Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific B777-300ER Business Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
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Asian Adventure: Cathay Dragon A330-300 Business Class Hong Kong to Beijing
Asian Adventure: Regent Beijing Hotel
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Dongcheng District
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Great Wall
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Run-ze Jade Garden
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Legend of Kung Fu
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Tiananmen Square
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Forbidden City
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Hutong Tour via Rickshaw, Tea Tasting, Flying to Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Hotel Shangri-La Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Qing Dynasty Terra Cotta Warriors
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show
Asian Adventure: Xi’an Wrap-Up, Flying to Lhasa, Lhasa Home Visit
Asian Adventure: Shangri-La Hotel Lhasa
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Market
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Canggu Nunnery and Sera Monastery
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Potala Palace
Asian Adventure: Leaving Lhasa and Flying to Chongqing
Asian Adventure: Viking Emerald
Asian Adventure: Shibaozhai Temple
Asian Adventure: Cruising the Three Gorges
Asian Adventure: Three Gorges Dam
Asian Adventure: Jingzhou City Walls Tour
Asian Adventure: Wuhan - Hubei Bells Performance and Provincial Museum
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Shanghai Museum
Asian Adventure: Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai
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Asian Adventure: The New Otani Tokyo Hotel
Asian Adventure: Tokyo - City Tour
Asian Adventure: Mt. Fuji and Hakone Tour Returning by Shinkansen
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Asian Adventure: All Nippon Airways B777-300ER First Class Tokyo Narita to Houston
It was late afternoon by the time we finished the home visit and we were all ready to get to our hotel for the next three nights, the Shangri-La Lhasa. Fortunately once you get into the city of Lhasa nothing is too far away. Its district is about half the size of Nashville (Davidson County) and the urban area is only about 30 square miles.
While the hotel is on a major street, the conference wing is situated near the road and the drive leading to the front door actually leads back to the middle of the building, which means that even if there were a lot of traffic, the noise shouldn't reach the guest rooms, which is a good design.
The lobby was quite spacious with lots of seating areas straight ahead upon entry. To the left was Altitude, the buffet restaurant where we had breakfast and a couple of dinners. Following the hallway jag a little to the left and you found yourself in the conference wing.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Lobby Decor |
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Lobby Seating |
To the right of the front door the lobby continued for a bit then the walkway turned left to the front desk and the concierge. Jack got our group checked in and we walked past the desk, turned right and boarded the elevators to our floors.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Front Desk |
The Tibetan touches in the decor throughout the hotel made it feel very different from the other hotels where we'd stayed so far. Of course this is all part of the Tibetan bid to regain their independence from China and keep their own traditions.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Main Floor Elevator Lobby |
Each of the floors had a seating area near the elevators. We were on the sixth (top) floor and could see the Potala Palace through the window though it's not visible in the photo below.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Guest Room Floor Elevator Lobby Seating |
I was a little surprised at how dark the hallways were. Paired with the dark wood it made them seem gloomy. The carpet was quite thick and even pulling our carry-ons required a little extra work. The guest room halls were in a bit of a square U-shape with the elevator being at the center of the base of the U. So to reach our room we turned left across the bottom of the U and then right up the hallway to our room. Some of our folks actually got suites which was very nice. The downside is that those rooms are at the very tip of the U which meant they had a very long walk to reach them. Normally that's not an issue but at this altitude, even walking at a normal pace could make you pant just a bit.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Guest Floor Hallway |
I really enjoyed the local decorations in this hotel. In some ways they reminded me of Native American decorations seen in the Western US. It was my favorite of the three we'd visited so far.
