Naada, Your Home in the Highland

LINDEN CENTRE · NAADA

Your Home in the Highland

Based on Culture Back to Nature

01 Napa Lake and the Yila Grassland

Shangri-La is the place where the sun shines bright, a special place on earth; there is the "Moonlight City" Dukezong, the "Little Potala Palace" Songzanlin Temple, and the "Tears of the Highland" Napa Lake. Napa Lake is known locally as the "lake by the forest."

"Buddha’s light shines on the high plateau.

 A few steps more is heaven."

Travel to Naada

As the seasons change, the water forms in winter to fill the Napa Lake, and in the summer, the lake recedes to become the Yila Grassland. The summer wildflowers of the Yila Grassland are in full bloom, cattle and sheep are flocked, and in the autumn and winter, the clear waters welcome migratory birds. We call this unique scenery "Sea in Winter and Plain in Summer." In Napa Lake, the "highland fairy" black-necked crane will fly from afar and roam in the warm lake for the winter.

All things coexist in the Yila Grassland

“Paradise on Earth," depicted in Lost Horizon, is a village deep in the plateaux, with grasslands surrounded by mountains, sacred and serene lakes, and simple and kind people. Raw beauty is also the case in Napa Village. Napa Village, a native Tibetan village on the shore of Napa Lake, has 49 households living in symbiosis with cattle, sheep, and birds, and the scenery changes throughout the four seasons.

"Unto the clouds, over the mountain, to the sea."

Between the mountains and the lake, the Napa villagers are rooted in the land. In September, villagers harvest barley and dry them on wooden stands, dig matsutake mushrooms, milk calves in the pasture, cook butter tea, and eat Tsampa. The beliefs of the people are rooted in their daily life. Villagers worship pure water to the Buddha, twist prayer beads, recite oral scriptures, and climb the mountain to burn pines and cypresses, praying for good luck. Cattle and sheep bells ring as they stroll through alpine meadows; wildflowers bloom around pastoral cottages. Summer pastures in the back hills of Napa Village are about to close, and villagers say the sheep and cows know instinctively that now is time to return to Napa Village. 

Barley on wooden stands at sunset

Calf in summer pastures

Cows and sheep are free as clouds

02 The Community and the People

We created a New Word, “Naada,” and "Naa" symbolizes the Napa Sea and the distant place, while "Da" is the Tibetan word for "home." We hope that “Naada” will be the home in Napa Lake for our friends—an abode in the highland where people can free themselves.

View of Napa Lake from the village

Naada and Napa Village

Naada reused the land of an abandoned primary school and the village activity center to make contemporary Tibetan-style guest rooms, a restaurant, and a new village activity center. The facilities are reminiscent of classic Tibetan architecture: solid foundations with three-dimensional windows and exquisite proportions. Stone and wood materials are locally sourced; heavy walls ensure the rooms are cool in summer and warm in winter. 

We use modern construction techniques to reinterpret the thick and trapezoidal Tibetan architecture while ensuring the building can coexist as part of the village. The buildings are designed with a local Tibetan-style pitched roof and many small windows, continuing the traditional rough stone, shingle, and wood materials combined with a modern steel-concrete structure. We want to honor the original design and feeling of a village Tibetan home and integrate seamlessly into the surrounding environment. Introducing new structural systems and modern decorative styles is suitable for the traveler who would like to experience the tradition and charm of a Tibetan home. The villagers say that your house (our hotel) is the same as ours. As it should be, we, too, are now a part of Napa Village.

Our Interpretation of Tibetan Architecture

Naada has enriched Napa Village with more public and community connections. "Dolma" (girls) are reading a book at the villagers’ activity center; "Tashi" (guys) are playing basketball at the basketball court; a grandmother is dressed in Tibetan style with a floral hat and blue dress. She and her grandson are waving and smiling at us.

"Dolma" under the Wooden stand

Wangbu, a primary school student, took us over the mountains to explore hiking trails; we coincidentally met Uncle Dawa, who baked sweet barley cakes for us. Auntie Yangchu gave us a bottle of fresh milk.

Milk Pomace On a firepit

In Naada, Zhunji taught us the secret of making butter tea, and Zhuma learned to say "We hope you enjoy your stay" in English, and we learned to write in Tibetan "བཀྲ་ཤིས་བད་ལེགས་ (sending auspicious wishes)" together.

03  Delicious Tibetan Dishes

Naada Restaurant fuses Tibetan ingredients with world cooking to find interesting dishes. How do we make the unique flavor of the plateau become the best taste? The key words are: fresh and handmade!

"Painting Window" of Naada Restaurant

We carefully select fresh local delicacies – yak beef, barley, millet, milk pomace... then spend a lot of time on handmade ingredients – slow-fermented bread, sauces, ready-to-eat pickles... the result is mouthwatering fresh cuisine. 

We’re making salads, tacos, pasta, and other dishes mixing rich flavors and textures with Tibetan ingredients, creating "highland home cooking" that is especially suitable for our "Chinese stomach."

Tibetan ingredients and world cooking

Three meals in four seasons, 

delicious food with beautiful scenery

Welcome to Naada, and enjoy interesting and delicious Tibetan fusion dishes. Three meals in a day, four seasons in a year, beautiful scenery and food every day! 

Afternoon Tea on the Naada Terrace

04  Living in Paintings and Poems

Naada has a total of 43 windows; every one of the eight rooms is a "room with a view," and each window is its own living painting and poem.

Gaze at the blue lake under an azure sky as verdant mountain peaks touch the sky, forests, and meadows whisper gently, the flowers and shrubs are rooted in stone, the white pagoda shrouded in colorful prayer flags, the wooden shelves burst with golden barley... the ever-changing clouds billow across the sky, we never tire of such scenery.

Read Poetry Between Heaven and Earth

Let’s have a drink together 

There is a garden in the middle of  Naada, planted with alpine plants. Let’s look forward to the flowers blooming in the spring and summertime.

Naada in the Garden

Surrounded by the garden, the eight rooms feature natural textured interiors and skin-soft bedding, making you feel like you are sleeping in a breezy forest. Looking at such a landscape, which poem will come to your mind? Maybe don't think about anything; enjoy the wilderness and slowly fall asleep.

<< Swipe to view the rooms of Naada >>

05 Finding a New Shangri-La

Naada can help you rediscover Shangri-La with a private experience, and we find that the most beautiful scenery in Shangri-La is the people.

Let’s go cycling in Napa Lake in the wind and sunshine, ride horses to wander in the Yila Grassland, hike in the alpine pastures and bake barley cakes when encountering herders, collect mushrooms and wild fruits,  feel free and have fun.

Cycling around Napa Lake

Ride horses in Yila Grassland

Hike in the alpine pastures

Having a picnic in the Nature

Overlooking Napa Lake

We want to explore the present Shangri-La - people's production and life - with you. Visit our partners Shangri-La Beer and TAHDA to learn from brewers how highland barley comes to be beer and try twisting and weaving with Tibetan weavers. Visit Napa Village and talk to our Tibetan neighbors about the changes in the village while making butter tea.

<< Swipe to view the Shangri-La Beer >>

Click to know more about the Shangri-La Beer 

<< Swipe to view the Tibetan hand-woven >>

Click to know more about the Tahda

Whether exploring the wonders of the mountains in the highlands, listening to the echoes of culture in the villages, or searching for the production and creation of the local people, it is all fascinating. Welcome to Naada to experience the new Shangri-La.

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Text | Jing, Jeanee

Edit | Jing, Shirley

  Photography | 梁小龙, Jing