Since the beginning of Gyalthang’s love affair with tourism in the early 1990’s, Khampa Caravan’s Dakpa Kelden, Lobsang Tenzin and Yeshi Gyetsa have been a unified and powerful voice in promoting a more sustainable if not a contrarian view on tourism in their hometown.

Since the early times of logging, through the boom years of the mushroom business and then the eventual renaming of Gyalthang to “Shangri-la,” Khampa Caravan’s threesome have lobbied long and hard for a more cautious approach to tourism that emphasizes quality over quantity, small over big and long over short. They maintained stringently that Gyalthang’s tourism must be based on preserving and working with its natural assets and the integrity of its highland Tibetan culture and environment, rather than going on a more aggressive path to “develop” and “process” sites for visitors. 

Now after almost 15 years of tourism, Gyalthang or Shangri-la is unrecognizable. It has grown into a small metropolis almost, with an airport servicing several major cities around , roads in the center of town with 26-seater tourist coaches ploughing along between the Old Town and the Sumtsenling monastery. At Napha lake, a wetland and wintering ground of the sacred and endangered Black-neck crane, villagers line up and wait at Yira Grasslands with their horses and cuddly lambs (who have been shampooed and conditioned) for photo opportunities or a rider from the bus loads of domestic visitors who unload. The urban center of Gyalthang has become a huge development zone with at least one 5-star hotel springing up every other year.

It is against this backdrop that Dakpa Kelden chose to act - action speaks louder than words. With several friends, he came out swinging and founded a cultural center smack in the heart of the Old Town to remind everyone, especially the community, government, and visitors, (and of course his numerous bartending neighbors) the importance of preserving local arts, local culture and local heritage in a fast-changing environment. Himself a former monk-turned-modern-entrepreneur, Kalden is particularly drawn towards preserving religious art and education. 

Housed in a beautiful Tibetan building in the Old Town , the Shangri-La Association of Cultural Preservation presently boards a Thangka master and six Tibetan unemployed but talented youths who are busy learning the basics of Thangka painting. As they stroke the canvas under the gaze of the ever watchful eyes of their teacher, one cannot but be reminded of the fragile cultural landscape we live in Shangri-la but also what it takes to make a real difference.

It is only with brave and individual efforts like this that we are reminded of the risk of loosing our local identity and the challenge of preserving our roots and culture as a community. The high way to development is fast and straight – what we need are individuals like Dakpa, who are willing to take the nearest exits into smaller and more community-friendly roads to development.

Besides striving to pass on the art of Thangka painting to the new generation, Shangri-la Association (www.shangrilaassociation.org)  will also be expanding its focus to include training in wooden and textile crafts such as wool, which are also under threat and quickly disappearing.