Of explorations and chaos in Shangri-La

So, Old Town Zhongdian has been pretty cool.  While fairly touristy, the area still has traditional Tibetan influence.  People wash their clothes in buckets on the street, people peddle vegetables, meats, and beads, and bicycle carts are a relevant mode of transport.  The streets, while blinged out with shop ads, still feel historic.

The culture of the minority groups here reminds me of the Incan culture in the Andes.  Llamas-> yaks; teas, wool ear-flapped caps, ornate shawls.... I even got to see a flash parade, similar to the ones that would appear out of nowhere in Peru.

Today was spent wandering the streets of Old Town, trying yak, buying things, wandering to the monastery on top of the hill overlooking Shangri-la, (awesome view, roosters, tons of prayer flags flying in the wind), and engaging in a weird activity of spinning a massive yellow tower with 20 or so other tourists.  I am pleased to find that the most of the other tourists here are not Western.  Makes me feel a bit more like a discovery.  Plus, if this is the destination Chinese pick for their vacations, it must be pretty good, right? 

I also enjoy traveling around people who are very camera-happy.  In other places, I am very sensitive about snapping pictures of strangers who may not appreciate it.  But with such camera-happiness around here, I am actually being very ordinary in taking pictures of everything.

The bike tour officially started today as well, but not without a bit of chaos.  Apparently I stayed in the wrong hotel.  I was only given an address to the hotel, and the taxi driver and hotel receptionist both confirmed I was at the right place. At 6pm, our meeting time, I quickly realized I was not in the right place.  Long story short, it appears that 65 Da Wa Rd is about 0.5 mile away from 66 Da Wa Rd.  Fortunately, the tour leader came looking for me, and I was still able to attend a traditional Tibetan dinner with the other folks on the tour.

I am very pleased with the posse the tour has assembled, as well.  The Aussie's joining me on the tour are Sarah and Andy, from Sydney.  They are friendly, with a good sense of humor.  The tour leader Julie also seems easy to get along with.   Lastly, we have two non-English speaking escorts: one leading the bike pack, one driving the van.

Tomorrow we assemble our bikes, and ride out to a hot spring.