The Sun and Moon in Shangri-La's Heart

Number of days：5 days
Time: May
Average cost: 5600 yuan
With whom: and friends
Updated: 2023.05.27

I've always wanted to visit Shangri-La. After all, it's known as "the place closest to heaven." Finally, during the May Day holiday in 2023, I made it to Shangri-La.

We booked a B&B in Shangri-La. I strongly recommend choosing a B&B over a hotel. All B&Bs here have unique decor. The one we found was renovated by a local lady. The rooms are simply decorated, and the courtyard is filled with a variety of blooming flowers—it's absolutely beautiful.

I booked the car two weeks in advance and picked it up at the airport. eHi offers credit and no deposit required, which is very convenient. If you're a new user, remember to claim the newbie gift package for an instant 100 yuan discount.

Day 1 Dukezong Ancient Town

Upon arrival at the airport, I went to pick up the car. Unexpectedly, eHi gave me a big surprise! A temporary licensed car—amazing! I'd heard it was snowing in Shangri-La before coming, and it really did! After picking up the car, we first went to Dukezong Ancient Town for a stroll. There were a few snack shops in the old town, and a simple bite was enough to fill you up. I really like Dukezong Ancient Town. It's a very old town with many alleys and a lively atmosphere. This is a true Moonlight City. Looking up, you can see white clouds and blue sky everywhere, which is refreshing. The mountains in the distance are clearly visible, their rolling hills guarding this ancient city. My mood is particularly relaxed.

Walk straight ahead along the street here and you'll reach Guishan Park. The scenery at Guishan Park is also very beautiful. Once there, walk up the stairs and past the temple to see the prayer wheels. This is the largest prayer wheel in the world. The prayer wheels here are very particular, requiring the combined efforts of multiple people to turn them, and they can only rotate clockwise. While spinning the prayer wheel, I felt really peaceful inside. By the time we got down from here, it was already dusk. We stood in the square, watching the prayer wheels in the distance light up. The golden prayer wheels seemed to carry the wishes of so many people, hoping that everyone's wishes would come true.

On the way back, we passed a small square. I loved it. Some locals were dancing the Guozhuang dance, and some tourists were joining in. Actually, there were many people like us who had no idea how to dance. But so what? The joy and happiness in that moment were genuine. No one cared about the dance moves; as long as they were having fun, that was all that mattered.

Day 2: A Journey Through the Bottomless Lake

The next day, we visited the Bottomless Lake, a newly developed attraction perfect for hiking. We drove all the way there, and it took about two hours to reach the lake.

As expected, the scenery here is beautiful. The lake is rippling with emerald green waves, and the water is exceptionally clear. And from here, you can even see the snow-capped mountains. The snow-capped mountains in the distance looked divine, and the lush greenery nearby was also beautiful. The trees here looked completely different from those inland. They were covered in beautiful woody flowers. The ground here was covered in moss due to the constant humidity. This moss gave the area a primeval forest feel. While we were enjoying the natural scenery while walking, we were also concerned about the presence of snakes. After all, Yunnan itself has its share of snakes.

Many waves of people had already come here to play. So, the people who went around the lake had already worn a small path. So we just walked on the path. The temperature here is quite cold, so the grass hasn't grown around the lake yet. The path here is relatively easy to walk. However, there were many yaks in the distance, so to avoid disturbing them, we decided to walk a little further. This section of the path gave us a different perspective on the Bottomless Lake, a completely different view.

Leaving the Bottomless Lake, we immediately went to Songzanlin Monastery. Songzanlin Monastery is also known as the Little Potala Palace. There are free guided tours at the entrance, but we didn't find them interesting enough. We then set off on our own.

The architecture inside Songzanlin Monastery is quite distinctive. The walls of the buildings are almost all white. However, the yellow buildings in the distance and the white buildings nearby create a beautiful contrast.

You need your ID card to purchase tickets to Songzanlin Monastery. We stayed at Songzanlin Monastery for about two hours. Afterwards, we went to Dukezong Ancient Town. When traveling, visiting the same attraction twice gives you a completely different experience.

From above, Dukezong Ancient Town looks very similar to Ratchada Night Market in Thailand. The roofs are almost identical in style, dividing the sky and the earth into two distinct spaces.

Day 3 Pudacuo Forest Park

On the third day, we drove to Pudacuo Forest Park. The scenery of this forest park is truly stunning. We parked our car directly in the parking lot and then took a sightseeing bus into the scenic area. The destination of the sightseeing bus was Shudu Lake. Pudacuo Forest Park is very large, and we saw many cattle and sheep there. I have always been curious about what the life of herders is like. Look at these herds of cattle and sheep, but no herders in sight.

In May, the grass at Pudacuo Forest Park wasn't lush, so the lambs could only graze on small, sparse grasses. It's strange how they managed to get enough to eat.

After leaving Pudacuo Forest Park, we drove to Feilai Temple. Although the daily pace was repetitive, driving, driving, it felt wonderful to have control over my schedule and travel time. We stayed in a hotel near Feilai Temple that day. The reason we chose to stay here was because we could see Meili Snow Mountain the next morning. I asked the owner of the guesthouse when we could see the sunrise, and he said we'd have to get up around 4:00 AM. So, I set an alarm for 4:00 AM. The weather was beautiful that day. While there were a few clouds, they didn't completely obscure the mountaintops. So, we actually got to see the stunning sunrise over the Golden Mountain. I was so excited. Then, we quickly got up, packed up, and headed to Meili Snow Mountain. We checked out that day and returned to Shangri-La. We passed through Balagzon during the trip. Balagzong is also a place worth visiting in Shangri-La.

Balagzong has a very magnificent canyon. You need a ticket here, and the cost of the scenic bus is 170 yuan per person. There is also a pagoda in Balagzong, which is not included in the tour. You need to buy an additional ticket and set aside about 4 hours.

When I saw this grand canyon, I was super excited. When you speak here, you can even hear your own voice echoing.