We journeyed up to Shangri-La on a public bus which included smokers all around us and spit buckets in the aisles, apart from that and getting stuck at a landslide for a bit the journey went quite smoothly. We arrived in Shangri-La which was renamed so from Zhongdian by the Chinese as they decided it was the real Shangri-L; although it is nice we don't quite think it is paradise unless we got the wrong bus. Unfortunately Mark was poorly for most of the days we were here, but the old town was nice enough for Jane to have a wander around and run up a hill to take a picture of Mark on the guesthouse roof. We liked the old town which is how we imagine Lijiang was like a few years ago but you can tell it is slowly going down the same overly tourist way. The people are all really friendly and the food is much better than Lijiang; Mark even got some carrot cake. On our last day we went to the Ganden Sumtseling Gompa monastery north of the town which is set in its own little valley with a small village around; certainly more like Shangri-La should be. The monastery is quite imposing and after a steep climb to the top it was great to stroll aaround the halls and watch the monks go around their daily lives; mostly on their mobile phones. It is certainly giving us a taste for the many monasteries we will see in Tibet!!
Shangri-la is def worth a visit but maybe sooner rather than later.