He spoke a kind of Chinese that I don't understand very well, but I think he said something about a lamasery near here, along the valley, I gathered, where we could get food and shelter. Shangri-La, he called it.
a distant, beautiful, imaginary place where everyone is happy. The name comes from the book Lost Horizon by James Hilton, about an imaginary valley in Tibet
{i} imaginary paradise, utopia on Earth, idyllic place; remote peaceful and pastoral hideaway