Golden week in Shangri-La

Old town Zhongdian
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We arrived on May day in Zhongdian which the Chinese Government have renamed Shangri-La to encourage tourism. It's certainly worked because we bagged the last two beds in town it seems.

Once we'd showered, (hadn't had a hostel with shower in 3 days!) we headed out to see the old town. It's full of winding alleys with wooden buildings piled higgledy-piggeldy along the cobbled streets. Up the hill there's a huge prayer wheel which can be turned (with some effort). We did this three times as you're supposed to and flopped down on the ground to watch the setting sun glint off it.  It was a lovely sunny afternoon which quickly turned to heavy rain (the first heavy rain we'd seen since London) and we ran down the hill for cover ending up in a coffee shop on the square.

It's full of winding alleys with wooden buildings piled higgledy-piggeldy along the cobbled streets

A rooftop, just before it rained
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It's Golden Week in China, which is essentially like the May day holiday but lasts for a week. Loads of Tibetans were dressed in brightly coloured costumes and as we sat there having our coffee (mine with yaks milk) we saw them gather in the square. Within minutes some Tibetan music started to blare out of speakers and they started doing the dancing we'd seen in Kangding.  It was much more complex and hypnotic to watch since the older ladies were sporting brightly coloured outfits and the little girls were in fancy dresses. The old men were hilarious, some with Chairman Mao caps, some with trilbys and they were all shaking their stuff. We watched in the drizzle for about an hour before wandering the streets again to our hostel.

Townsfolk throwing Tibetan dancing shapes
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The next day we hung out at the hostel and did our considerable amount of laundry. We met a lovely Belgian couple and chatted for hours as it was weeks since we'd actually met any other westerners.

We decided since it was Golden Week and hideously expensive to skip the popular southern town of Lijang and do a trek in Tiger Leaping Gorge - 2 hours away by bus.

So we sorted out our sunblock and hats, donned our hiking boots and set off for the little town of Qiatou to start our trek along the Yangzte.  See separate entry - Tiger Leaping Gorge.