The first stop
of our tour was Kumming. Upon our arrival, we set out for the first scenic spot, the ˇ§Dragon Gateˇ¨
Western Mountain Reserve,
right away. We reached the Dragon Gate after riding the
cable car and followed by an half hour hike. ˇ§Dragon Gateˇ¨ was nothing more
than a small door built right in the middle of the mountain. We left ˇ§Dragon Gateˇ¨
without any great surprise.
The second stop of our tour was Shangri-La. It
was about 3,000 metres above sea-level where oxygen was sparse. One
had to breathe deeply and rapidly but moved slowly in order to avoid mountain
sickness. The legendary of Shangri-La went back to the novel called ˇ§The Lost
Horizonˇ¨ written by James Hilton in 1933. Shangri-La was a Tibetan word meaning
ˇ§land of sacredness and peaceˇ¨. While I was there, I did not share the same
feeling as James in his novel. The actual Shangri-La that I'd seen was a desolated valley
with few houses and animals. There were neither snowcapped mountains and blue lakes nor
broad and green grassland as described in Jamesˇ¦s noval. There was only a beautiful
Tibetan style monastery firmly wedged into the hillside. This monastery, which
resembled Potala Palace of Lhasa in its layout, was called ˇ§Songsenlin Monasteryˇ¨.
I believe the actual Shangri-La is yet to be discovered or it is only an utopian
in everyoneˇ¦s heart.
While in the Shangri-La region,
we visited the ˇ§Shudu Lakeˇ¨, ˇ§Napahai Meadowˇ¨, the ˇ§Tiger Leaping Gorgeˇ¨
and the ˇ§First Bend of Yangtze Riverˇ¨ before we left for Lijiang. Tiger
Leaping Gorge is believed to be the deepest river-gorge on earth and the
First Bend of Yangtze has its historical significance in China for the Chinese
history would have been rewritten had this river not taken this first bend.
On the way, I met a little girl in Tiger Leaping Gorge dressed in Tibetan
style clothings. I asked her if I could take a picture of her. She immediately
raised her two fingers at me, meaning I have to pay her RMB$2 for taking
her photo. So I did!
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