From Li Jiang we headed north again. Our intention was to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge.... but we followed the sign that sent us to Tiger Leaping Gorge Village (the village part was missing from the sign) and continued following the road until we reached a toll booth. We asked them where the gorge was and they said we missed it... it was 60 km back, but Shangri La was only 30 km ahead. Well, it was 3 pm. so we decided to go forward. Zhong Jian as the city used to be called, they changed the name to reflect the place described in the book to attract tourists, turned out to be really cool.
It is totally inaccessible in the winter as it is quite high like 13,500 ft, and the city is constructing all sorts of new buildings in the Tibetan style in keeping with the drive for tourism. We found this new building with a lovely open square. Since we had been in the car for a long time, we let the kids out to play. Marlo and Heidi chose to jump, and Teac and Zoe played in the blow-up play land in the background.
When they had had their fill, we drove to find the old city and a place to sleep.