Yunnan 7: Shangri-La Tashi Delek

Number of days：5 days
With whom: and friends
Updated: 2022.07.17

Yunnan No. 7: Shangri-La Tashi Delek

We arrived at the designated location at 6:40 a.m. on September 5th to wait for the bus. We were the first to board and sat in the first row on the left—a rare opportunity.

The bus picked up people along the way, with the last stop being Shuhe. By 8 a.m., all 31 of us had gathered and departed for Shangri-La.

Our tour guide was named Losang Tsering. He wore a Tibetan knife on his waist and claimed to be Tibetan. He introduced himself, then revealed his true colors: We would be visiting Tibetan families that evening. Each person would pay 100 yuan and receive a flying chicken (we later learned that there was only one roasted chicken for two people, meaning the roasted chicken cost 200 yuan), a potato, a barley cake, and two boxes of yak beef, enough for all 31 people.

Because we were sitting in the front row, we paid first. The tour guide collected money all the way in the car and told us that he would get a commission of 30 yuan for every 100 yuan. However, several women in the back of the car only paid for half a roast chicken, meaning that only 2 people paid 100 yuan. The tour guide was dissatisfied and said he was losing money.

On the way, we saw a Yi village. Because of the rain and fog, it was not clear, so I took a few foggy pictures. We were supposed to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge, but it was closed for maintenance. The tour guide said we should check back the next day to see if it was open. So we looked out at the river from the bridge.

Wildflowers along the way.

After dinner, we visited the Diqing Museum.

Shangri-La can be said to be the "white moonlight" in the hearts of countless people. This small county in northwestern Yunnan Province was originally made famous by the book "Lost Horizon." Its beauty and mystery attract people from all over the world to travel thousands of miles to visit. This is an ancient land, and human footprints have long been there.

This is an ancient land, and human footprints have long been there. In addition to text, images, and various antiques and cultural relics, the museum uses models to recreate the production, life, and reproduction of humanity on this land six or seven thousand years ago. The museum houses stone coffins and funerary artifacts unearthed from Yongzhi, Nagu, and Shidi in Deqin County. Over 2,300 years ago, the ancestors of the Tibetan people created a rich and diverse indigenous culture here. Strolling through the museum is like stepping into a bygone era. Each object evokes the unique life, work, and spiritual world of the Tibetan people, while each sculpture recreates the vicissitudes of life here.

The Ancient Tea Horse Road, carved step by step by mules, yaks, and people, is magnificent and treacherous, yet brimming with life and bustle. The artifacts preserved along the route still reflect the cultural significance of this route, a journey that never tires of revisiting it a thousand times.

I don't think photography was allowed inside the museum, so I've forgotten exactly what I saw, but I did remember the Tibetan tour guide's description of the wonders of Tibetan medicine, saying that a Tibetan doctor could diagnose your physical ailments by simply looking at your palms. After the tour, the tour guide explained that everyone would have the opportunity to meet with a Tibetan doctor face to face, offering them their hands for a consultation.

I laid my palms flat on the table, palms up. The Tibetan doctor examined them, felt them, and measured the distance between my joints. Then he said, "You have migraines, which affect blood flow to your brain. Your sleep quality is poor. Are you worrying too much?" I thought to myself, he was right.

I said, "I have elderly parents and young children, so it's natural for me to worry."

The Tibetan doctor said, "Parents should take care of their children. That's filial piety. As for children, they will have their own blessings. You should let go when you should." He asked if I wanted to have some treatment.

A tourist before me had been treated by a Tibetan doctor for 1,120 yuan. They bought four boxes of Tibetan medicine and received a business card that allowed them to order more medicine by mail after taking it.

I said, "I'll go home and treat myself."

So he gave up.

No one would dispute that the Red Army's Long March was a miracle. Throughout the Long March, the Red Army soldiers repeatedly rose from desperate situations, each one growing stronger with courage. They climbed snow-capped mountains, crossed grasslands, and overcame unimaginable hardships and dangers. During their 25,000-mile journey, they also left their tenacious footprints in remote Diqing, Yunnan.

