Day 7- Potatso National Park

Started the day with another big breakfast - Deluth tried to double her body weight in a single meal.

Jo decided to slip class today as she is thoroughly enjoying the serenity of the area - and obviously fears it may the last time for quite a long time that she will enjoy such peace!

So Joey, Deluth and Sarah set off into the pouring rain to experience China’s first national park, Potatso. Opened in 2007 (over 150 years after Yellowstone and decades after the Country Parks in HK were established). 

Potatso extends over 115 square miles and is home to a great assortment of wildlife and birds (bears, squirrels, cranes etc). It has lots of lakes and tree mosses (proving that this is a unique, unpolluted area.)

Only 15 km from our hotel, we were soon boarding a bus and watching the driver swerve around corners as he groped the radio wires in order to ensure the muzak was transmitting.

Tramping China-style (often in high heels but not for us!)

We walked for a while and then waited and boarded a bus.

And then walked and bused.

On our drive home we noticed this spectacular building in a small village - apparently a printing press for the monasteries.

And then we visited the local hot baths, but decided against taking a dip and instead strolled high above the pools in the sunshine.

DAY 6: Ganden Sumtseling /SongZanLin monastery

Confusingly this monastery has lots of names. SongZanLin is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan (this is the name on the direction from Shangrila town) It was also named as Ganden Sumtseling, by the fifth Dalai Lama. Emperor YongZeng of the Qing dynasty named it Guihua temple. 

It is also known as the Little Potala palace after the Tibetan palace in Lhasa. We decided to visit as it was both no.2 and No 10 (under 2 of these names) in the Tripadvisor list of things to do near Shangri -La.

We hired a driver only (as both Joey and Deluth have no need for a translator being fluent in Mandarin) and headed off in cold rainy weather. 

The taxi driver was full of interesting information; if sisters do not want to live separately they can share 1 husband (maximum 3 sisters – but used to be 4) Same with brothers. Ok as long as the sisters or brothers do not get jealous!

The Sumtseling monastery complex was finished in 1681 and is made up of 3 main halls Dratsang, Zhukang and Jikang and 8 Khamtsen (house or monastery colleges; a training place for monks). 

There is a gilded copper roof (strong Tibetan feature) each hall is filled with wonderful frescos depicting Buddhist tales and legends, beautiful sculptures, golden figures of Buddha josses, golden lamps. We were unable to take photos inside but what was outside gives you the impression of the richness in color and frescos of the inner areas.

Sadly there was a tourist souvenir shop outside each main hall. Sarah could not resist a quick look see and came away with a very tasteful (not) prayer wheel.

To finish we strolled around the Lamuyangcuo (soul of heaven fairy) Lake outside.

The soul of Bandamlamu (goddess of the universe) resides here according to the useful “most beautiful photo” tourist info signs. Including what to do or not. 

Everything slowly at 3300m! 

We stopped several times to take “most beautiful photo”!

More great views of the temple across the water but probably better on a sunny still day when the flowers are out and the grass greener. 

We found some monks practising the Tibetan horn (Dungchen) We thought it was more of a practice session than a call to prayer. 

We tried to walkback to the start whilst Joey and Deluth took the bus, but all of us including the locals were collected on the way. (Too much strenuous exercise perhaps?)

DAY 5: 27 April Walking with Lanka and NuNu

Leisurely morning with a beautifully prepared omelette and good strong coffee for breaky.
Another gorgeous sunny day.

We have been a little confused about whether we are in China or in Tibet. The answer is both but it depends on your perspective. In 1950 the Peoples Republic of China led by Mao, began to assert a new Chinese presence in Tibet. The resistance in Tibet was soon crushed.  Tibetan representatives (having lost) negotiated with Beijing to incorporate Tibet into China. This was repudiated by the government in exile and Dalai Lama shortly afterwards. To cut a long bloody story full of resistance, death, exile and destruction short what was Tibet before Mao is now divided up. Cultural Tibet (Pre 1950) consisted of:

• Amdo (A mdo) in the northeast, is now administratively part of the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan (China).
• Kham (Khams) in the southeast encompasses parts of western Sichuan, northern Yunnan southern Qinghai and the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region (China).
• Ü-Tsang (Ü in the center, Tsang in the center-west, and Ngari (mNga' ris) in the far west) are the central and western portion of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR)
• Southern Tibet  -  ceded to India in 1965 after a short war.

Whether in a Chinese province or in India, Tibetan people still say they are in Tibet. The Chinese influence seems to be welcomed in Yunnan, but the locals still differentiate between themselves (Tibetan) and the Chinese (often guests in the hotel). Sarah and I are of course: “foreigners”

At 11 am we set off with the manager’s Tibetan mastiff, Langka (Blue Sky), Lobsang and Lobsang’s mutt, NuNu (Lobsang said this means sexy but a quick internet search revealed that the poor mutt is named after slang for a sex organ!).



