Napahai Lake, Shangri-la

Located in Yunnan province, Lijiang is one of the four well-preserved old towns in China. It was firstly built at the end of Song dynasty and the beginning of Yuan dynasty, some 700 hundreds years ago. Walking on the tidy bluestone board paved roads; you can see the traditional architectures of the period which were fully hand crafted and the small bridges with flowing water all around. Nearly every turn can be treated as a piece of painting art. Go and have a look around of this beautiful old town upon your arrival, we guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

On the second day, take a bus at Lijiang Passenger Transport Center (Telephone: 0888-5122536 ) to get to Shangri-la which is also called Zhongdian or Diqing. The journey is about 200 kilometers and the bus fare is 35RMB and will take approximately four hours to reach Shangri-la from Lijiang. The buses depart at 7:30, 8:00, 9:00, 10:30, 12:00, 12:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:00 and 16:00. Upon your arrival in Shangri-la, find a local hotel to have a short rest and then walking here and there in the town at leisure to relax yourselves in this paradise.

Dong Zhulin Temple, Shangri-la

On the morning of the third day, take a minibus at the town to get to the Napahai Lake (Admission fee: 30RMB) natural preservation zone which is 8 kilometers North from the town. The Napahai Lake is about 3125 square kilometers and at an altitude of 3266 meters. It is a plateau lake and also possesses the biggest grassland of Shangri-la. The water catchments area of the lake is 660 square kilometers. Many kinds of rare species inhabit here and one sort of the most well known is black-necked cranes. People there love the birds, especially the black-necked cranes and never hurt them. For thousands of years, the fowls have been very close to the people and always spend the night beside the cottages and tents. By the way, you can ride a horse at the Napahai Lake area and the fare is 30RMB or 60RMB. Return to the town and take a bus of Zhongdian/ Deqin in the afternoon. You should get out off the bus at Benzilan country. After arriving there, find a place to stay overnight.

On the fourth day, take a bus at Benzilan country to go to the Dong Zhulin Temple (Admission fee: 30RMB). The Dian-Zang highway passes by there at the rear of the temple.This temple is about 105 kilometers from the town of Shangri-la and the bus of Zhongdian/ Deqin can go directly there. It was built in the year of 1667 and was originally named "Chongchong Cuogang Temple" which means a temple located at the red-crowned crane lakeside. There is a huge Tangka in this temple. It is 8.5 meters in length and 5.2 meters in width. On the Dharma assembly of entertaining the god that takes place every year, the Tangka will be put on display. After having a stay at the temple, take a bus to go to Deqin on your own.