The Diqing Red Army Long March Museum commemorates the Red Army's crossing of the Jinsha River and entry into Diqing Prefecture during the Long March in 1936. It opened on August 20, 2007. General Xiao Ke inscribed the museum's name. Marshal He Long's daughter, He Xiaoming, and 74 other Red Army veterans attended the opening ceremony. The museum covers 2,400 square meters and has been designated a "Yunnan Patriotic Education Base" and a "National Defense Education Base" by the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee and Government. In June 2021, it was named a "National Patriotic Education Demonstration Base" by the Central Propaganda Department.

The museum's exterior exudes a strong Tibetan aesthetic, an architectural style found only in Tibetan areas. The museum is primarily decorated in red and white, with plaques inscribed in both Chinese and Tibetan.

The exhibition hall displays boats, guns, slogans, documents and books used by the Red Army during their march into Diqing, as well as lanterns, medicine boxes, grain bags, and water bottles. Numerous images also illustrate little-known stories from the Long March.

Detailed text and various black-and-white photos record the scene when the Red Army entered Shangri-La. These passages and images reveal many little-known stories of the Long March.

Various vivid objects recreate the scene after the Red Army arrived in Shangri-La. In addition to guns and ammunition, there are also many daily necessities brought by the Red Army soldiers during the Long March. The damaged items are particularly moving, reflecting the difficult conditions under which the Red Army marched.

There are many museums commemorating the Long March in China, but the one in Diqing was the most unique and impressive of my trip, and it's definitely worth a visit.

Checking in at the Shangri-La Kangzhu Business Hotel, I finally saw a more formal hotel layout, complete with desks, bedside tables, stools, coffee tables, and so on.

Thirteen of us were planning to visit Songzanlin Monastery, a destination not on our itinerary, so we just rested at the hotel. The tour guide said we'd meet in the lobby at 5:30 to have dinner, but he didn't return with the Songzanlin Monastery group until 6:00.

We had dinner at a hotel a little after 6:00. The rice was half-cooked. Because of the plateau, cooked rice quickly becomes undercooked, a phenomenon known as "plateau bullets," and can cause stomach problems for those with weak stomachs. I have no idea what the dinner was, it was incredibly unpalatable.

After dinner, there's another activity: a visit to the Zang family across from the hotel.

Entering the Tibetan courtyard, a Tashi (a male) presents the guest with a pure white khata. The guest bows their head, clasps their hands together, and says "Tashi Delek." A Zhuoma (a Tibetan term for women) takes a photo of you receiving the khata (if you want this photo, please pay 20 yuan). A few steps further, another Tashi hands you a small cup of highland barley wine. After drinking it, you enter the Tibetan family's living room. The square living room is supported by two columns in the middle. The room, which can accommodate over 300 people, is arranged in a square with a stage in the center. Barley noodles, butter tea, and barley wine are placed on the tables. Then, the roasted chicken arrives. Two people pay 200 yuan for a whole chicken, while two people pay only 100 yuan for half a chicken. The Tibetans cut the chicken in half, and two boxes of yak beef are provided for the 31 people. Wild mushroom and chicken soup can be refilled at any time. Each person also receives a small piece of barley cake and a skinny potato. The barley cake has a strange, slightly sour taste. After one bite, I can't eat any more. The roasted chicken is quite good. I ate two wings, which is the most meat I've ever eaten.

We ate while watching a cabaret show. The deafening music, the seductive voices, the toasts to you, the applause and the stomping of your feet made it very uneasy to eat.

It was too noisy. I didn't finish the show and slipped back to the hotel.

On September 6th, I had breakfast at the hotel at 6:00 AM. There was very little variety: an egg, porridge, vermicelli noodles, pickles, and cabbage. There was no sign of soy milk or milk.

At 7:00 AM, we took a bus to Pudacuo National Forest Park.

The tour guide said it was very cold there and we needed to rent down jackets. The altitude is over 3,800 meters. We needed to buy oxygen. Each person needed at least two bottles: one to breathe while on the sightseeing bus and another at the highest point. It's an uninhabited area there, so if anything goes wrong, we can call 120, but it takes a long time. The tour guide's explanation was a bit scary.

It was cold and rainy, and we stopped halfway to rent down jackets. They were all black, with only one extra size available, and the rental cost 45 yuan. Wearing them would instantly make you gain 20 pounds, which would be as ugly as it could be. I also bought two bottles of oxygen, 68 yuan each, but I didn't need it. More on that later.

We braved the rain to enter Pudacuo Park, where our guide gave us four hours to explore.

