In an attempt to boost tourism, a few years ago, the government declared the town Zhongdian to be the location of the mythical Shangri-la and renamed the place accordingly. We’ve heard that its been built up substantially since then, as the ploy has actually been effective at boosting tourism. Regardless of its name, Shangri-la is a really scenic town. Its surrounded by mountains, with some snow-capped peaks visible (even now in June). It sits at around 3300 meters, which brings with it dry thin air, blue skies, and cold nights. I love high altitudes! The people are mostly ethnic minorities and incredibly friendly. The town is pretty developed with wide avenues and sidewalks typical of Chinese cities and a smaller “old town†similar to, but smaller than, Lijiang’s.
Zhongdian/Shangri-la town
hills and mountains surrounding Shangri-la
Today we visited the main attraction, the Gamden Sumtseling Gompa, a 300-year-old monastery in the hills just outside of town. We approached it via public bus, admiring its majestic position upon a hill top. A sprawling antiquated mud and stone village lay below it and an Ace Ventura-esque column of stairs led up to the main complex. Although originally built some three centuries ago, the gompa looked pretty restored. We saw construction and painting in progress, while most of the buildings and paintings looked too perfect and fresh to be of any age. So in that sense, it didn’t seem very authentic and was short of character. But on the other hand, the bright colors and active monastery were a nice glimpse into a functioning Tibetan monastery (especially since foreigners are currently banned from going to TAR (Tibetan Autonomous Region) proper).
While there, I couldn’t help but thinking how we’ve really come full circle. We began our Asia trip in Ladakh and eleven months ago, we were exploring similar gompas. The red-robed monks, the Tibetan script, the Buddhist artwork, and architecture, and landscape all brought back memories from the other side of the Tibetan plateau. In some ways, it felt like we had returned to where we started.