Breakfast at hotel.

Today, overland drive of around 200 kilometers, or 4 hours, along the Yunnan-Tibet road to Zhongdian.

En route, we will take stops to visit the First Bend of the Yangzi River and the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The village of Stone Drum stands at the First Bend of the Yangzi River, some 70 kilometers west of Lijiang. Approaching to Stone Drum offers a dramatic view of the Yangzi's near-180-degree turn, where the wide, swift waters perform a miraculous about-face. For nearly 20 kilometers the river, first flowing south, then north, runs parallel to itself. Locals say if it were not for their village standing guard at the bend, China would lose the water of the Yangzi to Southeast Asia, like that of the adjacent Mekong and Salween Rivers.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge, or Hutiaoxia in Chinese, is the Yangzi's best-known gorge after the Three Gorges in Sichuan and Hubei. Wedged tightly between titanic cliffs, the river is so narrow here, as legend tells us, that a hunted tiger made his escape to the other side in a single bound. Here, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountains and the Haba Snow Mountains lean close to each other and a large volume of torrent moving between them cutting deeper and deeper into the bottom of the gorge. In some places there is a drop of 3,000 meters to the water.

At 3,160 meters above sea level, Shangri-La (or Gyalthang in Tibetan, also known as Zhongdian, was approved by State Council to be renamed Shangri-La County as of late December 2001) lies in a landscape of rolling hills, snow-capped peaks, virgin forests of spruce, pine and meadow dotted with wild flowers and tranquil lakes. The old town, still entirely in local Tibetan style, is to the south of Zhongdian.

Lunch en route at local Chinese restaurant. Dinner at leisure – on your own account

Overnight in Zhongdian, 03 nights