Northwestern Yunnan became an experience morphing into a personal road to Shangri-La, an inspiration gained from reading James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon. Desire can develop within one's heart to return to somewhere special, to go back to a place or region that evoked a personal passion. I found this as I traveled through Yunnan while again as a geographer I was more and more taken with its sheer beauty. Such was my passion for the area that I delivered several public lectures, talked on radio travel programs, and held exhibitions of photographs and artifacts. I was leading study tours from the UK into this stunning locale, with members quickly appreciating how it could hold such a sway on travelers like myself. Of course it need not be only northwestern Yunnan that has a pull for I have often spoke of the personal satisfaction I can feel in cities such as Tianjin, one that has really caught my passion for creative photography.