Yunnan May 2012 (Day 5)

The itinerary for Day 5 was less packed and more relaxed. It was the day where we travelled five hours to Shangri-La by coach.

Prior to the trip...

Piping hot breakfast! 

Then, we had some free time for shopping at the same ancient town we went to two nights ago. 

Went there around 9am and the town was pretty quiet.

So many young people were busy sketching the town...

One thing I noticed about the old people in China was that they really enjoyed and took pride in looking after their grandchildren. Maybe this was their only activity after retirement or it was due to China's one-child  policy. They just felt happy chasing after their grandchild.

A hawk which you can pay to take pictures with. Seeing this picture reminds me of how unabashed some people can be. There were two aunties in our group who were arrived 30 min late when we were supposed to gather at a meeting place. The local guide went to look for them while the rest of us took shelter under a tree. We were hungry and restless and it wasn't the first time these two had caused our group inconvenience. 30 min later, they swaggered to the meeting place and just sat down explaining that they went lost while buying some souvenirs. Not only did they not apologise to the group, one of the aunties saw this hawk and wanted to take a picture with it! How unabashed was she! We waited for so long. The least she can do is to apologise and go. No! Instead, she continued making us wait. 

We set off for Shangri-La after lunch. En route, we were supposed to stop at this place which overlooked the Yangtze river. Apparently, that was where the first bend of Yangtze can be seen and it was an interesting  natural phenomenon because the river makes an U-turn due to a mountain obstructing the natural flow of the river. Hilariously, we couldn't see the bend at all because the view has been obstructed. So what is the point of us stopping for photography?

Yangtze river

After three to four hours of bus journey, we finally made a stopover at this mountain top overlooking the Yi village. The tribe farms for a living. You can also see the agricultural lands too.

SHANGRI-LA!!!

Something funny happened here. There was a makeshift toilet and many of our tour's aunties went for their toilet break. I was hesitating using the toilet as I wondered how dirty it was as Shangri-La was not as developed as the other counties. Then, I saw the aunties coming out from the toilet, gasping for air and some almost vomited! LOL... They said the stench was horrible!

Our first stop in Shangri-La was to this shop where we bought our oxygen bottles. I bought a book on the various tribes in Yunnan too. It is an interesting read.

I was a little disappointed when we arrived at Shangri-La. My first impression was "So that is it? The paradise?" There were many open fields and nothing was really pretty. I heard so much after this place and I was hoping to see wild flowers in full bloom. Snow mountains in the distance. But all I saw was barren lands, some building and some spiritual structures. Oh and I got to experience using the legendary China toilet where there was no door and just a small canal linking the cubicles. I saw so many butts but most importantly, peeing with someone's poo below you was kind of weird. LOL

Our room for the night

It was around evening when we reached so we settled for an early dinner and left to explore the area near our hotel on our own. Bro went on his own to take photographs while Mum and I went to went fruits from a street vendor. 

Fruits were very cheap. For two dollars, you can get a few kilo of fruits.

We bought mangoes. 

So, that was all for Day 5. :)