Entrance Gate of the Songzanlin Temple 松赞林寺 in Shangrila 香格里拉
I was standing outside the gates of the Songzanlin Temple or Ganden Sumtseling Monastery in Shangrila. The place is like a smaller version of the Potala Palace in Tibet, which happens to be one of my dream destinations, maybe someday I would be able to visit that place. Anyway, I would have to make do with this one. The Songzanlin Temple is the most important monastery in southwest China and it is the largest in Yunnan province. Indeed the nickname little Potala Palace suits it well. It has a gate outside with large Chinese banners reminding you who is in charge here.
Painting on the Walls of the Songzanlin Temple 松赞林寺
You submit the ticket for inspection here and I was wondering that it should have been possible to just walk to the temple from town. I think the Caucasians rode their bikes on their way here, I don’t know where they left them though. At this point there was a small crowd of people gathering at the gate, apparently they were a tour group. Since I wasn’t part of a tour group, I went on right ahead.
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