Guided tour and dinner at Shangri-La’s Dukezong Old Town

14 September 2024

We came back to Shangri-La’s Dukezong Ancient Town after visiting two of Shangri-La most popular tourist destinations, namely the Potatso National Park and Songzanlin Monastery. By the time we arrived, it was already slightly past 5 PM.

We entered via the North Gate.

North Gate of Dukezong Ancient Town.

This 1,300-year-old town features traditional Tibetan homes, ancient temples and pagodas, and narrow, winding alleyways. We had already seen some parts of the town the previous evening. The ancient streets and quaint alleys are lined with various local souvenir shops.

Street leading from the gate to Sifang Square.  

Stone-paved streets of Dukezong Ancient Town.

Our guide brought us to Moonlight Square and from there, we climbed the steps up to Guishan (Turtle Hill) Park (龜山公園) where the Big Buddha Temple (大佛寺) and Giant Prayer Wheel (轉經筒) are located.

Guishan Park is a good place to have a panoramic view of Shangri-La city and the Dukezong Old Town.

   View of the old town from top of Guishan.

Prayer flags attached to one of the houses.

We went inside the Buddhist Temple where our guide explained the significance of the various statues of Buddha, deities and dharma protectors and murals on the wall.

He also explained the meanings of the prayer flags. Prayer flags originated in Tibet, but are used in many countries in the Himalayan region, including Nepal and Bhutan.

My T-shirt with the prayer flags is actually a gift that my son bought after his Everest Base Camp Trek in Nepal.

The flags do not carry prayers to gods. Tibetan prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras printed on the flags will be spread by the wind and bring goodwill and compassion to benefit all beings. The five different colours of the prayer flags represent the air, fire, water, earth, and space. 

Continuing our walk in a clockwise direction on the hill, we arrived at the landmark of the Old Town, the Giant Prayer Wheel.

21 meter tall Giant Prayer Wheel.

Turning the Giant Prayer Wheel at Guishan, Shangi-La to get blessings.

It contains millions of the traditional six-syllable Om Mani Padme Hum mantras inside. Locals and visitors would turn the prayer wheel 3 rounds by hand using straps handles provided at the base to get the blessings.

Compared to the previous evening, there were less people around. It was harder to turn the 16 ton prayer wheel but we still managed to do it.

After seeing the highlights, we descended from Guishan to explore the town further till dinner time.

We wanted to do some souvenir shopping and found that the shops in Shangri-La were quite different from those in Kunming, Dali and Lijiang. The shops in Shangri-La focused mainly on local products such as yak. Yak milk nougats, yak meat jerky, yak this, yak that. Our guide told us some the products, especially the cheaper ones, are made with beef since yak is more expensive.

Shopping for snacks to bring home.

We saw the Big Buddha Temple (大佛寺) on top of Guishan that we visited earlier. It looked so majestic when viewed from afar. Crows were circling over it. I learnt that monks would sometimes feed the offerings in the temple to the crows. Hence these intelligent birds knew where to hang out.

The Big Buddha Temple perched on top of Guishan.

Crows circling over the big Buddha Temple.

 

Many of the stores in the old town have pet dogs that came out to play.

A Retriever with toy.

While exploring the town, we chanced upon the Flying Tiger Cafe. My wife had read about this cafe when we were searching for places to have dinner and this cafe has good reviews.

For me, I knew about the Flying Tigers from WW II history.  They are US airmen that flew with the Republic of China Air Force in late 1941 and 1942 during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Flying Tigers were based in Yunnan are operated the Curtiss P-40 fighters planes. 

The Flying Tiger Cafe serves Western style dishes and also yak burgers. Since we had already planned to have yak hotpot for dinner at the Three Brother's Cafe, we bought a takeaway yak burger to eat with our hotpot. 

Various options of yak burgers in the menu.

While waiting for our order to be prepared, I took a look at the memorabilia inside the cafe.

Resting at the Flying Tiger Cafe while waiting for our yak burger to be cooked.

Photo of P-40 Warhawks painted with shark face.

We returned to the Three Brother's Cafe for yak hotpot as planned. Yak Hotpot is a popular dish in Shangri-La. The yak meat is sliced thinly, tender and flavorful served in a rich flavour broth that is clear or spicy. There are also rice noodles and vegetables in the hotpot.

It is rich in nutrients and provides warming and invigorating benefits, making it especially suitable for nourishment during the cold winter of Shangri-La.

Watching the local dancing in the town square while waiting for our dinner to be served.

Yak Hotpot Dinner at the Three Brother’s Cafe.

There are also rice noodles and vegetables in the hotpot.

Relaxing time at the Three Brother's Cafe.

We chilled at the Three Brother's Cafe with a couple of beers until it was time to transfer to the Diqing Shangri-La Airport for our 22.50 PM Eastern Airlines flight to Kunming.

The Diqing airport was quiet and relatively empty. Ours was probably the only flight leaving at that time of night.

It was a short domestic flight to Kunming.  We arrived shortly before midnight. Compared to Diqing, Kunming Airport at near midnight was still bustling with activity. Our local Kunming guide was waiting with a car and driver to transfer us to the Cachet Boutique Hotel.