Shangrila Paradise, Camping in Miaoli (香格里拉樂園苗栗露營)
This time we went camping (glamping) in Miaoli. The campsite is inside the old Shangrila Paradise Theme Park and is called CMP Village. Beside the camping in comfortable tents they also offer a range of side activities.
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Travel in Taiwan (2019-05-06)
By Rick Charette
The 40ha Shangrila Camping Area ( both Chinese only) is located in the hills of Miaoli County. When you camp here you camp on the grounds of the former Shangrila Paradise theme park, one of Taiwan’s original such parks. The campground for purchasers of the upscale camping package, called the CMP Village (勤美學), is located in a large, shallow basin in the center of the grounds.
The itinerary spans two days and one nigh. Packages are offered starting on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday (NT$5,000 per person; online registration necessary); student camping/education experiences are offered the other days, using adjacent campgrounds outside the basin.
On Day 1, CMP Village campers gather at the main entrance. This is the original Shangrila Paradise entrance, a large covered arcade with a big souvenir shop selling traditional-style Miaoli County foodstuffs and handicrafts and a restaurant serving quality Hakka-culture food. They are then taken on a guided tour, following a path that leads down into the basin and to CMP Village, a collection of 15 large canvas yurt-like tents that provide sumptuous comfort. Each accommodates four people, with either one or two large, comfy beds plus soft pillows and quilts, and has air-conditioning in summer and heating in winter. Outside each is a wooden platform with seats, perfect for late-night stargazing.
Before setting out on an excursion driven in golf-cart-style carts to the first DIY-experience location, in a large roundhouse made of dark-color netting set deep in the woods, the CMP Village facilities are introduced: your tents; a large roundhouse-style washroom/shower facility with washcloths, towels, and shower slippers supplied, which is open and staffed 24H; beside it, a kiosk selling beverages, snacks, and Miaoli specialty products; a recreation area for youngsters; and beside it a coffee/tea counter.
Both the Day 1 and Day 2 DIY experiences are changed seasonally, as is the Day 1 gourmet dinner. This reflects the changes in Miaoli produce availability, as well as the resulting changes to the daily lives of Miaoli’s Hakka folk. On our most recent visit, the Day 1 activity involved baked sweet potatoes, warmed orange juice given very different flavor personalities through the addition of dried roselle, ginger, or orange peels, and the making of old-time-style fragrance sachets containing mint, cinnamon, and other aromatic ingredients. The Day 2 activity, held on a slope-side wooden-platform area overlooking the basin, was centered on the making of suancai, made with leaf mustard. Campers also feasted on DIY guabao, a Taiwanese snack treat made with soy-stewed pork belly, suancai, peanut powder, and coriander in a steamed bun.
The communal gourmet dinner, featuring mood lighting provided by table lamps, overhead lines of hanging lightbulbs, and a roaring campfire, is usually taken under the stars in front of the tents (and the bamboo-woven dome introduced below). On this night it was raining lightly, however, so the repast was taken in a performance roundhouse outside the basin. The many-course feast is a hearty medley of dishes prepared with regional produce highlighted, the cooks performing true magic using nothing more than simple gas stoves and grills.
The Day 1 night ends with a night tour up through the tree area and back down into the basin. In days past, the basin was filled with the theme park’s European garden attractions. Today’s spacious shower facility is in what was formerly a beverage bar. The night tour ends with a walk through the visually monumental artwork at the basin center before the tents, a bamboo-woven dome reached through long bamboo-woven walkway tunnels that has large roof holes for stargazing. The artwork is beautifully lit up at night, lending an ethereal glow to the placid setting.
Discovering Shangri-La: encounter the hidden gems of Niding Village and an ancient lamasery
Join Tianran He on his maiden voyage with Travelogue as he travels 3000km across southwest China in search of Shangri-La. In this segment, Tianran discovers the hidden gems of Niding Village and the Lamasery of a Hundred Oms on his way to Yunnan Province.
Travelogue is the premier English-speaking travel show of China Central Television (CCTV). It broadcasts on CCTV NEWS every Mon-Wed at 05:30, 11:30, 17:30 and 00:30 (Beijing Time).
For more travel information and shows, please follow @CCTVtravelogue on Facebook, Twitter, Weibo and Podcast or visit our website.
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When The Unreasonable meets Shangri-La
Is brewing at 3300 meters unreasonable? Sometimes it takes lots of courage to try something no one had done before. That's why usually we say: that'd be unreasonable. And that's why theunreasonable.com decided to tell the story of Shangrila Beer. A brand that stands out the crowd because of the people that made it possible and the very special place where it's based. Shangrila Beer is unique and deserves the attention of those who love challenges, work with passion and aim for the sky.
