Lower Kachura Lake ( ur, زیریں کچورا جھیل), also known as Shangrila Lake ( ur, شنگریلا جھیل, label=none), is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

located near the city of

Skardu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan , pushpin_label_position ...

in Gilgit−Baltistan,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Situated at a height of , it has had an operational resort on its bank since 1983. Shangrilla Resorts- Skardu

Shangrila Resort

Shangrila was established in 1983 with the opening of the first resort hotel in

Skardu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan , pushpin_label_position ...

. The Shangrila Resort Hotel was founded by Muhammad Aslam Khan Afridi, a Pakistani military officer who served as the first commander of the Northern Scouts of the Pakistan Army. The resort is known for its restaurant that is built on the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

of a nearby crashed aircraft. Shangrila was named after ''

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ...

'', an idyllic Himalayan paradise described in the 1933 novel ''

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called '' Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamas ...

'' by British writer James Hilton. In the novel, Hilton narrates a tale in which the surviving passengers of an early-1920s airplane crash encounter a group of

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monks from a nearby

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

, who answer the passengers' call for help and take them to a lamasery filled with a variety of fruits and flowers; the monks claim to be hundreds of years old, but appear youthful in their appearance. The seemingly earthly

paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...

is referred to as ''Shangri-La'', a Tibetan-language word meaning "''heaven on Earth''".

References

External links

Lakes of Gilgit-Baltistan Resorts in Pakistan {{Gilgit-Baltistan Lake Stub