We billeted our Jan ’10 tour members at the Banyon Tree Lijiang, plus Zhongdian (Shangri-La), and quite frankly, these properties deserve their status as one of China’s 10 best hotels. No small accolade in a country with infinite competition. Our hotel room view at the Lijiang property of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain was so spectacular, it’s now the screen saver on our iPhone.
Executive Chef Alan Yong wooed our group with a gala dinner sans pareil, highlighting the province’s rich wild mushroom culture: stewed boletus with yak and garlic served on a hot brick; char-fried morels stuffed with scallop; deep fried black bean cake with wild-foraged mushrooms; steamed yellow fungus with Yunnan saffron served in nashi, and more…

Equally impressive are the restored ancient Tibetan farmhouses moved to Banyon Tree’s Shangri-La property, high on the Tibetan plateau. Here, the all-suite rooms are truly mammoth – two floors for each, with a downstairs dressing room the size of standard quarters. We didn’t want to leave premises – which is not surprising, as the high altitude saps energy. Complaints abound about the bathroom toilet location downstairs – leading to precarious mid-night descents – but we’re more concerned about the ill-fitting aluminum sliding toilet and shower doors.

The Zhongdian chef wowed our tour group with a Tibetan Barbecue cooking class, ranging from grilled yak meat to gargantuan Shangri-La trout, and steamed Tibetan ham with goat cheese. Disappointing was the tsampa toasted Tibetan barley meal that tastes like a mouthful of browned flour, and equally as palatable. Guess it’s an acquired taste, along with rancid yak butter tea. 4 ½ mangosteen

We’re so enamored by both properties, we’ver reserved again for early March ’11. Details to come, but plan your travel calendar now, and be sure to join us in China’s most beautiful province. We’ll begin late February, traveling first from Kunming to the province’s Southeast, and famed terraced rice fields. Then we’ll fly to Unesco-heritage listed Lijiang, and Zhongdian on the Tibetan Plateau, for the second half of the tour, staying in unbridled luxury, pampered with the best tastes.