The Unreasonable is an ongoing content series about those who are creating progress showcasing the entrepreneurs, the mavericks, those who choose not to follow the beaten path and create value in their own unique way, from a spectrum of different industries and cities across the world.
for more information please visit:
Fantastic Culture in Shangri-la-Adventure on the Tea and Horse Trail I
In this episode Marc begins his journey in idyllic Lijiang, set against the snow-capped mountains of Yunnan Province. He then winds his way through perilous mountain roads to reach Shangri-la, before arriving at the foot of the majestic Meili Mountain range.
Travelogue is the premier English-speaking travel show of China Central Television (CCTV). It broadcasts on CCTV NEWS every Mon-Wed at 05:30，11:30, 17:30 and 00:30 (Beijing Time).
For more travel information and shows, please follow @CCTVtravelogue on facebook, twitter, weibo and podcast or visit our website.
Facebook: facebook.com/cctvtravelogue
Twitter: twitter.com/CCTV_Travelogue
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China Yunnan Aerial View / Beautiful Colorful Yunnan Travel Video
This itinerary describes a popular route to some of the major tourist attractions of Yunnan. Of course, it leaves various other popular places uncovered, notably the tropical paradise Xishuangbanna and the trip west toward Ruili at the border with Myanmar.
The big attractions of this route are as follows:
The lovely old cities of Dali and Lijiang, both former capitals of small kingdoms and both major tourist towns today
Sensational trekking areas, notably Tiger Leaping Gorge near Lijiang or, going further afield, Three Parallel Rivers National Park
Mountainous areas and Tibetan peoples in Northern Yunnan, around Zhongdian and Deqin
The various places on the route feel quite different to the traveler:
Dali feels like a backpacker hangout, similar to Yangshuo; there are Western restaurants and tourists everywhere.
Lijiang is among the most beautiful cities in China and the Chinese have certainly noticed; there are tour groups everywhere.
Zhongdian (now Shangrila) feels more like a Tibetan town than a city in central China.
What they all have in common are mountainous scenery, interesting architecture, ethnic minorities and lovely handicrafts — wood, silver and especially fabric items.
Songzanlin Monastery
Songzanlin is the largest Tibetan Buddhism monastery in Yunnan Province. Covering an area of 30 hectares, it looks like a mini Kumbum (Ta Er) Monastery. It is located on a mountain slope 5km from the county town of Shangri-La.
Since the 5th Dalai Lama chose the site through divination in 1679, the monastery has grown into the most important community of its kind in Yunnan. Naturally, throughout its history spanning 325 years there have been ups and downs -- the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), for instance, saw the lamasery almost completely destroyed - but the strong faith of the people in Shangri-La has always prevailed, and today Songzanlin once again houses more than 700 monks and lamas.
Built in the style of Potala Palace in Lhasa, the magnificent monastery complex resides on top of a hill and consists of the two Zhacang and Jikang lamaseries - which take on the form of five-story Tibetan watchtowers - five gates, numerous sub-lamaseries and hundreds of rooms for the monks. Walking up the 146 steps that lead to the main prayer hall is a tiring exercise at 3,300m above sea level, but it allows you to trace mentally the pilgrimage route that generations of devout Buddhists living on the plateau take on their knees and foreheads every year.
On the way, you will come across study rooms where young monks who typically enter the monk hood at the age of 5 are trained in the scriptures and foundations of monastic life. Time will be spent on the Buddhist canons, yet crafts, astrology and medicine are also on the curriculum. In addition, the boys retreat for hours each day to reflect and meditate on the meaning and implications of Buddhist philosophy.
The main scripture hall in the center of the compound is the highlight of the visit, especially during prayer time in the morning or during auspicious festivals when devotees come to take part in the festivities. The hall itself can accommodate some 1,600 lamas sitting in meditation or chanting Buddhist scriptures and features 108 imposing pillars. As Sonzanlin is affiliated with the Gelugpa or Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism, which is the order of both the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, references to the sect's history and philosophy are found throughout the lamasery.
Amongst the monastery many treasures are rare Buddhist scriptures written on palm leaves, which have been used by previous Dalai and Panchen Lamas, as well as the eight famous gold-covered sculptures of Sakyamuni, the Indian prince who in the 5th century BC founded Buddhism and is popularly known as the 'Sage of the Shakya Clan'. Colorful murals painted by renowned lamas show guardian deities, scenes from the Lord Buddha's life and the 'wheel of life' that (held by the demon of impermanence) depicts the six realms of existence: heaven, demigods, humankind, hell, hungry ghosts and animals. The hub in the wheel's center symbolizes ignorance, hatred and greed, the three poisons of life.
Shangri-La
Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, and particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia — a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. The word also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient. In the ancient Tibetan scriptures, existence of seven such places is mentioned as Nghe-Beyul Khembalung. Khembalung is one of several beyuls (hidden lands similar to Shangri-La) believed to have been created by Padmasambhava in the 8th century as idyllic, sacred places of refuge for Buddhists during times of strife (Reinhard 1978).
Some scholars believe that the Shangri-La story owes a literary debt to Shambhala, a mythical kingdom in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which was sought by Eastern and Western explorers.
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