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Just in case you get sent to: Zhongdian
And so on to Zhongdian, again, driving up through the valley, leaving the villages far below, and partially driving around the Snow Mountain, en route to Zhongdian – the town now officially recognized as “Shangri-La”.
This is actually the old Tibetan Province of Kham and was used as a winter grazing area for the livestock. Annexed into China in the 1950’s, however the surrounding countryside is much as it always has been, pine forests, silver pheasant, and golden monkeys.
Eventually one arrives at Zhongdian, known as gyeltang in Tibetan. Basically,it’s a shabby, white-tiled dusty and uninspiring place. So why is this Shangri-La? Firstly, it’s the home of the Songzhangling Monastery, founded by the 5th Dali Lama some 300 years ago. Rare Yellow-Billed Coughs circle overhead, their plaintive caws echoing amongst the demon painted walls. Songzhangling is a working monastery, and is getting back to the numbers of monks it enjoyed in its heyday.
And the Monastery prayer wheels? Always remember to turn them clockwise, because time cannot be turned backwards. Secondly, just a little further north, lies the winter lake that is home to the rare Blacked Necked Crane, and various Tibetan communities, that again, if asked politely, will take you in as lodgers for the evening. Thirdly, Yaks abound here, the land, frozen during the winter, produces barley, wheat and millet – all staples of the Tibetan diet.
This is subsistence farming – some logging also, and the people take what they need from the land and no more. Spring here is late – end May – and Zhongdian is carpeted for a few weeks with the alpine flowers of the Tibetan himalaya – eagles, black vultures and the occasional wolf stray into the area during the racing cloud nights.
Zhongdian, and especially Shangri-La, isn’t about the town at all, no matter how many “Tibet Local Dancing” joints the immigrant Chinese try and put up to attract the tourist dollar. But if wandering about looking at wintering Cranes, magical disappearing lakes, and the monks of the yellow hat sect make this your Shangri-La, then this is where you should come to visit. And if it’s not ? Well the road to Lhasa, via Deqin and Kangding lie further to the North, and are yours to explore.
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