This morning our office, along with most of the Old Town burnt down. Supposedly the fire began at 1:30am. Wasn't quite under control at 1pm this afternoon. Saw fire engines from Lijiang Yulong - guess we didn't have enough here. Might hold off on tourism up here till springtime atleast.
Wow! What a pity!
Crying shame.
not to sound like an insensitive a-hole, but disasters sure do make for great photo opportunities!
[in all seriousness, it's a tragedy and let's pray no one was hurt and that it gets rebuilt]
My God! This is horrifying! I've heard of this place ever since I came to Kunming and I've wanted to visit it. Now, it's gone??
I can only imagine how old it was and how much history there was in it. Can someone tell me exactly where this is?
I am heartbroken over this. We lived there for much of 2010 and were looking forward to a visit when we return to Yunnan this year. So many people we knew are without a home and/or business. I saw one pic that seemed to show the giant prayer wheel on fire. I had hoped that the fire hadn't climbed the hill to the temple.
Geogramatt
(203 posts) •
What terrible news. Amongst Yunnan's touristy old towns, I always thought Zhongdian's was one of the nicest. I've no doubt things will be rebuilt quickly and in earnest, but I worry what the construction will look like...probably a more sanitized, pastiche-laden version of its former self. On my first trip to Shangri-La in 2006 I stayed in a guesthouse which dated from the 1850s.
It will probably end up like Lijiang old town.
Yuantongsi
(717 posts) •
@tigertiger I also think thats how it will workout. I saw another Tibetan town in GanZi had also been burnt down in the last few days.
It was mentioned on the French news a few days ago, no pictures, no damage evaluation, no casualty report though. Anyone knows more?
I've been to the old town in March last year and it was beautiful, nothing at all like Lijiang (which I absolutely hated). It makes me extremely sad that this is all gone. This is also terrible for the people who live there...
