On leaving
Tibet we flew to
Shangri-La. Unfortunately
Shangri-La is not 'paradise on earth', just the Chinese town of
Zhongdian which has been renamed for tourism purposes. (Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel
Lost Horizon by British author
James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, enclosed in the western end of the
Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, and particularly a mythical Himalayan
utopia — a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world).
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| in Shangri-La town |
Our first visit in the area was just north of Shangri-La, to the 300-year-old
Ganden Sumtseling Gompa Tibetan monastery, which is home to around 600 monks.
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| Ganden Sumtseling Gompa monastery, near Shangri-La |
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| at Ganden Sumtseling Gompa monastery |
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ethnic Tibetan woman working in the fields near the monastery
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| village roofs |
The town itself is home to the world's largest prayer wheel
(superseded in April 2012 by another even bigger prayer wheel in Heyin Town, Guide County, Qinghai Province, measuring 26.285 metres in height and 10.22 metres in diameter, and weighing 200 tons - see here).
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| large prayer wheel, Zhongdian |
Next we headed to
Tiger Leaping Gorge, 16 km long, which is one of the deepest gorges in the world (3900m).
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| Tiger Leaping Gorge |
Nearby is the first bend of the
Yangtze river - the place where the river curves and thus stays in China instead of flowing out of the country like the Mekong.
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| First bend of the Yangtze river |
Continuing our journey south we then stayed in
Lijiang - an old town which is a maze of cobbled streets and wooden buildings. The whole county of Lijiang was placed on UNESCO's world heritage list in 1999.
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| our hotel, Lijiang |
Lijiang has been the base of the
Naxi minority for about 1400 years. They form one of the 56 recognized ethnic groups officially recognised by the Republic of China. The Naxi
script is an independently derived hieroglyphic writing system - probably the only hieroglyphic writing system still in use today.
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| Naxi script |
The old town of Lijiang is criss-crossed by a web of canals that once brought the city's drinking water from a spring in
Black Dragon Pool Park (see below).
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| in Lijiang |
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| pool, Lijiang |
If there are three pools, one was used for drinking, one for washing clothes, and one for washing vegetables.
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| waterwheel, Lijiang |
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| unidentified squirrel-like animal, Lijiang |
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| Black Dragon Pool Park, north Lijiang; the pool was built in 1737 |
We also visited the old village of Baisha 8km north of Lijiang, an early Naxi stronghold. “Baisha” means “white sand” and not surprisingly it got its name from the natural white sand in the area.
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| Baisha village |
Lijiang also has a new town.
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| statue of Mao, Lijiang new town |
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| taichi, Lijiang new town |
On leaving Lijiang we travelled south to
Dali, which lies on the western edge of
Erhai lake (
erhai means 'ear-shaped'), at an altitude of 1900m.
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| Erhai lake, near Dali |
The main inhabitants of the region are the
Bai ethnicity, who settled in the area about 3000 years ago; today they number about 1.5 million.
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| my husband with our guide, who was wearing traditional Bai costume |
Dali's most famous sight are the
Three Pagodas, three independent towers arranged on the corners of an equilateral triangle. The tallest of the three, the Qianxun Pagoda, has 16 tiers that reach a height of 70 metres and is one
of the tallest pagodas in China’s history. It was originally built in the 9th century by engineers from
Xian. The two smaller pagodas are both 10 tiers and 42 metres high. Behind the pagodas is Chongsheng temple.
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| the three pagodas, Dali |
Dali Catholic Church has to be one of the most unusual churches to ever be built. Constructed in 1938 by the French in the style of traditional Chinese architecture, it has three sections of double-tiered eaves. During the Cultural Revolution in China the church was badly destroyed and it was closed. In 1984 the church was renovated by the Religious Department and has been listed under Historical Protection since 1985.
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| Catholic church, Dali |
On leaving Dali we flew to
Kunming, Yunnan province's capital and largest city. It's known as 'Spring City' for its equable climate. Like Dali it also has pagodas, known as the
Eastern and Western pagodas, which were constructed in the late eighth or early ninth century, under the rule of the
Kingdom of Nanzhao. The two are about 200 metres apart.
