Shangri-la is a pretty little Tibetan town in the very north of Yunnan. We rested here after Tiger Leaping Gorge with some Australians we met on the trek. I really loved the evening dancing every night in market square, seeing all the old women in their pretty colourful clothes! We tried the Tibetan food - Yak was the most common - very yummy and nothing goes to waste - they use the yak meat, yak diary products, yak clothes and yak horn objects such as chop sticks! A very important animal there!

The 5 of us then moved up to Deqin, deep in the ragged mountains of the north! The journey there was horrible! 6 hours on a bumpy bus along dusty gravel roads and winding around cliff edges! The views from Deqin were stunning though especially of the Meili Xueshan mountain range which we could see from our hostel balcony! Whilst there we did a tough walk up to the Mingyoung Glacier on the side of the highest peak. We werent allowed on the steep glacier but seeing as we saw part of it collapse with a loud boom as we were watching from the sides, thats probably a good thing!

Love Sophie

xxxx