Zhongdian street scene 1995. [Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn]  

High in the northwestern uplands of Yunnan lies a popular destination known as Shangri-La since 2001. When Bruce Connolly visited it in 1995, it was called Zhongdian. A town partly fulfilling Bruce’s Tibetan dream. 

Visiting Tibet, an ambition from schooldays, felt like an “impossible dream”. Even in 1995 it remained both difficult and expensive to even reach Lhasa. Infrastructure, particularly for individual travelers, was challenging.

In '95 I was "discovering" Yunnan's Lijiang before heading to Qiaotou (Hutiaoxiazhen). A spectacular location where the small Zhongdian River flows into the Upper Yangzi or Jinshajiang (Golden Sand River). Qiaotou, gateway to magnificent Tiger Leaping Gorge, was fun. Over three days I would sit outside aptly named "Backpackers' Cafe", fascinated with passing heavy blue trucks, often with Tibetan script painted on their doors. The cafe owner pointed along the street saying "They are from Zhongdian, a mainly Tibetan area, just up the road!" A chance for me to experience a "touch of Tibet"?

Next morning I boarded a bus to "Zhong Dian". The start of a journey, at times terrifying, as we climbed out from Qiaotou along a highway perched above a fast flowing river that villagers crossed via wire ropes. The road was bumpy and in places partly washed away by recent landslides - boulders fell towards the cascading waters. My fellow passengers were fascinating to observe - a representation of probably every ethnic nationality from northwestern Yunnan. Sitting beside me a maroon-robed Buddhist monk prayed with wooden beads.

The road climbed through dense alpine forest with little human habitation before emerging onto an extensive grassy plateau. Tibetans referred to the area as Gyaitang or "Royal Plains". We were 3,200 meters above sea level with amazing visual clarity. Rows of tall wooden frames carried drying corn cobs. Grazing goats, sheep and cattle were watched over by Tibetan herders. I had reached the Tibetan part of Yunnan.