9 Nov 2014
We left off last time in LiJiang. From Lijiang, we headed to Shangrila...yes, the name of the town is officially Shanghrila (changed in 2001 from Zhongdian...what a great marketing ploy for the town!). But before we get to Shangrila, we stopped for a magnificent sight called the Tiger Leaping Gorge. This is an area that is just stunningly beautiful. A river running through between 2 mountains and from the top of the mountain to the river is over 3700 meters (more than 12000 ft!)
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| Sarah and Rod on the walkway beside the Gorge |
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| Tiger leaping Gorge seen from under a bridge |
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| The rock in the middle of the river that a tiger is said to have leaped to from one side |
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| A bronze tiger on the cliff of Tiger Leaping Gorge |
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| A long shot of Tiger Leaping Gorge |
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| Another long shot of Tiger Leaping Gorge |
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| Tiger Leaping Gorge from the beginning of the trail |
After Tiger Leaping Gorge, we headed out for Shangrila. Shangrila is on the Tibetan plateau at the base of the Himalayan mountains. We were heading up in Altitude and along the road, we stopped at a roadside fruit market. Yes, this was actually a fruit market..and house.
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| The roadside Fruit market en route to Shangrila |
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| Sarah and Rod at the roadside Fruit market somewhere en route to Shangrila |
We arrived in Shangrila and to be honest, it was kind of a letdown...with the name and the hype, I'm not sure what we expected of the town, but it was just another town in China..no distinctive architecture etc. Of course by this time, we had been wowed by the natural beauty of Tiger Leaping Gorge and the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, so to be fair, it would have had to be spectacular to 'wow' us! We arrived at our hotel and settled in for the evening after a day of traveling.
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| The door to our hotel (there is a real door behind the cloth!) |
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| getting ready to get Zen at the hotel spa! |
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| Rod getting all Zen at the hotel spa |
The hotel staff is mainly from the village around the hotel, and in the evening, they put on a show for the guests.
At the end of the show (it was cold outside watching this at night!, they brewed us some Yak Butter tea...just like it sounds....they start with hot tea, then they add yak butter and churn it together and then drink it. Since it was so cold, when they offered it to us in the cups, I tried it and to my surprise, it wasn't too bad (and it was warm, so I drank it up!)
We didn't explore the town much (didn't look like there was much to see to us...other than the usual markets and such) We did walk around the little village not far from the hotel and just took a few photos as you'll see below.
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| A village kid in Shangrila |
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| Barley drying on a rack in Shangrila..these are everywhere! |
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| Rod riding one of the pretties Yaks in town! |
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| Close up of the carved prayer rocks at a Stuppa in Shangrila |
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| older Tibetan woman in Shangrila |
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| Tibetan family in Shangrila |
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| Tibetan woman in Shangrila |
One of the biggest claims to fame (other than the name!) is the Songzanlin Monastery. It is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan. This collection of buildings, Monk dormitories and temples was built back in the late 1600's and has continued ever since. Even the day we visited, there was still construction. At the entrance, we came in (as we walked over from our hotel) there was a stuppa (a Tibetan prayer alter) and in the top of the stuppa is where the remains of the most revered monks a buried. Rodney took a picture of this particular stuppa and what came out was quite amazing. You can see it below.
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| Songzanlin Monastery in Shangrila |
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| Rod's photo of the 'White light' stuppa in Shangrila. |
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| Entrance to one of the temples of the monastery...no photos allowed inside |
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| Rod and Sarah at the temple in Shangrila |
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| Monks at the Temple...From what we were told, it is such a high honor to have a Monk in the family that some baby boys are given to the monastery to be kept and mentored by the older ones. I thought it was just so cute..a baby Monk! | | |
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So that about does it for this portion of the update..we continue to be so blessed and thankful for God's healing in Rod's life!
From the South of China to the rest of the world!!
Rod and Sarah
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