Shangri-la and following Transit

hangri-la is of course a fictional name coined in the novel The Lost Horizon. It is also what the Chinese government decided to called this city, formerly Zhongdian, to encourage tourism. It worked. On our way we called Harmony Guesthouse, referred by Mama Naxi, and had them meet us outside the old town to show us the way to our beds. Maybe we just got into the right circuit, but it seems that many of the hostels set up a network or referrals along all the popular destinations. Upon entering the Harmony Guesthouse's wood-fire heated common room we immediately recognized a face or two from our Lijiang hostel. One girl was head southeast to get away from the cold while another pair was planning on going northwest to some hiking near Tibet. We got information from the latter.

The rest of the evening was spent resting and strolling around town. Shangri-la itself is not the most charming place, contrary to what the name suggests. In fact we were all a little anxious to leave once we got here- we just were not sure where to go. The next day had scattered showers which hindered my plan of renting a bike and going into the grasslands. We also decided that we wanted to head north away from the crowds and towards Tibet; that meant we would have to wait until the following morning to catch a bus.
We found time between the rain to visit the largest monastery in Yunnan province. It was time well spent exploring the various temples and interacting with some of the monks. A few of us were even invited into a private room by an older monk, and shared tea with him. He only spoke Tibetan.
That night I went shopping- outdoor gear in Shangri-la turned out to be extremely cheap. I purchased an Arc'teryx windstopper fleece for under $30. I would have purchased more for gifts but sizes and selections were quite limited. We found a restraunt with a Nepalese chef and ate some wonderful Nepal-Indian food as well as some local dishes mostly involving yak meat. Eventually Chris and I ended up playing pool with a director from Beijing and a government worker from Shangri-la late into the night. Neither of us knew how long tomorrow would be.
Woke up before sunrise and hardly ate so we could catch a taxi to the bus station. Turns out there are no tickets until noon, and that is too late if we want to make it past Deqin. As we wondered around the bus station still waking up and wondering what to do we run into four college students trying to go to the same place. We decide to rent a van. The other members included Argped from Hungary, Elong from China, as well as Justine and Christine from Poland. They were all students in Kunming, Yunnan's capital.
Now when we had a van with just Sharon and Omer it felt crowded. Add two more men and it got quite uncomfortable. Also add incessant Tibetan techno, winding mountain roads, little to eat, and elevations higher than I've ever been- it was a long, long 4 hours smashed into the back seat. I survived solely because the drive was also one of the most beautiful, interesting, and exciting (dangerous) I have experienced. The entire route was carved along mountains. We would pass large trucks on the outside of a blindcurve which had no barrier between us and 300 feet of air to the river. We were constantly passing a ragtag group of workers doing something to the road, and seeing evidence of recent landslides. In fact were the first to stop in front of a landslide which we watched being scraped from the road (pic below). We also nearly reached 14000 feet above sea level (pic below).
In Deqin we ate at a Muslim restaurant and part ways. The three of us got a taxi the a neighboring town, Feilai Se, in order to go to a cafe which we were told has good information on the area we intended to hike. The Migratory Bird in fact was helpful- an English map and the owner made sure we caught the last bus going towards the trail head. The bus was packed with Tibetans, many had bags of produce or some other substance villagers carry on a bus. The bus ride was a crazy, 3 hour descent towards our destination 'Hot Springs Village' which is mostly just hostels to house the trekkers. We ran into another landslide which we watched machinery push the debris into a gorge, and then traffic to commence across the 8 foot wide pathway.

After passing by a few villages near the bottom and losing most of the passengers, the driver stops and says he is not going further. He and a girl which came out of no where, who speaks some English, claim that Hot Springs has no more places to sleep and we should stay at her hostel which is just one village away. We are skeptical. Its not outrageous since it is getting closer to National Holiday in China- one of the holidays infamous for hoards of Chinese traveling. We also learn that the bus driver lives in the immediate vicinity so we sharply say no thanks and walk. Its past dinner time, and we learn exactly how far Hot Springs is so we pay another person to take us there.

It is surprisingly packed with Chinese tourists (I'll describe later), but after a bit of haggling we get beds. We eat a decent dinner of noodles at the hostel and are pleased to see that our van companions made it as well. We arrange to meet them at the trailhead at sunrise and go to bed shortly after the sun sets.