Altitude Training.... finding Shangri-La

Those of you that have seen the deluge of Instagram and Facebook photos will know that I spent the past week on the tourist trail in Northwestern Yunnan Province, China. The majority of my time being spent in Lijiang and Shangri-La, with a brief diversion to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

It has been amazing to spend some time away from the manic streets of Hong Kong and Yunnan has been the perfect place to do it, providing isolated and breath-taking scenery together with a chunk of ancient and historic Tibet (without the trouble of having to venture into Tibet itself).

The plains of Yunnan with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background

However, a week’s holiday is also a week of not training(!). Added to that I have spent a significant portion of my time dedicating myself to eating large amounts of Naxi and Tibetan food and drinking quantities of Dali beer.

Another Naxi feast, rounded of with a cold Dali beer...

One unintended consequence, however, is that I have spent the week at altitudes of between 2400m (Lijiang and around) and 3300m (Shangri-La) – with that in mind I have convinced myself that the week has not been wasted and that it can be put down as “altitude training”. Very pro!

I have even managed to get in a few morning runs and a couple of (leisurely tourist-style) bike rides in. In fact, given the Black Rain experienced in Hong Kong whilst I was away, I managed to get more kilometres cycling in than I would have managed otherwise…

Lijiang, Shuhe and Baisha

The first part of my week off was spent in and around Lijiang, a town with a history going back over 800 years and famous for its maze of winding cobblestoned streets and orderly system of bridges and waterways. A fabulously picturesque historical town that has perhaps suffered a little from its success as a tourist ‘destination’ – the main streets are packed at peak times and are lined with shops selling tourist tat.

Deciding to combine a desire to see tourist-free streets and a need to maintain some sort of physical activity, I dragged myself out of bed one morning at the crack of dawn to run through the cobbled streets (I actually had to break out of the hotel, it was so early). The air was cold and my breathing was definitely a little laboured, but it was totally worth it. Running through the empty streets lined with history with only the sound of my own breath was awesome. That said, the 5km mark couldn’t come soon enough – definitely out of practice running wise. The Strava link is here.

Empty streets all to myself.... finally!

The following day I decided to hire a bike and head out to Shuhe and Baisha, two ‘ancient towns’ located outside Lijiang that were supposed to be less touristy. The bike I hired wasn’t up to much to be honest, but it did the job and I managed to get in a 30km round trip.

My piece of crap Giant for the day, complete with wobbling bottom bracket...

Shuhe was decidedly less touristy (perhaps a Lijiang of 5-10 years ago) and Baisha was basically a one-Yak town. The ride out to both was up a gradual gradient the whole way and completed in the midday sun – whilst not scorching hot in the traditional sense, the thinness of the air offers little UV protection, that combined with a lack of sunscreen meant I was pretty red come the end of the day. The return journey to Lijiang was largely downhill and I spent the majority of it being motorpaced by a mineral water delivery van – result. The Strava link for the day is here.

The locals, just chilling Baisha style....

Shangri-La

The second portion, and favourite part, of my week was spent in Shangri-La (formerly known as Zhongdian, more on that below).

The original Shangri-La, from James Hilton's novel The Lost Horizon, was a fictional hidden, utopian lamasery in the depths of the Kunlun mountains, Tibet, whose inhabitants lived for centuries. In 2001, Chinese authorities in Zhongdian decided that their one-Yak mountain hamlet was surely the book’s inspiration and officially changed its name to Shangri-La. A pretty obvious attempt to attract tourists a la Lijiang, and despite the obvious development and touristy shops the sleepy lanes of the old town still retain a large part of their isolated and historical charm.

Prayer flags would be a recurring theme for the whole week....

Whilst I wasn’t expecting to find the elixir of eternal youth here (nor would it specifically help me cycle over any mountains), I did take the opportunity to go out for another morning run and hire a second bike to go explore some of the surrounding monasteries.

The road to Shangri-La offered some truly stunning sceney 

The bike ride was very leisurely and quite short. I first headed to the famous Songzanlin Si, just 4kms out of the town, on flat straight roads and under the warming midday heat. The second part of the ride was again on straight roads but into a buffeting head wind. Even the smallest amount of effort in such thin air soon gets the heart racing. In total I clocked up a decent 17km. The Strava link is here.

Songzanlin Si, sitting on hill above Shangri-La

I also managed to drag myself out of bed early one morning (again having to be let out of the hotel) to go on a short, lung burning, run around the empty streets of the old town and vaguely in search of Baiji Si (a temple, brilliantly named the 100 Chickens Temple, that I had failed to find the previous day). Again, seeing the streets empty of tourists was amazing and despite the chillingly cold and thin air I managed to get a decent 5km run in with some little hills thrown into the mix. I wouldn’t want to run at this altitude too often! Again, the Strava link is here.

The brilliantly named 100 Chicken Temple.... I had the whole place to myself, except for all the chickens (really)

Too Long; Didn’t Read

A week off of training is always good, hopefully the effects of the altitude and the little physical activity I have been able to bring myself to do will have offset the amount of food and beer I have consumed.

I am looking forward to getting back on the bike!