Finding the Shangri-La in our hearts

Because the entire county in north western Yunnan Province has been given the name of Shangri-La, there is often a bit of debate as to which town should be officially described as Shangri-la. So when I asked a woman who worked at a local handricrafts store if I was in the actual Shangri-la, she said I needed to find the Shangri-La in my heart. Well I think I found it the other day. We started our day off by going out to the hot springs near town. It was about 30 minutes away and we descend into this small ravine where at the base was the hot springs. Given our initial disappointment with hot springs in Xi'an we weren't quite sure what to expect. When we saw the large pool of water with steam coming off of it, we knew that we had indeed found the kind of hot springs we had been hoping for. There was a bit of confusion with the entrance fee since the accent in this part of the country is different. We had thought the entrance was 130Y. I seriously contemplated leaving rather than pay this exorbitant price. But Andrea suggested since we were already there and paid the cab to take us there, we should just suck it up and pay. So we handed out 200Y each looking for change and the guy kept saying no. I was getting more annoyed. Not only would I have to pay a crazy high amount but I wouldn't even get change! Well it turned out the price was only 30Y each...d'oh! So we gave him a 100Y note and all was settled. We got in, changed into our bathing suits and took a dip in the nice hot water of the spring. Then we touched the slimy floor...eww. So we tried our best to swim and walk on our toes instead. It still felt nice to be fully submerged in hot water for the first time in months (though I did have a nice hot bath in Qingdao).

The set up of the hot springs was nice, but nothing spectacular. But I would recommend it for anyone who is staying in Zhongdian for a more than a few days.


When we got back to town we hunkered down at the bar across from where we were staying to update our blogs and enjoy some hot chocolate. We were prepared for a completely lazy day of doing nothing then heading off to dinner at this Indian restaurant we found the night before called the Puppet Café. How do you not go to a restaurant called the Puppet? Well in the midst of our lounging, Andrea started chatting it up with this girl from Australia, Eleanor. Halfway through the conversation she invited us out to join a tour group that was going to visit a Tibetan family outside of town, to do some yak herding, have a traditional Tibetan meal and then go visit the school she was teaching at where high school aged children that are too poor to go to high school can learn hospitality skills (ETTI). Their education is subsidized by the Australian government and private donors. It sounded like a great deal so we shelved our plans for the Puppet Café for another day. We met the organized tour group that was also going and were off. The road was bumpy but not too bad. It took about 20 minutes to get out to the town, then we walked through muddy streets to get to the home. The views were spectacular. It was a clear and crisp evening with the mountains surrounding us and yaks all around us. When we made it to the small wooden shack that houses that yaks during the cool autumn nights we were greeted by a very kind and generous Tibetan family. They instructed us on how to call the yaks in. I took a short video, so you can click here to check it out. (insert video link here).

Meeting with the students was another highlight. They were using this opportunity to practice their English and we got to learn more about the school and where these students come from.They even tried to teach us the dance they did in the square, but we weren't the best students.

When we got back to Shangri-la, we had been invited by Eleanor to a 30th birthday party of a friend of hers. I took this to be a great opportunity to unload the bottle of cachaca I had been carrying around with me. Well I had no idea that Andrea and I would be dancing it up all night and drinking up Caipirinhas ...but wow, it was such a a great end to a magical day!