Back to Shangri-La After Two and a Half Years (Part One)

🔧📸 Images tweaked with Magic Image — resize, watermark, blur, convert. Nothing fancy, but it works.

My first visit to Shangri-La was in December 2024, during winter. The temperature dropped to minus ten degrees, freezing cold but also wonderfully magical. This year, right at the beginning of June, the weather was perfect. I realized I hadn’t experienced Shangri-La in summer yet, so I immediately booked a flight and embarked on a spontaneous trip.

I often see people online asking: if you’re visiting Yunnan and can only choose one or two destinations out of Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, and Shangri-La, which should you pick?

Personally, I think each place has its own charm, but from my aesthetic perspective, Shangri-La is a must-visit. First, I find the name itself beautiful — it immediately reminds me of Leehom Wang’s song “Heart’s Sun and Moon.” I’ve heard that “Heart’s Sun and Moon” in Tibetan sounds and means “Shangri-La.” But I’ve also heard that “Shangri-La” actually means “a remote corner” — haha, quite interesting!

As before, we first flew to Lijiang and then took a train to Shangri-La, serving as a buffer to gradually acclimate to the thin air at high altitude (though honestly, it was more about the ticket prices and flight schedules being better suited to arriving in Lijiang first, haha). The journey was a bit tiring, and I fell asleep soon after boarding. In my drowsy state, I suddenly felt my ears being blocked. I didn’t want to wake up, but it was like being jolted awake — I knew we’d most likely arrived near the Jinsha River. I opened my eyes, and sure enough!

The train ride to Shangri-La Station took only about an hour and a half. Soon I was greeted by the familiar sight of white buildings. By the way, Shangri-La has lots of white buildings — it might be a Tibetan custom.

Since I’d already hiked Tiger Leaping Gorge, visited Dukezong Ancient Town, Sumtseling Monastery, and the surrounding markets during my previous winter trip, this time I headed straight for Pudacuo National Park (the first national park in mainland China). Right after exiting the station, I rushed to the storage boxes at the entrance and grabbed several oxygen canisters — lucky me, some still had quite a bit of oxygen inside!

I brought a pack of alcohol wipes along, so I could clean the nozzle and use them too.

To get to Pudacuo quickly, I ordered a ride-hailing car on an app. I originally planned to take a shortcut from the left side of the exit directly to the parking lot. After walking about ten meters, I discovered it was blocked by iron fencing — no way through. I had to follow the regular route instead. The sunlight was blazing, but fortunately I brought my sunglasses! It wasn’t scorching though — I was so lucky to have good weather today, since Pudacuo tickets cost 138 yuan, and it absolutely cannot be a cloudy or rainy day.

The temperature was around 20 degrees, neither too cold nor too hot. I wore three thin layers and was already sweating from the sun. After waiting less than five minutes, the driver arrived cheerfully, walking briskly the whole way — it looked like he was dancing, very natural and unpretentious. Maybe that’s the dancing talent of ethnic minorities. Shortly after we started driving, we were going uphill, turning corner after corner. The air pressure seemed to drop, and I quickly took a few breaths of oxygen.

Suddenly, I saw a large cluster of buildings and asked the driver which village this was. He smiled and said, “This is the full view of Dukezong Ancient Town.” I’d never seen the whole town from such a height before — so this is what it looks like. I suddenly noticed the sky outside was crystal blue, so beautiful it looked almost unreal!

On the road, the driver played songs and sang along. I couldn’t understand the lyrics — probably Tibetan — but it sounded lovely. The ride seemed a bit long, and I fell asleep again…

Suddenly, the driver said we’d arrived. I paid about 80 yuan for the fare. As soon as I got out of the car, I saw a food street. I wondered, where’s the visitor center? Looking around while walking, I finally found it down an alley next to the large “Pudacuo” sign on the right. I discovered that luggage storage was quite expensive — renting a large locker cost 30 yuan per use, plus a 30-yuan deposit.

Tip: After retrieving your luggage, remember to manually apply for the deposit refund — the system won’t return it automatically!

I was still sitting on the bench at the visitor center, having already used several oxygen canisters. I obediently spent another 50 yuan on another bottle of oxygen — so expensive! I also bought some biscuits (they’d come in handy later), raisins (in very small portions), and cola. Everything was 10 yuan each for some reason.

Maybe I really wasn’t acclimatizing well — I was oxygen-deprived, and my makeup brush wasn’t cooperating. I couldn’t figure out why no matter how many layers of foundation I applied, my face always looked yellow. Was it some high-altitude effect? After struggling for a while, I realized the indoor ceiling had reddish-yellow tones that were reflecting on my face. I should have done my makeup on the train to Shangri-La. After finishing my makeup, I bought tickets online — 138 yuan per person. We didn’t buy return tickets.

I fell asleep again on the bus and suddenly arrived at the first stop. The guide said a lot of things, but I only remembered: 2.2 kilometers of hiking, and those who can’t walk can stay on the bus while those who can should get off and hike. The key point was that once you got off, you had to hike the entire 2.2 kilometers — there was no transportation available along the way. I thought, it’s only 2.2 kilometers, what’s the big deal? You could walk that in half an hour easily.

As soon as I got off the bus — oh my goodness! The temperature, the wind, the sunlight, the blue sky with white clouds, the meadow — it was all so incredibly beautiful! And I even caught the Wild Begonia Music Festival — my luck was unbelievable! I saw a stage ahead with lots of empty chairs below, so I found a seat and sat down. The music was lovely, accompanied by cow droppings, of course!

Nearby were clusters of cute little plants that looked like wild vegetables. I always thought they were fictional plants that only existed in animated shows. Turns out they’re real — I was just ignorant. Standing here in the breeze, it really felt like I’d stepped into a paradise. On one side, people were singing and playing on stage; on the other side, there was barbecue being sold; and in the distance, two people were playing badminton. In such strong wind, they were playing badminton — and they’d actually brought badminton equipment. After watching for a few minutes, they basically couldn’t return each other’s serves. Haha, participation is what matters!

Continuing forward, I saw a horse grazing. I wondered why it had a bell around its neck — was it to help the owner find it?

The scenery here was stunning in parts, but photos couldn’t capture much of its beauty, whether taken with a phone or camera. You really have to be there in person to appreciate it, and the weather needs to be good.

Walking further, I suddenly heard the sound of babbling water — it was a shallow rocky stream. I hadn’t seen such a stream in ages. I couldn’t resist testing the water temperature — it was freezing! While I was recording a video, a passing uncle said, “This is just like the river back home — almost the same, no real difference, except the sky isn’t this blue.” Haha, indeed!

After walking a short while, I finally saw a different kind of animal — a pig, wagging its tail continuously. This little fat pig was probably a wild boar — it hadn’t grown tusks yet, and I didn’t dare get too close.

After who knows how long more of walking, I was getting tired. Why did we have to keep going uphill? The slope kept getting higher, and I rested several times along the way. Fortunately, there were small pavilions where I could sit and catch my breath, using lots of oxygen. I checked my altitude — we were already at 3,700 meters. You really need to bring enough oxygen when coming here.

Finally, after what felt like an endless climb, I saw the boarding point ahead, with more of those cute wild vegetables.

Next stop, Shudu Lake…