Anyone been to Shangri La / Zhongdian lately? Any advice on cheap places to sleep outside the Burt Over District?

Check out Tao Bao Cheng on Bai Long Lu. There's usually a used bike dealer among the new bike dealers.

Re bus routes, you can buy little pamphlets with the bus routes at the north city bus terminus, bei shi qu ba shi zhan. You do have to be able to read Chinese. Vendors sell new editions ea. month.

Tan Hua Si is a public park as well as a temple, not far from Southwest Forestry University. It has an obvious pagoda, easily seen from a bus.

In the last few years, a new White Dragon Temple has been built along Long Quan Lou, the big highway going north to Hei Long Tan. Get off the bus at the Xia Mai Xi stop, look around for the sign pointing up the alley. On the mountain side of the road. I went to look at it when it was being built, and it was built with the traditional timber frame, not reinforced concrete, like many new "old" buildings.