Shangri-La

14th May 2014         0km       2′-11’C

I woke up in Shangri-la to a very cold morning, the coldest I’ve experienced so far on this journey.

Today was a rest day, so after breakfast we went to explore a Tibetan village a few kilometres away.  After walking through the monastery, we were invited into a local home, which was a special experience.  The house was 20 years old and built from local timber.  The animals residing on the ground floor and the upper floors for the family.  The girl who was showing us the house explained that 4 generations of the family all live together and farm the land nearby, yaks and pigs mostly.  The interior of the house was spotlessly clean and we were able to take some photos in the main kitchen and living area.  Even the internal water pipe to the kitchen was wrapped in insulation, as it reaches -20’C in winter here.  Very very hardy people.

After lunch we visited Songzanlin monastery, which was built in 1679 and was simply amazing in scale and golden opulence.

On the way back, I spent some time hunting for a spare tube, but the largest size I could find was still way to small to fit, so I took my split rear tube and had a guy rubber weld a patch over the split.  I don’t intend to use this tube, but it will be held onto as a spare until I can get another new tube in Chengdu, hopefully.   The current rear tube still has a problem, unidentified, as it goes flat randomly.  I’m convinced it is still a problem in the valve stem.  I inflated the tyre again yesterday afternoon and today it is still completely inflated and has not lost any pressure, but when it does go flat it seems to do so randomly.  I’m really itching to throw this tube away and install a new one as soon as possible.

Tonight we had yet another Sichuan dinner (our Chinese guide and driver refuse to eat anything but Sichuan food, which is becoming a problem)
I didn’t come to China to ride from north to south and only eat one style of cuisine.  We had a discussion about this matter last night, and I expressed my desire to experience all of China. As yet this has not been resolved.   If we go to any other type of restaurant, they say they are not hungry and will not eat.  They are convinced that the only option is food from their home town.  It is becoming silly.  I’m sure I will have more to write about this in coming days.

After dinner I walked around the old town of Shangri-La which was unfortunately devastated by a fire earlier this year.  What remains is still very impressive, especially the temple.   And the crowd of local people that get together to dance in the square each night generates alot of fun.  I had my photo taken with quite a few people, it seems the foreigner is always an interesting sight.