Beyond Bounds Blog

I took a week-long trip to Yunnan, spending 5 days in Xishuangbanna and the remaining 2 in Kunming, the capital.

XiShuangBanNa (Jin Hong - capital city)

This is China’s mini Thailand. XiShuangBanNa is a self-governed area, populated by a majority of the minority group Dai, as opposed to Han which composes most of the Chinese population. You get a distinct feeling that you have left China when you land at the XiShuangBanNa airport, which really is just a building with a runway behind it. The city Jin Hong, the capital, feels as though there are buildings in the forest, rather than trees in the city. There are paved roads and modern structures, but there is so much green in the city that it makes you feel closer to nature. When I landed I could taste the fresh air. There is a river flowing into Myanmar running right through the city - if anyone is considering a river trip through Southeast Asia - and there are mountains on every side.

The pace if life in XiShuangBanNa is really slow. Most people there only work 4-5 hours a day, split into morning and afternoon chunks with a huge break in the middle for lunch. Spring weather is the norm throughout the year, so I guess it makes sense that people work less as they would prefer to be outside enjoying nature in the beautiful weather, rather than inside at a desk. The city and population is quite small in Jin Hong, with about 350,000 people, which makes it the perfect size for walking the city or biking rather than driving. There are few buses and cars, although taxis are abundant and really cheap.

XiShuangBanNa has become a tourist trap for the most part. The government has set up camp at all surrounding attractions, collecting entrance fees, transportation fees, and charging a ridiculous amount for water and fruit. Then there are “Dai performances” constantly going on that can go for up to 180 RMB (about $25) - talk about a waste of money. I never paid for this but I saw one anyway that was included in the fare for another park; it felt really inauthentic. It was a joke hiking up the mountains, as every 100 meters you are bombarded by locals with cameras and computer setups to print out your souvenir picture on the spot. It was interesting to see the way that the tourism industry has evolved in the area, and the weather and nature were great, but it felt a little surreal that locals in “traditional dress” have electricity, computers, printers, and Nikon D60’s 30 miles from the city and 5 miles up the mountain. What really gets me is not that the whole idea of having this set up in the mountains misses the whole point of going there in the first place, but that there is actually demand for this kind of thing. I believe in economics; if there is no demand, there is no supply. Tourists really don’t care about nature, they just want to see what there is to be seen and go home (in general of course).

While I originally was hoping for a lot of nature hikes and wildlife, I ended up happier about the place than had I got what I was expecting. After my first trip to a tourist trap, I decided to avoid anything anyone told me about places to go, and just hung out in the city.  I went to some local cafes, hang out spots, bars, clubs, and restaurants and something really big hit me - I no longer felt stress, pressure, or sense of hurry. While in the big city (Beijing) there is so much going on constantly, so it is easy to feel that a rush to do things. Jin Hong calmed me down, and that feeling lasted over a week since I got back, although it’s starting to wear off now.

Recommended things to do in XiShuangBanNa:

1) Hang out in Jin Hong.
2) Raft on the river

Perhaps other people had different experiences hiking around the area, but for my week-long trip, this is what I can recommend.

Some Good BBQ

People love to ride motorbikes in the South

Me getting ready to get on the river

Yes, that’s a Bear Pissing

Ostrich riding - pretty cool.  PS - my hair isn’t grey, the blue faded.  Now it’s shaved.