Shangrila

Heading north to Shangrila was an unexpected journey as the original plan had been to continue on to Emishan mountain or Chengdu, basing myself for some nearby trekking. Our mini bus took around 4 hours to reach the old city in Shangrila which although was another tourist trap,  it's cobble stone streets lined with beautiful Tibetan style buildings made for a very inviting scene. We wasted  a couple of hours knocking on numerous hostels doors who were all at capacity, it wasn't until just after sunset that we settled for a dismal lodging with its dark and eerie halls, quickly reserving a room at the hostel next door for the following night.

The centre of the old town was alive with a common sight in China, a big crowd of all ages from many walks of life, happily dancing around to music which looks almost like a large choreographed performance. This nightly ritual is a form of social exercise and can be seen throughout the whole country around sunset, anybody is welcomed to join in. Whilst enjoying the view we sampled BBQ skewers from the street vendors and delicious freshly brewed yak yogurt, served in a small cup and sprinkled with sugar. I probably enjoyed a few too many yak delights before the beers started flowing, suffering the wrath of a curdling stomach. Some hours later we gave up wandering the streets looking for excitement and ended up in some form of discotech, filled with Chinese youth dancing and playing unfamiliar drinking games. Being a westerner in Chinese drinking holes has its advantages as its common practice for people to invite you to their table, offering up free flowing beer all night long.

After a quick hostel change in the morning, we explored the streets lined with vendors selling trekking gear, animal skins, local handicrafts, swords and a multitude of tourist orientated gift ware. My first breakfast was purchased off a lady peddling her food cart around, as she spoke no English I still haven't a clue what the sticky little balls I ate were, though she would have gained some repeat business had I been able to locate her again as they were tasty in an unusual sort of way. We later visited a store which sadly sold a variety of clothing items and rugs made from the furs of animals, judging by the amount of similar stores we saw in this town alone, its no wonder there are few wildlife encounters trekking in China.

To kill some time in the arvo we walked out to a large Tibetan monastery on the outskirts of town. The monastery itself looked to be a very overpriced attraction with swarms of Chinese waiting to get in (also no sneaky entrance in sight), so we decided to give it a miss and explore other smaller religious building near by. The afternoon was not wasted thanks to the singing magician who let us take photos riding his mountain yak, a decent compromise after missing the opportunity to ride Water Buffalo in Myanmar . Our ride back to the hostel included the driver (who had been chatting on his mobile for the journey), pull the bus over to examine our map for at least 5 minutes to make sure we found the right destination, certainly not a sight you would see on a packed bus at home.

Back in the old town we ventured up to the Tibetan prayer wheel at Guishan Monastery, a giant golden structure perched on a hill over looking the town. With the combined might and muscle of at least 20 people required to complete one rotation, it is said to build some serious good karma in Buddhist faith.The days hard work was rewarded with a yak cheese spag bog, probably the most western tasting and oil-less food I had in a while, it was fantastic.

That night over a few local rice wines, purchased inside a container that doubles as a tobacco bong, I got chatting with a middle aged Chinese man who had quit his job and was enjoying his new found freedom trekking about SE Asia. He spoke of a beautiful destination called Yubang Village another 4 hours north in the Dequin province, the same area a guy on the bus from Laos had been telling me about when we crossed the border. Seriously underpacked for this extended overnighter, I decided to head north first thing in the morning to trek out to the small mountain side village.