April 20 2013: Exploring Shangri-La
This
was another “free day” to explore Shangri-La so we started again with a hike
after breakfast to keep the blood flowing, over a small rocky hill not far away
with a white stupas and pretty tatty prayer flags, soaring vultures (yes!) and
an old ruin overlooking one of those “have to move if we get a rainy year”
villages.
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| Jackson strikes a pose.... |
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| Jeff surveys the horizon |
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| a vulture surveys Jeff.. |
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| Skipping - Tibetan style |
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| Are we on? |
Super
walk, then back for more yummy food before tackling the town itself. The “new” town is
uninspiring, but the old town still has a lot of charm, with winding alleys,
little guest houses and lots of fascinating stalls and shops!
There is a smaller monastery of dubious charm on top of one hill but it does have an enormous prayer wheel that takes about 30 people to propel it! It gives a lovely overview of the roof tops of the old town too.
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| painting tankas |
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| Fish pond construction sites bar? |
At
the square below we found an older monastery and to our surprise the lower floor
housed a large “museum” display of the Long March as it affected the local
area. We could have spent hours there, but were running out of time. As mentioned before, it featured the bridge
in Gonjo and we could see the old lady’s house at the side. Won’t go into the detail here, but it was
really interesting to see the display albeit briefly
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The masses become their own masters - really.
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| Long March bridge - the blue house is the one we visited |
We then all met for a quick drink (much needed, all a bit knackering
after our rural retreat life!) then on to dinner at a superb old house
converted to a great restaurant by a charming Nepali lady, a mate of Jeff’s,
and so interesting to talk to – and fab grub too, a little richer than our
tasty but limited mountain meals. On the way back to the cars we passed
through the main square again, where a local band played for old ladies in
ethnic dress to lead the whole town in traditional Tibetan dancing – a great
ending to another super day.
I
heartily recommend you to visit Shangri La before its too late.
At
the square below we found an older monastery and to our surprise the lower floor
housed a large “museum” display of the Long March as it affected the local
area. We could have spent hours there, but were running out of time. As mentioned before, it featured the bridge
in Gonjo and we could see the old lady’s house at the side. Won’t go into the detail here, but it was
really interesting to see the display albeit briefly
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