Shang-ri-la felt like the Chinese version of Vail or Breckenridge minus the ski lifts and snow bunnies. There weren't many people and the view of the mountains was incredible. The change in altitude was definitely noticeable, however and for the duration of our stay there Sean and I always had small headaches. The heavy Chinese smokers simply sucked on bottled oxygen sold in all the small shops to stay comfortable. The coolest thing about Shang-ri-la was that most of the people living there were not Han Chinese but rather Tibetan tribes. We saw many groups of older women walking around in their traditional clothing with baskets on their backs. We also saw a lot of monks around town in their maroon robes. Instead of goats, cows or sheep, the most prevalent hoofed creature out and about was the yak. Influence of the yak was everywhere from yak meat and jerky, yak yogurt, cheese, leather and fur.
The biggest thing to see in Shang-ri-la besides the mountains was the Ganden Sumtseling Gompa – a 300-year-old Tibetan monastery that still houses about 600 monks. It's pretty easy to find and get to since there are only about two local buses in the whole town. After breakfast and a nap Sean and I headed south of town to check it out.
The monastery itself was huge and beautiful with lots of gold glinting sunlight from all sorts of angles. There were prayer flags everywhere and it seemed that around each corner was another temple. We toured around it for a bit and then had a late lunch behind it further up in the mountains at a hotel. It was a really nice day and the sunshine, dry and clean air and blue skies were a welcome change from urban Changzhou.
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