It would seem that winter in Eastern China trains your eyes not to expect many other colours beyond black, brown and grey. So arriving in the very south of Yunnan province was like having a grime filter lifted off my eyes. The trees, the flowers, the clouds, the sky, the clothes; all so colourful! Of course, the next thing to notice is that it’s January and you are almost sweating in a short sleeve shirt. Pure bliss.
The palm-lined streets have an unmistakably laidback feel to them, the Eastern smoke belching gridlock replaced by scooters, motorcycles and all sorts of people sitting around doing nothing much in particular. Vendors, often wearing pretty stunning minority costumes (and not of the ‘tourist park’ variety), hawk all sorts of exotic fruits and wares. The pace of life is slow; no one seems to be going anywhere particularly fast. Young boys stroll by wearing orange Buddhist monk robes, occasionally armed with firecrackers to throw at livestock. Wooden houses on stilts, the preferred Dai minority style, outnumber the white-tile blocks. It quickly becomes evident that one is on the very fringe of the Han Chinese world, where it quietly melts away into Southeast Asia.
In Jinghong, the main city of the Xishuangbanna region, China’s patented rampant re-development is nowhere to be found. No forty building complexes under construction, no superhighways cutting through the heart of the city. I came here last year and upon returning this time around, I was amazed to find that nothing had changed. Anyone living in China knows that in itself is a small miracle.
Jinghong is not much more than a big town, as it takes no more than twenty minutes or so by foot from the center before you are wandering through stunning rice paddies to nearby Dai villages. The people in these little hamlets often smile and say hi (and not in that annoying “Halllo!” way), and the little kids have a penchant for quietly following the foreigners, giggling the whole way. Whether it’s Dai culture, Buddhism or the weather, I don’t know, but people here seem to be genuinely happy and it adds to the vibrancy of the place. I got stared at less walking in the countryside here than I would on the streets of Hangzhou. Maybe the people here are just more used to ethnic diversity: the town and markets seem to be a mix of a multitude of different minority groups, customs and costumes.
Perhaps the highlight was the hike through fields and up a hill to catch a vista of the Mekong river near Ganlanba (of course, both my sister and I paid for it later on with a slight bout of heat exhaustion). Beautifully located villages were tucked into the lush foliage, although I did start worrying a bit when I saw government health posters about malaria plastered on some walls. But the scenery was worth it; sugar cane fields, mountains and picturesque villages all bathed in the waning afternoon light. Gorgeous.
In a way, Xishuangbanna is like a vacation from China, in China. The vibe there is just, well…completely different. The fact that the whole place is surrounded by mountains probably helps (although it won’t make your bus trips in or out of the region very pleasant!). This is the kind of place where you can forget that China has 1.3 billion people as you wander down dirt paths surrounded by palm trees, interrupted only by the occasional motorcycle or tractor. If you want to spend a few weeks doing nothing much other than relaxing, I can’t think of a better place to do it.
‘Funny China’ memories:
1) To get to Ganlanba from Jinghong, my sister, Justin (another teacher) and I took a mini-minivan for the 40 minute journey. Of course those 40 minutes consisted of wild turning around bends with nothing but a sheer drop into the Mekong river to greet any mistake. This was accompanied by ear-splitting Chinese pop music, which was blasted right into our ears as the speakers were crammed into the back with us. The driver loved it though, he sang along the whole way.
2) You know those machines you see all over amusement parks and arcades that let you control a claw to try and pick up a prize? Well I saw on the streets of Jinghong that was quite particular: the ‘prizes’ at the bottom were all packs of cigarettes. I swear, only in China.