Both dogs were well behaved and good tempered with only occasional bursts of energy to chase yak or child.
















We wound our way up a logging track and over the top of a crest to find a green pasture, filled with yak and a few cows, and a nomad’s settlement.

We had brought some barley flour and Yak butter tea balls (good for energy according to Lobsang and Mario Piazza – manager of the hotel) but this was not enough for lunch for Lobbing.

We went in to the nomad hut with the smoking chimney to introduce ourselves and eat yak butter yoghurt, home-made flat bread, home made yak cheese and finally… to drink yak butter tea.
Sarah tried her hardest to like it.

We gave our hostess all the edibles we were carrying – 2 pears and a nut bar.  (To be fair, Jo and I did not eat very much but Lobsang tucked in.) She stoked up the fire and was really welcoming.










We compared ages and shoe sizes! Although our Tibetan was limited to Tashi Delek (a greeting meaning luck or Hello) Hon (yes) and Ma Ray (No) Too Je Che (thank you) Lobsang translated for us.

There were a reasonable amount of creature comforts adorning the hut – a few bottles of barley wine and cigarettes.

From here the walk got even better as we joined a small path that wound its way through the pine trees. Sarah investigated some finer family law points for Tibetans on death of both parents (all goes to elder child whether male or female)

We jumped a couple of rivers and finally descended back to the temple, where we started, and of course ginger tea and biscuits in the lobby of the hotel.

Deluth and Joey arrived at 23:10 tired after a day of travelling; too late for photos

Day 4: Shangrila Grand Canyon Balagezong National Park

Fantastic day in the snowy mountains in Balagezong National Park. Day started with great views from the hotel carpark





and a very excited hotel staff and guide telling us that according to Buddha you must be very lucky if you have good weather when you go to a holy lake or mountain.








We passed Lake Napa again from a great height




and several mountain terraces (probably growing grapes; but more on that later)


We drove for a couple of hours (76km) from Shangrila to reach the base of the mountains in the Shangri la Grand canyon.

The canyon is the meeting point between Sichuan, Tibet (autonomous province) and Yunnan.










It is a typical U shape with precipitous sides of 200m- 1000m and has many small canyons crisscrossing it.

The start did not inspire us much as the new hotel (opens 1 May 2016) looked very austere, with the inevitable neon signs.

Several large green buses were lined up to take tourists up to the first 2 stations:
1. For rafting at 2300m.  We skipped the rafting due to time (and not knowing about it before as I am sure Sarah would have jumped at the chance of a kayak)

2. Bala village at 2900m.  A farmer who lived in Bala village had the vision to open up the area for tourism; he joined forces with Yunnan government to build a road to connect Bala to the outside world.










Bala in Tibetan means a village people who come from Batang in Sichuan.

History records that many centuries ago Tibetan people searched for a place to live far away from war and misery. They settled down after overcoming much difficulty and Bala became the symbol of an ideal home and paradise.

Had we finally found the source for the James Hilton novel /Frank Capra film Lost Horizon?

On a Tuesday morning in glorious sunshine the place was deserted. We hired a 4WD (and the compulsory guide plus driver) to take us as far up the mountain as we could. We were aiming for the 3rd station at 4300m.

We arrived at Bala village to discover it was mostly empty. It was destroyed by an earthquake at the end of 2015 and is now in the process of being rebuilt.

















This station offered our first view of the Holy Mount Balagezong (Gezongsongben )



This mountain is 5445m above sea level, snowcapped all year round and named Gezongsongben after 3 Tibetan princesses turned to stone. A sacred spot for Tibetan buddhists.  Lobsang prayed and we all walked clockwise around the Stupa.

It was peaceful and still; we had the whole of the National Park to ourselves. We passed some abandoned nomad cabins





At 3900m we hit deep snow, abandoned the 4wD and walked the rest of the track to the 3rd station at 4300m.

The views were splendid and magnificent and breathtaking.

A fantastic place to rest, have lunch and marvel at the scenery – we were surrounded by all the Balagezong mountains.




One of the most famous is the Shambhala Stupa (named this as it resembles the places where all the sacred relics and scriptures are stored in a monastery) A pyramid shaped peak coated with snow, glaring up to the sky.

On the top pass (3rd station) Buddhist monks pray and light incense 3 times a year. Such was our luck that this was one of those days and as we descended the monks were on their way up to pray.






Snow started to melt and all the mountains glistened in the sun. It was truly magical.







Descending from 4300m to 2300m then back to the hotel at 3300m made us both incredibly tired.










We had a brief stop to buy

a. some black pottery from Nixi; quick look at the kiln was followed by meeting the potter himself , wife and child. We believe the potter is about 14 years old. We left with a dragon teapot and burner
b. bread for tapas dinner with fire and local wine in the room

We opted for an early night, wine and Aussie cheese (leftover Holy Goat seemed apt for the occasion). The wine was “interesting”; fruity and thin for a Cab Sav but drinkable. A wonderful day.