Guest Rooms
Since we didn't get a suite our room had a typical hotel room layout. Each bed had its own nightstand though only one outlet each. That's better than nothing but could be improved. The beds were comfy too.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Twin Room Beds |
I meant this to be a photo of the wall decorations but when I got home something else caught my eye. The bedside lamps were patterned after the prayer wheels we would see throughout our visit, which I thought was a cool idea. The white thing on the bedside table is a humidifier, something that came in quite handy.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Guest Room Decor |
This photo didn't come out very well (I should have closed the curtains) but in front of the window were two chaises with a table in between them. If we were going to spend a lot of time in the room this would have been a great place to relax.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Guest Room Chaise Longues |
Waiting for us on the table were two cannisters of oxygen. I don't recall ever seeing that anywhere before but then again I've never been anywhere this high! I've had altitude sickness on ski trips before but it was usually gone within 24 hours. But for the entirety of our visit to Lhasa my stomach felt fluttery. I never got sick to my stomach but I was never very hungry. I did try using the oxygen at one point but I couldn't tell that it made any difference. The hotel has a doctor on the premises and there are panic buttons both beside the bed and in the bathroom in case a guest has issues so they must have had enough experience with this to make it part of any hotel design.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Oxygen Canisters |
Our room didn't have a view of the Potala Palace but we did have a view of the mountains.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Guest Room View |
Across from the beds was the best storage we had at any hotel on this trip. A number of drawers and the chest at far left had a top that flipped up to allow storage there too. One of the drawers held coffee and tea supplies that could be used with the kettle seen at right.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Guest Room Storage |
The closet was nice and big with bathrobes and slippers for each of us. Notice the gas masks there in the bottom of the closet.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Guest Room Wardrobe |
This storage area was beside the closet door and the cloth panels were drawers.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa More Storage |
And the ornate metal panel folded down to reveal the safe. I just really liked the decor of this room.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Guest Room Safe |
Though there was only one sink in the bathroom, there was plenty of counter space on either side and even a little bit of storage underneath.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Bathroom Sink |
The toilet was behind a glass partition and across from the sink.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Toilet |
Upon entering the bathroom the shower was straight ahead behind its own door. I liked that the shower head could be height-adjusted as-needed.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Shower |
Across from the showerhead was this bench with this pot-thing on it. It had its own spigot and there was a drain within the pot along with a ladle. I am assuming this could be used to turn the shower into a sauna but never pursued trying to figure it out.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Shower Bench |
While the pre-packaged items like toothbrushes and toothpaste were the same as at the hotel in Xi'an, the shampoo, conditioner and bath gel were different.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Pre-Packaged Items |
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Toiletries |
Each room had an altitude sticker and that changed based on your floor. As we were on the sixth floor we were at 12,043 feet. No wonder I felt a little queasy!
Dining
The buffet restaurant, Altitude, really had a large selection of food - some recognizeable, some not so much. Some of our folks enjoyed trying the chicken feet and the lotus root. I figured yak would be too different from beef so I gave that a shot and it was pretty good. But with my stomach not 100% that was as exotic as I got.
We didn't get to sample the other restaurants but there were a couple more of them in the conference wing. Shambala, on the main level, is where to find Nepalese and Tibetan food. Downstairs is Shu Garden that serves classic Sichuan and hotpot meals along with Cantonese and Tibetan specialties. I thought these giant drums outside the Shu Garden were quite beautiful. Just lightly tapping on one with a single finger produced a deep rumbling sound.
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| Beautiful Decorative Drums outside the Shu Garden Restaurant |
Oxygen Lounge
This was another first for me. While the hotel theoretically charged for the oxygen bottles in the room (though I'm not aware that I was charged for mine), on the lower level was this room where extra oxygen had been pumped in.
Accessed via two sets of double doors, there were several small seating areas with comfortable chairs and recliners. It was a nice place to sit at the end of the day to help recharge your blood.
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| Seating area in the Oxygen Lounge |
Fitness Facilities
The hotel has a fairly extensive gym though since most of us were breathing heavily by the time we reached our rooms I don't think any of us could have done much in the way of working out. But amazingly one person was running on the treadmill! I wonder how long she'd been in town.
There was also a small pool with a dedicated lap lane.
Courtyard
The weather was just fantastic for our entire visit so we went out to visit the grounds a bit. This pagoda was set in the midst of a landscaped area.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Courtyard Pagoda |
Exploring further we climbed some stairs (slowly!) and found ourselves on a patio outside the hotel bar. There were a couple of different seating arrangements, some of which was covered.
Business Center
Well, it's among the smallest business centers I've ever seen but I guess these days most folks have their own computers and only use these if they need to print something.
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| Shangri-La Lhasa Business Center |
I was surprised to learn how cheap lodging is in Lhasa. Our basic rooms go for under $100 per night and you get quite a lot for your money. Though of course it's not exactly easy to get to Lhasa. First there's the Chinese visa ($200+) then there's the special permit for Tibet which must be obtained 45 days before your trip begins. One member of our small group carries a British passport and we learned that Viking is not allowed to sell this tour in the UK. It seems China is still upset with Great Britain for giving shelter to the Dalai Lama...who left in 1959. Fortunately purchasing the trip through a US company is permitted.
I don't imagine I'll ever go back to Tibet but I would be happy to stay here again if I do!
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