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| one of the two pagodas, Kunming |
Yuantong temple is the largest Buddhist complex in Kunming. Over 1000 years old, it has seen many renovations.
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| Yuantong temple, Kunming, complete with incense smoke |
The temple was built at the same time as the pagodas.
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| Yuantong temple, Kunming |
South of Kunming is
Lake Dian, which is about 40 km long and China's eighth largest lake. It was originally the model for the
Kunming Lake in the
Summer Palace in
Beijing. Unfortunately the lake's current green colour is because the water is now highly polluted - so much so that the water is even unfit for agricultural or industrial use.
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| Lake Dian |
On the western side of the lake are
Xi Shan - the Western hills.
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| Xi shan (Western Hills) near Kunming |
Seven kilometres east of Kunming is
Golden Temple, a Taoist temple actually made of bronze that was once the summer residence of a 17th century warlord.
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| Golden temple, near Kunming |
In the park surrounding the temple are replicas of
Dian culture bronzes; the Dian people lived around
Lake Dian from the 4th centiury BC until 109 BC.
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| replica of the ox and tiger table that became a symbol of Yunnan |
We then flew to
Hainan, an island off China's south coast a week of rest and relaxation. At 19° north of the equator it enjoys a tropical climate.
We were staying in a hotel not far from
Sanya, Hainan's main resort town.
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| West island, off the coast of Sanya, Hainan |
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| East island, off the coast of Sanya, Hainan |
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| coast, near Sanya, Hainan |
Next it was time to fly to
Shanghai, China's economic hotspot.
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| Shanghai's iconic skyline, seen from the Bund |
In 1842 Shanghai was a small town based on fishing and weaving. The British opened their first concession there that year, and the French followed suite in 1847. By 1853 Shanghai had already overtaken all other Chinese ports.
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| the same skyline at night |
An
International Settlement was established in 1863, the Japanese arrived in 1895, and the city was parcelled up into autonomous concessions, immune from Chinese law.
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| Broadway mansions Art Deco hotel, Shanghai |
By the 1930s the city had 60 000 foreign residents and was the busiest international port in Asia.
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| Shanghai is also a busy commercial port |
The city is divided into two areas: Pudong, east of the
Huangpu river, and Puxi, west of the Huangpu river. The Huangpu is a tributary of the Yangtze river, which we saw in Yunnan.
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| the Bund seen from the Pudong side |
Puxi is the more historical part of the city.
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| the Bund seen from the Pudong side |
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| the Bund seen from the Pudong side |
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| skyscrapers, Pudong, Shanghai |
We admired the Park Hyatt hotel, the world's highest hotel above ground, situated between the 79th and 93rd floors of the
Shanghai World Finance Center (SWFC).
Little did we suspect that 8 months later we'd be back in Shanghai, staying in the hotel itself, having won a two-night stay there! (see here).
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| JinMao building (left); SWFC/park Hyatt (right) |
We did however manage to sneak up in the lift and take some photos from the 79th floor! At the time the SWFC was the world's third tallest building.
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| view of Shanghai from the SWFC |
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| view of Shanghai from the SWFC |
Our visit to Shanghai coincided with the 2010 World Expo so we paid it a visit one day.
As the weather was extremely hot and the queues were long we limited our visits to the British and French pavilions - as passport holders we didn't need to queue up for either of those pavilions.
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| Estonian pavilion, World Expo |
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| exterior of French pavilion |
The French pavilion won 3rd prize for best development of theme in the pavilion A category during the expo.
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| interior, French pavilion |
The
UK pavilion was built with 60,000 translucent acrylic rods that produced effects when the wind blew and was called the "
Seed Cathedral" and nicknamed the "Dandelion".
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exterior, British pavilion
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The pavilion won Best Pavilion at the Expo.
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interior, British pavilion
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On leaving Shanghai we headed back up to Beijing by train, from where my husband left to go back to South Korea, while I flew to North Korea.
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