Travel Notes | Let’s spend the winter in the tropical town of Xishuangbanna

Although 2020 is so "bad" for you, you still don't want to say goodbye in such a chaotic way.

Because there is no reset button on the calendar

Even though the epidemic has trapped many things

And we are still sailing

We know that nothing in life is certain

And those things that haven’t changed this year may be the meaning we are looking for.

For example, a heart that always wants to be on the road

So we had this trip to a warm tropical town - Xishuangbanna

This is my second time coming to Yunnan

But I believe that no matter if I come here ten or twenty times, it can still bring me many unknown surprises.

In Yunnan, climbing over a mountain is another world, with different customs, food, clothing, and beliefs.

Just like the road under your feet, it will never be finished.

Xishuangbanna is located at the southernmost tip of Yunnan Province, bordering Laos and Myanmar. Although it is a small border town, it is home to 13 ethnic minorities. Located on the northern edge of the tropics, here is China's only tropical rainforest nature reserve.

Flying from the cold and dry north, my first feeling is: I like the climate here too!

If you hate winter and are afraid of the cold like me, then you must come to Xishuangbanna. Because there is no difference between winter and summer here, only dry season and rainy season. Winter happens to be the dry season in Banna, and the temperature is just like spring in the north. My wife is perfect for people like me who are afraid of the cold! !

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live

The urban area of ​​Jinghong is not big, so it is recommended to live near Gaozhuang, so that you can go to the Starlight Night Market for a stroll in the evening (it is said to be the largest night market in Southeast Asia)

But in fact, the things sold in the night market are all the same. On the first day we went there, we were relatively unfamiliar. We wanted to eat and buy everything. But after a few days, we felt it was boring...

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Manting Park

Manting Park was the royal garden of the Dai king in the past. It has a lot of tropical vegetation. The whole park is full of the flavor of the tropical rain forest. There are also many pagodas and temples of different shapes

In the evening, there will also be a bonfire party and water lantern show.

Personally, I think it is the most beautiful and fun attraction

There are many people taking 199 Dai photos at the Starlight Night Market, but I feel like everyone is taking the same photos. It’s better to buy a set of Dai costumes and come to Manting Park to take photos, which feels more meaningful~

(Because a sister who was traveling with me went to film, it’s really hard to describe the film. You can refer to the reviews in a certain red book)

(PS: This skirt is really a kind of torture for people who love sports!! My mother’s original words were “You look like a Mongolian man”, and she didn’t mean to say anything bad about the Mongolian man…)

Chinese Academy of Sciences Botanical Garden

This attraction is also highly recommended! !

Because my mother likes flowers, she decided to come here to spend a day before leaving

The Botanical Garden is in Mengla County, which is relatively far from Jinghong City, and the scenic area is really, really big (you must buy a battery ticket, otherwise you will break your legs!)

To sum up, it is recommended to book a local one-day tour on Fliggy or Ctrip. Round trip + ticket + battery car + explanation all-inclusive, very convenient

There are all kinds of tropical plants and exotic flowers in the park. It is really like a natural oxygen bar, and the air smells sweet.

If you are lucky, you can even meet a peacock walking~ (Yes, I am the lucky goose =v=)

I personally like the Palm Garden and Fujimoto Garden the most~

Wild Elephant Valley

There are indeed many elephants in the Wild Elephant Valley, and some of them are injured elephants rescued from hunters. After they recover, they will be returned to nature.

However, the chance of seeing elephants in winter is very small. If you come in March and April, you can see groups of elephants. Wild Elephant Valley has a [Rainforest Elephant Herding] project, which requires a reservation one day in advance. Different from traditional elephant riding and watching elephant performances (no animal performances!), you can have close contact with the elephant, walk with it in the tropical rain forest, feed it, and there will be staff nearby to explain to you about the elephant. s story.

Elephants are really spiritual and docile animals ~

Primitive Forest Park

My biggest feeling when coming to Banna is that there are so many plants here, and I listened to many explanations, but I still can’t even name a plant QAQ

The Primitive Forest Park and Wild Elephant Valley are relatively close to each other and can be visited in one day

There will also be a performance of peacocks flying in the primeval forest park. To be honest, I have never seen so many peacocks in my whole life! So delicious!

It’s still a day to breathe fresh air

Dai Garden

A place where locals + commercialization merge. Although it is not the Water Splashing Festival, in order to satisfy the curiosity of tourists, there are still water splashing activities every afternoon. The Dai people regard "water" as an auspicious and holy product. When splashing water, they will shout "Water! Water! Water!" (but the pronunciation of "water" in Dai language is different from that in Chinese). When the water splashes, the scene is still spectacular. of ~

Eat

When I came to Xishuangbanna, I finally understood why Dai people are so thin on average.

Throw away the idea that a person can be nourished by the soil and water, because their food is really light! !

Yep...eat every meal like a diet meal

Even the fruits are mini versions

My favorite is Laos iced coffee, served in a plastic bag! The taste is superb!

I drink it basically every day!

There is also Thai sticky milk, which tastes like smoothie and is sticky.

Crushing chicken feet is a local specialty, and everything can be pounded~

Just put the ingredients together, mash it, and pour the soup on it. The taste is sour and spicy

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When I was typing up this travelogue, I couldn’t write anymore because there really wasn’t anything worth recommending about the scenic spots on this trip, but I was very happy during those few days in Banna.

I just happened to watch a video posted by Zhuzi today. She said: We may have long been accustomed to a setting. We learn to swim in the swimming pool, learn to ski at the artificial ski resort, learn to run long distances on the school playground, and there are steps when climbing mountains. Even if we think at the moment I came to nature by myself, but I still had to pay the national park ticket to enter. So when climbing a mountain without steps, it is very difficult. This kind of hardship made me understand that as an urbanite, I may not be qualified to yearn for nature at all. With my current survival ability, I might die on the first day I am thrown into nature.

Indeed, looking back on this trip, I just wanted to escape the hustle and bustle, find a pristine place to release myself, and breathe the fresh air of nature in the artificially fenced so-called primeval forest. Things that seemed contrary to the norm, but felt natural. , this is probably the contradiction that belongs to "city people", because I also accept this setting.

"What is nature?"

“Nature is everything around us outside of humans, outside of ourselves and other things we create”

And we are so pitifully ignorant about things outside of human beings