The Lost Horizon

Zhongdian [also known as Shangrila and Diqing] struck me as a sleepy town neatly tucked in the lower Himalayan plateaus. Like anywhere else, visiting travellers should know what they're looking for to be able to really appreciate the place. Except for the distinctively Tibetan buildings, I wasn't initially impressed. I thought I'd been to more beautiful towns in China. Perhaps, I expected so much and was looking for a paradise that never was. But I wasn't totally disappointed. A stroll down the main avenue and a fleeting moment of interaction with local vendors along the street somehow gave me a taste of Tibetan culture. The fact was Shangrila covered more space than just Zhongdian City alone that required several days to explore. Lijiang and the Tiger Leaping Gorge, in fact are all part of the mysticism of the lost paradise. Worried that I won't be able to get to Chengdu on time for the Amity Winter Conference, I spent only a day checking the lamasary, the old town and Napa Lake.Going to the lamasary took a short drive north of the city. It is said to be the largest in the world with its 600 monks in residence. It appeared that like the Buddhists in Laos and Thailand, young boys were offered to the service of the temples and so I would say that was the only place where I've seen so many monks of different ages, some of which looked really very young. The lamasary was on top of a hill with a major temple that housed different incarnations of Buddha while the monks lived in Tibetan houses within the compound. At the lamasary, the view of snow capped mountains at a distance and the wide grazing land below were quite impressive. I wandered around a little bit, then took bus number 3 to the old town on the southern part of the city. The old town showcased traditional Tibetan houses and like Dali and Lijiang, there were shops and inns and restaurants catering to tourists. There were old women on ethnic costumes dancing at the square and I watched for a while before moving on.Having seen piles of snow on the streets, I'd been hoping it snowed, and it snowed the night before I left! I was told by the owner of the inn where I stayed at Yacha Village and the girl I met at the middle rapids that it seldom snowed at the Tiger Leaping Gorge area. The snow came only about every ten years. I found that rather odd because there were always snow on top of the mountains. I was at a cafe having dinner feeling a little bad that I wasn't going to see Shangrila with the snow as had always been impressed in my mind, then there it was, it was snowing hard like I've never seen before! I thought I was the only one excited, but even the waitresses were equally fascinated. It snowed all night that night and on the day that I travelled back to Lijiang. I was surprised that after ploughing through the snow for a time that seemed forever, it was almost dry at the foot of the mountain along the river. Then the snow was back as we climbed the other side of the mountain to Lijiang. I wasn't able to catch the last bus to Jinjiang [Pan Zhi Hua], Sichuan Province so I stayed the night over at the old Lijiang town one's again.