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| Entrance to Patatso National Park |
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| The park during the four seasons |
The main destination today was
Potatso National Park and the Bita Lake Nature Reserve about 22kms from Shangri La.
It was the the first national park in China to meet International Union for Conservation of Nature standards. The park has two lakes, a visitor center, several interesting minority villages, lush forests and pasture views.
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| Bita Lake |
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| Entrance to Bita Lake |
From the visitor center a park bus takes visitors 13 km to the first stop, Shudu Lake which was very picturesque, and almost wherever I pointed the camera I could take a picture postcard photograph.
The information centre had information panels of the lake in the four main seasons, unfortunately autumn (when we were here) is probably the least interesting. The weather was cold, dry and there was no green pasture (a feature of summer) or wildflowers (a feature of spring). The natural beauty though was still apparent – and the first pure blue skies we’ve seen in China.
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| Young woman sewing in the field |
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| Detail of young woman in the field |
The next bus destination was Bita Lake (Bi Ta Hai), 3,500 m above sea level and surrounded by dense deciduous forests. We walked along timber boardwalks around the lake’s edge and saw our first yaks grazing – albeit in the distance.
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Freezing cold air and blue
skies of Bita Lake |
Photo opportunities near some of the man-made features was difficult given the number of tourists jostling to take their souvenir photos. One amazing sight was a young woman, completely absorbed in sewing in the middle of a field, sitting against a tree, with snow still covering the ground.
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| Locals wearing weather-proof coats |
The long red coats you you see people wearing are a modern variation on the traditional coats worn by the local inhabitants.
They are available for hire and are incredibly effective at shielding the wearer from the cold and wind, but at the same time allow freedom of movement – as much as you can have in this inhospitable (to us) environment.
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| The impressive high school building |
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Equally impressive student
accommodation across the road |
Shangri La and the surrounding are shows definite signs of (relative) wealth. The Chinese government has obviously injected funding into this area as evidenced by the huge school and public buildings and the number of new farm houses being built.
Areas and local governments friendly to the central government are favoured by having funds injected through infrastructure construction and other incentives. Those that are not are financially starved and have increased military presence.
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| Traditional style farm house |
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Mc Mansion farm house under
construction |
The farm houses all share the same architectural style, 2 storey closed on 3 sides with a timber balcony facing the sunny south direction.
The main structure is formed from 12-16 massive timber posts on stone or cement foundations. Some are even more substantial, built of stone with glassed in upper levels.
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First bend in the Zangtze river,
looking east |
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| Anyone for a ride on a yak? |
In the late afternoon we headed back to Li Jiang stopping firstly at the first bend in the Yantze river – the longest river in Asia, and the third longest river in the world.
This was a famous point for east-west travellers in the past, and the furthest point of the navigable river before it becomes too fast-flowing.
Of course we again stopped on the way for another banquet dinner. No half-measures on the food here.
