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Pro
landscapes, people, food
Con
This mystical place will not remain so
In a nutshell
I will come back again
travelpug Says: Every visitor must visit this temple complex. Songzanlin is the largest lama monastery in Yunnan province. Walking in the complex is very relaxing. You can visit each temple and got blessed by the lama on duty. The whole complex comprises of eight small monesteries and...
xaver Says: On our way back to Dali, on the road we noticed this small tibetan market.Well actually I am still not sure if it was a market or if they were some kind of nomads with hanging dresses just to dry them.We went there to give a look and take some photos and those people didn't...
xaver Says: The really best thing you can do in Zhongdian, is just really taking a walk in the old town.The Lijiang old town is worldwide famout as it's unesco heritage, but I enjoyed much more this small one.It's full of small streets not yet full of shops and anyway noone tries to...
arro khampa restaurant: the yak steak
gyalzur Says: i had lunch in arro khampa in march 2010 and i was really surprised!!! the service was outstanding and the food was delicious. warm and cosy with an open fire and a real tibetan decoration!! i can highly recommend the yak-steak. in fact it was the first real steak i had in...
Tibet Cafe and Inn: Yak Butter Tea
bpacker Says: Honestly, if you haven't tasted yak butter tea, you haven't been to Shangri-la. The combination of fat and salt and caffeine is not as bad as it sounds*, particularly if you're suffering from altitude sickness. The tea taste particularly gamey ( due to all that yak milk) and...
Soyala Tibetan Diner and Lounge: Yak Hamburgers, homebrewed beer
RealRichard Says: I had dinner in the Soyala Tibetan diner and it was awesome!Delicious yak hamburgers and homebrewed beer are offered. The beef was excellent and the service was really good. The restaurant is run by former kids from the Shangri-La orphanage. Their service is great and their...
Any Noodle Shop in Town: Tukpa Noodles
bpacker Says: A typical lunch for me in Yunnan is a warm bowl of rice noodles topped with vegetables (lots of it ) and minced meat. It makes a healthy yet filling dish. A bowl of noodles like this cost no more than 5rmb.
Tibet Cafe: Yak Meat and Tired Feet
bpacker Says: It must have been about 1pm when I reached Shangri-la. I was tired and ravenous from a dangerous bus journey from Lijiang and couldn't wait to feast on the local specialties. We ordered a complete menu of Tibetan specialties, including the noodles, fried yak meat, topped off...
Street Vendor: Tibetan blood sausages
bpacker Says: The Gyuma in Shangri-la is bloody addictive. Literally. These are Tibetan blood sausages made from quarts of yak blood, offal, minced beef and rice stuffed into goat intestines. Actually, it is more delicious than it sounds. The sausage is crisp, salty and fatty. Not too...
Noah's Cafe: Beer in Shangri La
bpacker Says: This is Shangri-la's hippest drinking hole and the best place to get high on cheap Chinese beer. They've got a good range of other beers, chic waitresses and a groovy feel to the whole place. Nobody will notice even if you come in here dressed like a woolly yak. Everyone...
xaver Says: We arrived at Zhongdian in the late evening, so, after we got the hotel we went out looking for a place to eat.Not knowing where to go, we decided to follow the direction from where some music was coming.In this way we ended up in the main square where there was music and a...
xaver Says: From Dali and Lijiang you can come to Zhongdian with busses, there are many and it takes more than 8 hours from Dali and 3 or more hours from Lijiang(depending on the road conditions).I did not have enough time to use public transports and, above all I did not like the idea...
best to hire a safe driver to get around Zhongdian
anilegna Says: there's a #3 bus that goes from Gucheng (old town) to Songzanlin Monastery, also taxis to get around the city, but please get out of town if you want to see why they call this place Shangri-la, I had two drivers through the trip, 1st 1/2 for the Lijiang to Zhongdian drive &...
xaver Says: There aren't enough shops in the old town but yet, fortunatly not too many.Some of them sell outdoor clothes, some animals leather products(awfully), some tibetan handicrafts. The only thing that really caught my attention was the tibetan pendant, there were so many and all...
xaver Says: The first thing I noticed while walking around the small streets of Zhongdian was the peace and the silence.This surprised me probably because I was coming here after I visited other Yunnan small towns popular for markets, where your attention is caught by shouting "hello"...
xaver Says: Shangri La does not really exist.It's an imaginary place described in a novel written by James Hilton.This does not automatically makes Zhongdian, today told to be the real Shangri La, a tourist trap, I myself came here in a certain way, with the aim of following the...
bpacker Says: A freshly butchered yak, complete with a furry horned-head, hangs on display outside a beef noodle shop in Shangri-la. The odour of blood draws housewives to the carcass. As they haggle over the price of the spare parts, I think of the lions in Serengeti, they were not too...
bpacker Says: Pelts with heads, tails and legs hang from a wooden rack in a shop at the Old Town. As I approached the shop, the shop-keeper tells me that these were fox pelts from Russia . I begged to differ after a closer look. They were domestic dogs and I hurriedly left the shop as...
xaver Says: When the travel is more important than the final destination.I absolutely loved Zhongdian, but the trip to there was breathtaking.The road is not the best one and it gets worse and worse while going up, when finally, once a few kilometers from the town, everything becomes...
xaver Says: Street scenes while walking around the town on early morning: this has been my favourite thing in Zhongdian.People in local dresses ging to the temple, going to the market, washing clothes, it just appeared as a peaceful mountain town, not as a tourist spot, at least not...
Plan a Zhongdian vacation with reviews, tips and photos posted by real travelers and Zhongdian locals
Song Zan Lin Monastery is the largest and the most famous Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan. Built along the mountains with a magnificent facade, the present...
1 member lives in Zhongdian
Q: seems to be a must place to see and go. so how do we get here? from zhongdian or deqing?
A: Definitely from Zhongdian. I think there're 2 or 3 buses daily. If you come from Deqin you'll still need to change buses at Zhongdian.
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ZhongDian - Blend in with the Nature!
The name "Shangri-La" became popular after World War II and was used to christen many songs, hotels and restaurants because it represents a "heaven away from the turmoil of the mundane world.”...
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Two years ago I read in a newspaper about Yunnan, the writer described it as one of the last original area of China and warned the reader to go as soon as possible because the progress was already...
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Yunnan Travel 2004 - ZhongDian
ZhongDian is the captital area of DiQing, which was named Shangri-La by the Yunnan Government in 1997. I guess all you might have already known, "Shangri-La" first appeared in James Hilton's novel...
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The Holy Birds of Peace in Shangri-La
I've got some interesting experiences in Zhongdian. I'd love to share with you the 9 tips I've written, the 11 photos uploaded, and 0 travelogues I've created.
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Zhong Dian changed the name to Shangri-la in 1997, I believe it must be the Shangri-la in James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizons. I love the life in here not only for the marvelous spot , but the most...
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