It’s a bad sign when the highlight of your day is not falling down during a very muddy hike (note to self: buy hiking boots).
Thankfully, for me, there were many other (cleaner) highlights during my trek through parts of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan province. Located in the far south of the province, near China’s border with Myanmar and Laos, Xishuangbanna is an autonomous prefecture known for its tropical weather, rain forests and ethnic minorities. It’s a lush area that closely resembles southeast Asia in climate and culture.
The day after landing in Jinghong, Xishuangbanna’s small capital city (small = only one baggage belt at the airport), I embarked on an eventful day-and-a-half trip with WildChina’s local partner, Michael/Oliver (one English name wasn’t enough!) and two of his younger staff members, Ian and Vincent.
We started with a visit to a local market in Menghai county, which offered some interesting people-watching, particularly of ethnic Dai women wearing traditional sarongs, jackets and head scarves. The Dai, the largest minority group in Xishuangbanna, speak their own language with its own script, and their people are found throughout southeast Asia. They follow Theravada Buddhism, rather than Mahayana, the school of Buddhism practiced in much of the rest of China—which explains why their temples and pagodas remind me so much of Thailand.
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