The area of Shangri-la felt so very different from the rest of China and we enjoyed the Tibetan culture. In our time in Shangri-la we tried some typical food like yak meat, yak cheese and Tibetan butter tea. When we decided to leave Shangri-la, our plan was ambitious: We were planning to cycle to the city of Litang along a smaller road which would mean crossing some serious mountains. Many passes were above 4000m with the highest one coming in at 4700m. Now in April the weather was still pretty cold and we had to wear thermals while cycling at 3300m already. After leaving the city and cycling down into a valley, we were stopped at a police checkpoint. They would not let us pass and after a while we understood that we could not cycle this way due to heavy snow and ice on the higher passes. That meant having to cycle back to Shangri-la to replan and find a different route to go. The alternative route along the highway heading Northwest might have been an option, but this seemed too long for us and our gear was also not set up for the cold that well. In the end we settled on heading back to Tiger Leaping Gorge along a smaller road. The next day it was snowing the whole day, so we decided to take another break day before hitting the road again. 

Leaving Shangri-la for the second time lead us through some amazing scenery. With the heavy snow the day before, we cycled through snowy mountains for the whole day and it was just stunningly beautiful (check the video, my words do not do it justice). After a long day we reached the small city of Sanba where we visited the White Terraces the next morning which are small water pools on the side of a hill that are formed by mineral deposits over thousands of years. Cycling on from there was a bit easier as we headed back down into the end of Tiger Leaping Gorge to cycle through it. The gorge was stunning once more and when we got back to the main road, we cycled in direction of Lijiang. After all the hills from the days before we were a bit tired of cycling and we decided to hitch a ride up the last 500m of elevation to get to Lijiang this way. There we enjoyed a day off, explored the beautiful old city center and got ready for some more cycling in the mountains - yay!

Keep cycling and always enjoy a tail wind, 

Vroni, Droni and Joni