Top of the world view

Smiling ethnic villagers in bright clothes add to the charms of the visit.

All Songtsam Lodge staff members are from local Tibetan villages.

They were always up for a chat in impressively good English or Chinese, considering most locals speak Tibetan as a first language. I had long conversations with the receptionist about the best iPhone apps, the best time to drink tea, and the best way to get into town.

When we tried to follow his advice by cycling into Shangri-La, the staff rushed out to get bikes for us - then admitted sorrowfully that only one was working. Ten minutes later, we saw a mechanic busily tweaking brakes and pumping tires for the next budding biker.

We headed north to Benzilan and then onto Meili. The road seemed to have been chomped up by a dragon. Songtsam Meili closes every winter when snow makes the road impassable, and our July trip was graced with floods, mudslides and a gun-toting police check.

One way to get through the hellish drive is to concentrate on the scenery - layers of cloud drifting across mountains, prayer flags strung impossibly across valleys, hilltop monasteries steaming with incense. The fields are thick with wildflowers - almost all species of rhododendron are indigenous to Yunnan.

Had we gone to Tacheng, we might have seen a rare Golden Monkey.

The Songtsam Lodges max out on it all. Songtsam Shangri-La is minutes away from the white-towered, copper-roofed Songzanlin Monastery, and rooms overlook Lhamu Yangtso Lake.

The valley behind Benzilan is a great place for a walk in the hot sun at the comparatively lower altitude of 1,900 meters, and to bump into villagers in magenta Tibetan headdresses. In Meili, we gawped at the Meili Snow Mountain through huge windows in the library as we sat in squashy armchairs, sipped coffee and munched homemade cake.

Staff came to meet us at the end of every bone-shaking drive with cups of fiery ginger tea. On our first night in Meili, we were treated to an impromptu Tibetan party. Everyone including the manager danced and shouted the Tibetan greeting: "Tashi Delek!"

The next morning, two staff members hiked with us into the mountains, bringing sandwiches and testing my KTV repertoire.

And then there was the food. In Benzilan, the vegetables came from the hotel garden or were bought locally. In Meili, the chef cooked up delicate tofu curries, lightly spiced parcels of papaya, apple and chicken and fresh mountain mushrooms. Breakfast was simple and tasty - fruit, cereal and Tibetan bread, yak butter and tsampa (Tibetan barley flour).

To be honest, northern Yunnan isn't Tibet. You arrange to visit a Tibetan family; there are countless monasteries; and you can expect very odd dreams as you get used to the lack of oxygen. Meili, in particular, is 3,600 meters high.

But Songzanlin Monastery is only the "Little Potala Palace" and, spectacular as the Meili Snow Mountain is, it isn't Qomolangma (known to Westerners as Mount Everest). Northern Yunnan is diet Tibet - especially if you stay in the Songtsam Lodges.

But, we needed some "R and R". For a break away from the tourists, I'd be glad to put on my Songtsam Lodge house shoes - I still have the free pair they give you - and feel I am coming home again.

Contact the writer at sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn.