Tibetan traditions

Shangri-La ancient town

In Shangri-La’s old town, you can find plenty of boutique inns.  This is the best way to experience living like the locals.  Last year, a fire broke out nearby, destroying hundreds of homes.  Fortunately, the other half old town wasn’t affected too much.  But the closely built wooden houses do pose a great danger in Shangri-La’s dry climate.  The cobblestone streets and wooden buildings haven’t changed too much since the times of the Tea Horse Caravan Route over 600 years ago.  This was when Tibetans would travel long distances to trade their horses for Han people’s tea and all the way to India for spices.  

At a height of 24 metres, the gold prayer wheel in the centre of the town is the largest in the world.  Prayer flags can be found everywhere, especially near monasteries and prayer wheels.  The five colours: blue, white, red, green and yellow represent sky and space, air and wind, fire, water and earth respectively.  Tibetan Buddhists have a habit of doing prostrations praying on a pilgrimage to Lhasa, which can be a journey of thousands of kilometers.  At the centre of the square leading up to the prayer wheel was a Tibetan mastiff.  The poor thing was being circled around to attract tourists to pay to take pictures with it.  The furry creature didn’t look too content in the summer heat!