The View From Above: Is this the Actual Gateway to Shangrila?

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Is this the Actual Gateway to Shangrila?

(Click photo to enlarge)

27°51'29.81"N 99°43'13.82"E

Is it the "real" Shangrila? Well, yes and no. The original Shangrila was a fictional place in the novel "Lost Horizon", by James Hilton. In 2001, Zhongdian County, China, renamed itself Shangrila County in order to promote tourism. Many travelers use the county as a gateway to Tibet. However, the town of Zhongdian itself is a tourist destination, primarily due to the nearby Gandan Sumtseling Monastery.

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Why "View From Above"

I have an unquenchable thirst for exploration and mysteries. But that isn't the only reason for "View From Above." This blog exists primarily thanks to the despicable ignorance and laziness of the many, many people who will post a picture of some anomaly and simply make guesses about it, rather than do five minutes worth of research. I can't count the many times I've seen aerial pictures of "UFOs parked in a row on the beach" (They're beach umbrellas, you dork!) or questions like, "What's this aircraft doing sitting in the middle of the desert?" (It's a military firing range. They use junk aircraft as targets. Duh!) The unwillingness on the part of most people to do even a minimal amount of research just boggles the mind.

Another pet peeve of mine is the practice of posting an interesting site without a precise location. I don't know if it's laziness, oversight, or a desire to hoard information, but it's irritating as hell to me. That's why mosts of my posts will always include coordinates to the site.

I hope you'll enjoy perusing the sites I've listed. I can't take credit for being the first to "find" most of them, but I will do my best to let you know what I find out about them!

Michael Makai