Patricia and Andre’s RTW Adventure

Soooooooo started out the travel to the so called Shangri-La (Zhongdian), about 100 km from the Tibet border, wearing little pink noses and tank top tan lines from our trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge.  We waited at the cross roads for the next local bus to come by, flagged them down, paid them 20Y each and got ready for the next 2.5 hours to ShangrI-La………..

Pretty soon after the start of the journey, it was pretty obvious that the weather was changing.  At each toll both we pulled up to, the driver’s window would open and a new gust of cold air would blow in.  We arrived in Shangri-La about 40 minutes before we thought we were supposed to, hopped in a cab and went to Kevin’s Guesthouse……but we quickly left once Andre got a quick peak at the rooms.  The bathrooms were the most obvious problem with outdoor showers, which, in the summertime,would not be so bad, but at the 5 degree weather we had now, well, we were not going to even entertain the thought.  We quickly jumped back into the cab and went to The Tibet Hotel.  This place must have been something in it’s hayday with 20 foot ceilings and local architecture everywhere, but at the moment no one was around!  We walked into a couple of different buildings but no one.  We eventually split up and went looking in different directions.  We eventually found 3 people huddled into 1 small room far away from the reception counter crowding around a small space heater – this was not a good start…….Yes, they had a room for 80Yuan (about $10) and they would have hot water after 6 pm so we took it.  The walk through the very vacant and huge courtyard/parking lot took us by a very lonely restaurant that looked like it hadn’t been used in a very long time – lights off, chairs on tables, that kind of thing.  Another large empty entertainment room of some sort was also long forgotten.  What a dismal welcome………The only thing missing were the 2 twins from The Shining!  We eventually arrived at the main hotel lodgings where all windows and doors were left open to the very cold winter breezes.  INSANE!  We were, ABSOLUTELY, the ONLY people staying here.  It was freaky!

 The room was freezing and I think it was warmer outside than in, so we left the heater on and went out to find some hot soup!  I also found a place to buy some mittens but luckily we had all the other winter weather gear we needed.  But we were looking forward to that hot shower later……..would they really be able to get the water hot by 6pm? hmmmmm…………….

ANSWER: no.  All kinds of rocks, pebbles and brown water flowed but no hot water.  None.  Andre refused to take his boots off at one point because his feet may not get warm again.  Our room had 2 tiny single beds but we squeezed into one wearing all our clothes, both to try and stay warm and also because we also weren’t sure what else we were sharing our beds with!  

Day 2 in Shangri-La and it was SNOWING!!  We decided right then and there that we were NOT staying one more night in this place.  We were off to see the famous temple this place had to offer and then it was a one way ticket outta here!  Easy to get ready when you’re already dressed, caught the number 3 bus to the end of the line, walked about the temple area for about 2 hours and the area was complete with the 600 monks that inhabit the area.  They were all just running around in their robes regardless of the temperature, although they were moving pretty quickly to where ever it was they were going!  The scenes were quite amazing and the snow made it seem even more magical – that, or it was wishful thinking……..glad we came to experience it though.

Got back in time for noon check out…..and guess what???!!  The power was OUT!  Glad we made the decision to leave!

Had some soup again before heading back to warmer temperatures, took a look through the restaurants traveller’s comment book and guess what?  Many people said DO NOT stay at TIBET HOTEL……their electric blanket caught on fire in the middle of the night, they had to open the window in the freezing cold to air out the room, and then the hotel wanted to still charge them……they also didn’t get hot water!  Thanks alot Lonely Planet!  We all think you need to remove the Tibet hotel from your recommemdations!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 18th, 2006 at 11:21 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.