Shangri La, a mythical place first described in the novel Lost Horizons. To quote Wikipedia, Shangri La is " a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery". Our Shangri La is formally known as "The Shangri La Ecological Tourism Zone" and was created and renamed Shangri La in 2002 by the central government in hopes of spurring tourism to the area. It seems this clever marketing ploy has worked as Chinese tourism has increased a bazillion times since 2002. Even a few foreigners (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) are attracted. It does sort of meet the qualifications as it is located in a "mystical valley". (Their words, not mine)
It has the requisite lamasery. The Gedan Songzanlin Monastery (Guihua Monastery) is a centuries old monastery located on the outskirts of town. An operating Tibetan monastery, it has been basically rebuilt in the last two decades although the knickknacks have been around for four or five hundred years. They estimate about 700 monks live on the premises. It is claimed that at one time there were over 3,000 monks living in residence. If it is any consolation , at least the monks living accommodations look to be around 300 or 400 years old. The monks were very busy marketing Buddha the day of our visit, with visitors streaming through the place buying charms, prayer beads, images, incense as well as filling the donation boxes. Buddhism seems to be a growth industry in Shangri La. But with a name like that, how can it not do well?
Meet some of the harmonious inhabitants of Shangri La. These folks are Tibetan but there are over 25 ethnic minorities in Yunnan. To qualify as an ethnic minority, there must be at least 50,000 people registered and claiming that particular ethnicity. The big five are the Bai, Dai, Yi, Hani, Tibetan, and Naxi minorities, all with populations in the millions. There are no real perks being a minority other than you can ignore the one child rule so it not uncommon to see large family units. Not sure if this can be called a perk. It is said that there are dozens more minorities around but they are not formally registered as their numbers do not qualify them to be a minority. Its funny but I thought that it would be inherent based on the definition of minority. What do I know? We will be visiting a model minority village in Kunming where they have recreated typical examples of how each of the 25 minorities (registered) live. Keep you posted on that visit.
The valley is also home to a large national park with two large and pristine glacier fed lakes. There are over 8 kilometres of wooden walkways that allow you access to the park and the lakes or you could opt to take a bus from scenic spot to scenic spot, saving you all that legwork. You can see in the picture what most of the tourists chose to do. Even our guide, frowned when we opted for the walk but Nonie just kept herding her along ignoring her grumbling. Poor girl didn't know what hit her. No buses for the Cornell's.
Saw two more minority groups as we left the park. The one on the left looks especially tasty as I would kill for a big juicy medium rare steak right now.
Next stop Kunming, the last stop on our Chinese adventure.
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