First night in Kunming after a long day crossing the border from Vietnam, and a number of bus & train rides. First full day’s train ride to Shangri-La, more realistically known as Shangri-La: a clean & quiet city, “crossing the bridge” noodle soup, then train station & train, a nuke factory, farm fields & graves, stuff sold on the train, views out the window, and our arrival…
Walking into the “old town” of Shangri-La, our charming hotel, edible insects, statuary, yak skull, new lil’ buddy…
More of the “old town” Shangri-La…
The Big Buddha Temple in the old town of Shangri-La, a surreptitious picture of a 3D mandala, the giant Tibetan prayer wheel, and snippets of loveliness – flowering trees, prayer flags, and people posing…
Every evening in the main square in the Shangrila old town there is dancing! Also, discovered a lovely little coffee house and an interesting restaurant – the Green Island and the Karma Kafé – both serendipitous gems…
Next, we went to the Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, patterned after Lhasa…
The area surrounding the monastery – a few old relics and a few old cats…
Getting dressed up in the local garb is a thing! This batch also has some bling from the gift shop…
Back on the bus and heading to a traditional Tibetan lunch at local home – of rich people…!
The local market in Shangrila. Yak meat is awesome, bought some bells, and it’s good to see kids doing their homework…
Random shots outside the old town…
Yak meat hot pot at Langer’s favorite restaurant, plus a custom tour of the Thangka painting studio in old town…
Sorry I’m not adding more commentary, detailed information, and more links to sources, but the internet sitch is dodgy and time is of the essence. Thanks for checking it out…