It rained incessantly, and my down jacket became a raincoat. My pants were soaked, my sneakers were soaked, and my hands were frozen. It felt like winter had arrived early here.

It's almost impossible to tell which scenic spot is in the following photos; they're all Pudacuo National Park.

We boarded a bus-style sightseeing bus with its own tour guide. The female guide, named Zhuoma, explained that Pudacuo means "saving all sentient beings" in Tibetan, "reaching the ideal shore." It's a beautiful expression.

Two photos from the sightseeing bus.

The first stop was Shudu Lake. Many people didn't get off the bus, so the bus drove directly to the observation deck. We got off, took a few photos, and then continued on. Shudu Lake was lush with trees, and the lake surface was hazy.

After a two-hour hike, you'll see green mountains and clear waters.

Unfortunately, the weather was bad. The sky was filled with vast dark clouds, making the distant mountains and nearby waters look a little dark. The sky also seemed to be lower, as if it was about to kiss the lake. The air is fresh. There are fir trees beside the plank road, with many brown fruits hanging on the green branches. This is the Picea australis, which and the Abies longifolia are listed as rare and endangered plants under national protection.

Pudacuo National Park is a fairy-tale world without any pollution, with clear lakes, blue skies, the sound of waves in the forest, and the chirping of birds and the fragrance of flowers. It is the best place to cultivate one's character and refine one's sentiments.

When I came out of the scenic area, I spent 10 yuan to buy a plateau rice dumpling. I thought it was filled with glutinous rice, but it was actually filled with potatoes. It was not a rice dumpling at all, but just a potato roll. I was so hungry that I didn't think it tasted bad.

When we arrived at the souvenir shop, everyone got off the bus to look around inside to save face for the guide. When we got back on the bus, the guide, holding a piece of paper resembling a receipt, explained, "You only spent 670 yuan," implying his commission was pitifully small.

We passed Tiger Leaping Gorge, which was still closed today. The guide refunded each of us 40 yuan for the entrance fee and had us sign.

We then passed a jade exhibition center. The guide excused us to use the free restroom, saying he needed to inspect the car and the driver needed a break. We stayed there for another half an hour. This jade exhibition center was built by the local government to provide employment for laid-off workers. It's quite large. You can buy and test jade. The guide told us to go into the store; you get the idea.

We arrived in Lijiang at 6 p.m., dropping off eight or nine tourists from Shuhe before finally getting us off at the Seven Star Bridge at the East Gate.

Stayed at the Xiangyun Hotel, 130 yuan per night.

Put down my luggage. I searched the streets for my son's favorite spirulina cake and finally found it in a slightly larger supermarket. A 338-gram bag was 24.5 yuan. In the ancient city, the same package was 28-30 yuan a bag, so I bought five bags straight away.

Find a place to eat. At a small restaurant, I fried a few small fish and ordered stir-fried bitter melon with shredded pork. I was very satisfied. It was the most filling and cheapest meal I'd had in days, costing only 49 yuan.

After dinner, I called to arrange a minivan to the airport the next morning, then showered and rested.

My flight back to Guangzhou was at 10:20 on September 7th.

The minivan arrived at the hotel entrance two minutes early. Arrived at Lijiang Airport at 8:28.

After checking in, I didn't want to go through security so quickly, so I went to the bookstore. I found several books about Lugu Lake and bought four of them, including "Out of the Kingdom of Daughters", "Lost Horizon" and "People of Walking Marriage". During the visit, I felt that the Kingdom of Daughters of Lugu Lake was a good subject. At that time, I even had the idea of writing a novel, but it eventually came to nothing. Even these travel notes were not compiled until 9 years later.

We were supposed to board the flight at 9:50, but the flight from Guangzhou was delayed, so we weren't able to board until 10:15. I was the first one on, a first. We took off at 10:40.

The airline meal consisted of rice, which I ate two bites of, but it was also half-cooked. I ended up having a small bread roll, a small bag of peanuts, and two cups of coffee.

We landed at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport at 1:10 PM.

I worked as a cleaner, washed a load of my own clothes, then mopped the floor, cooked, and stir-fried vegetables. I had dinner at 7 PM and was starving and exhausted.

The kid blamed me for not telling him about our trip to Yunnan. He said he was tired of the spirulina fruit cake I'd gone to great lengths to buy and wanted something different.

The second trip to Yunnan ends.