. this is due to the strong UV rays... coz high altitude places are nearer to the sun... hence, the UV rays are stronger... and parts of the body that are constantly exposed to the sun, somehow, if u do not apply enough sun-block, the skin can be destroyed by the over-exposure from the sun.

Shangrila ladies buying grocceries. They are in their traditional clothing. But everyone wears like this


Typical Shangrila house that you'll see

As i mentioned earlier... Shangrila (香格里拉) is really not as mysterious or exotic as what most of us imagined... some of us may think of it as a land of utopia... Shangrila was initially known as Zhongdian (中甸) and its name was officially changed to Shangrila (香格里拉) in 2001. if u were to travel more north, you'll reach the border of China & Tibet. but to be frank, after visiting Shangrila... i dun think i would ever stay in that place... hahaha... sounds pretty terrible huh.... coz even though its end of spring... Shangrila (香格里拉) is damn cold. the 1st place we visited was Shika Snow mountain (石卡雪山). Its a pity that the weather that day was not really good. the winds were juz too strong. in fact it was raining at the foot of the mountain. taking the cable car ride to the top, along the way, the rain changed to snow!!! yeah we experienced snow fall along and at the top of the mountain.

A stupa that was built at the foot of 石卡雪山

u can see that at the foot of mountain no snow. but there are traces of snow at this point of the mountain

nearing the top of the mountain

at the top of the mountain... it was juz a sea of white... and the winds were so strong... it was juz so difficult to walk... coz pieces of snow can be blown right into your face obscuring you from finding your way around. And the ground was really slippery.... hahaha... my family and I were very scared of falling down. and we were juz not correctly attired. Coz u know what i was wearing? a t-shirt, sweater and 1 jacket that u often wear in cold lecture theaters not even a winbreaker. hahaha...

A 'sea' of white

anyway we juz snapped a few photos, then we headed down to the foot of the mountain. and its at the foot that i finally get to turn those sort of gold spinning wheels that u will find in tibetian temples. and it looks find and mysterious to me... my tour guide told us that if we were to turn the wheel and recite a phrase (oops i forgot the phrase) then everything will be ok.

Golden spinning wheels

and we also got to taste yak's meat!! hahaha... the Shangrilians made it into some sort of beef jerky. and it really nice... i mean they've done it up into different flavours. u've got the super spicy ones, with seasemee oil etc. very nice indeed... and its interesting. Shangrila is very cold, so even the cows are unique cows unlike the cows u see in new zealand or australia. Shangrila's cows are the yaks lor... and the Shangrilians call it 毛牛 (mao niu) when u translate it, literally it means 'hairy cow'. hahaha... not wrong... coz yaks are really hairy. and the pastures in Shangrila are juz acres and acres of grasss. u can't find plantations here.... coz the altitude is juz too high and not suitable for crops to grow. almost all the veggies & fruits that you find in the markets had to be transported here from other parts of China.

After the mountain trip, we headed to the ancient town, Du ke Zong. Dukezong, capital of Deqen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan Province, is situated at an altitude of 3,200 meters above sea level, and is 700 kilometers from Kunming.

The brown roofs of houses in Dukezong city

The town has a history of 1300 years, during which time it has experienced both the flames of war and prosperity of frontier trade. Tibetans regard the shade of white as a sign of respect for their forefathers, the ancient Qiang people, who worshipped white stones. Shortly after the town was established, craftsmen found white clay in the region that could be ground down and used as paint. All dwellings were accordingly painted white. This is how Dukezong, Tibetan for ¡°city of white stone¡±, got its name. On a clear night, the ancient town reflects a silver sheen. This has engendered to another epithet: City of Moonlight. Its counterpart is Niwangzong Town by the Naizi River, known as the City of Sunshine. The Sun and Moon cities gave rise to the song "Sun and Moon in the Heart", which Tibetans have sung for more than 1,000 years. Dukezong was a key stop on the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail and a focal point for Han-Tibetan exchanges. Despite its age, Dukezong is the largest and best-preserved Tibetan city among China's 147 Tibetan counties. It is also site of the largest ancient Tibetan community.

my sister and i went up to the top of the temple and we went to spin the huge golden spinning wheel. very heavy and very tough to spin. we did not stay there long coz it was really cold and there was light drizzle. we didn't really get to walk the cobbled streets of Dukezong.
that's the temple on the hill with a huge gold spinning wheel


Close up view of the temple

I like this picture... decided to upload this. its the chinese version of sakura with the temple at the back

after the climb we went onto the bus and headed to the market that is visited by the locals. and over there.... hahaha.. that's when the aunties really go shopping! my mum bought quite a bit of black fungus... apparently its very cheap in shangrila and the quality is good. my mum says that black fungus is gd for the health... hiaz... every chinese medicine is gd for the health.. but not sure is good for which part of the body. =P
local market in Shangrila

Rice noodles

Wonder how Yak's bones look like? this is how they look like... hee hee

Well in fact when u see the word '毛牛' or beef in Shangrila, often its not talking about cow as those cows that we know of from new zealand but rather its yak as i've mentioned earlier. So naturally almost all the dairy products u find in Shangrila are all made from Yak's milk or meat etc. take a look at the next picture and guess what is the food. =P

White mounds on sale (has quite a foul smell)

Did u guess correct? Its Yoghurt made from Yak's milk!!! hahaha.... took this picture coz i thought it was interesting. =D

after our market trip, we were brought back to the hotel to take our dinner and rest. as it was still quite early, some of us decided to head out for a walk. it was cold... really cold... i mean u see all the people in the winter wear... and it as close to end of spring.
dad & night scene of Shangrila

hahaha.... there was not much to see in Shangrila. But i just felt its a pity that we did not get to walk the streets of the ancient town. coz that would have been interesting.
during our exploration of the city, we passed this shop... and take a look at the picture and u'll be amazed at it!!! hahaha... that was why i took this picture. =D
its a basket full of Yak's bones!!!
Shangrila had been a relatively interesting place... Hmm i don't think i'll head to Shangrila again... unless i'm heading up north to visit the Meili Xue Shan.
tomorrow we'll be heading to Lijiang!! =D

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