China Guide
Yunnan
Shangri-La
Three hours from Lijiang, the road northwest climbs out of a steadily narrowing gorge onto a high, barren plateau grazed by shaggy-tailed yaks and ringed by frosted mountains – the borderland between Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet. The last major town before the high Himalayas is SHANGRI-LA. Don't get excited about the name, it's just a marketing ploy; the place was called Zhongdian a few years ago (Gyalthang in Tibetan). The provincial government renamed it after the fabled Buddhist paradise of James Hilton's classic novel, Lost Horizon, to try to stimulate a tourist boom, in the hope of restoring revenue lost now that logging is outlawed.
It's a commonplace that all over China, traditional houses are being pulled down and ugly modern buildings going up; surely only in Shangri-La has this happened the other way around – a district of sturdy Tibetan houses and cobbled lanes has been built from scratch, to create what must be the newest "old town" in existence. It's undeniably pretty, with plenty of cafés, guesthouses and bars, though rather more alluring than this theme park is the splendid Ganden Sumtseling Monastery just north of town and the excellent possibilities for hiking and horse-riding in the vicinity, through forest and alpine meadow. New roads are opening up remote areas, while the long road to Tibet, via Deqin and the sublime Meili mountain range, is now open to tour groups.
Note that the altitude is over 3000 metres, so take it easy if you've arrived from the lowlands, and be aware that's it's very chilly between October and March.
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