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Posted On Thursday, December 6, 2012 at
at
1:40 AM
by Alvin
Posted On Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at
at
6:59 PM
by Alvin
Just when we thought nothing would top the Yuan Yang Rice Terraces on this trip, Xi Shuang Ban Na (西雙版納) changed all that. Located in the most southern parts of Yunnan bordering Myanmar and Laos, Xi Shuang Ban Na offered such an unique atmosphere with sub-tropical flora and fauna, exotic Buddhist temples, the meeting grounds of numerous minority races of (傣、哈尼、布朗、基诺、拉祜、佤、瑶族) and the capital city Jing Hong (景洪) had that laid-back, relaxing feel that one could hardly find in China. We arrived in XSBN via the famous "tea town" of Pu' Er (普洱) boasting arguably China's most famous tea - we visited the little town's many city parks (洗馬河公園 and 梅子湖公園) before taking the three hours' bus to XSBN.
On stepping down the bus, we felt that we had been transported to somewhere tropical outside China except everything was still in Chinese and everyone still spoke Putonghua. The streets were lined with swaying palm trees, the temperature was a whopping 29C and the buildings and architecture had strong Laos and Myanmar influences. We spent time visiting the famed tropical gardens (熱帶花卉園 and 民族風情園 ), strolled along the pleasant Lancang River (瀾滄江- 湄公河) which originated in Qinghai Province and which was to become known as the mighty Mekong River lower down stream in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia territories. The temples at Manting Garden (曼聽公園曼飛龍白筍塔, 總佛寺) were outstanding and we spent an hour just wandering around the enormous grounds. Worth a special mention were the hundreds of peacocks we saw in the garden as XSBN had long been known as the home of the golden peacock (金孔雀的故鄉).
Just when we thought nothing would top the Yuan Yang Rice Terraces on this trip, Xi Shuang Ban Na (西雙版納) changed all that. Located in the most southern parts of Yunnan bordering Myanmar and Laos, Xi Shuang Ban Na offered such an unique atmosphere with sub-tropical flora and fauna, exotic Buddhist temples, the meeting grounds of numerous minority races of (傣、哈尼、布朗、基诺、拉祜、佤、瑶族) and the capital city Jing Hong (景洪) had that laid-back, relaxing feel that one could hardly find in China. We arrived in XSBN via the famous "tea town" of Pu' Er (普洱) boasting arguably China's most famous tea - we visited the little town's many city parks (洗馬河公園 and 梅子湖公園) before taking the three hours' bus to XSBN.
On stepping down the bus, we felt that we had been transported to somewhere tropical outside China except everything was still in Chinese and everyone still spoke Putonghua. The streets were lined with swaying palm trees, the temperature was a whopping 29C and the buildings and architecture had strong Laos and Myanmar influences. We spent time visiting the famed tropical gardens (熱帶花卉園 and 民族風情園 ), strolled along the pleasant Lancang River (瀾滄江- 湄公河) which originated in Qinghai Province and which was to become known as the mighty Mekong River lower down stream in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia territories. The temples at Manting Garden (曼聽公園曼飛龍白筍塔, 總佛寺) were outstanding and we spent an hour just wandering around the enormous grounds. Worth a special mention were the hundreds of peacocks we saw in the garden as XSBN had long been known as the home of the golden peacock (金孔雀的故鄉). 
