In the middle of xishuangbanna area, on the of China-Laos border, we trekked for 2 days in the mountains of the Dai ethnic minority (origin from Thailand).
Xishuangbanna is an area of China that few travellers afford themselves the time to see. Yet it is a mysterious place. As the only tropical rainforest nature reserve in China, Xishuangbanna is ideal for nurturing wonderful plants and flora and is home to unusual wildlife.
Dai Minority people have lived on this land for generations. The distinctive natural environment here has created unusual customs and traditions.
You can easily spot the Dai villages style along the trek. These bamboo structures raised on stilts deter floods and dangerous animals, allowing many people to inhabit one house safely, often along with all their animals too.
Temples and pagodas with a Southeast Asian flavour are dotted about the countryside and towns, and monks, especially young male trainee boys, are a common sight, clothed in traditional orange costume, often riding motorbikes to the temple.
Hunting is still the main source of income, in conjunction with farming (rice and tea) this can be seen while trekking.
In terms of culture, the Dai people dress in spectacular colours and furs, and dance and song are popular ways to pass the time.
We started our day really early in the morning, had to change 2 buses on our way to one of the remote villages in the area - Guangming Village. From there we started to hike at around 14:00,
entering the wild jungle in unmarked paths, Efrat got worried that we are lost.
We were sleeping in a village called: Yaka, a local family invited us to sleep in their house, that was quite experience. Dinner and breakfast were actually the same - rice with vegtables and spices, we liked to observe and soak up their traditional lifestyle.
At the second day, we left the jungle and hiked along the tea and rice fields from one village to the other.
At the second village, we got lucky enough to meet a salesman who arrived there to buy some tea leafs, he was on his way back to Jinghong (the main city of this area) and offered us a ride. That was actually a 5 hours 4 WD jeep trek back to the civilization and at the end of it, he was nice enough to invite us to dinner at a fancy thai restaurant.
It was interesting to feel the changes in one day, in the morning we were at a minority remote traditional village in the far mountains and at evening time we arrived to a big city with all of its modernization.
Have fun,
Efrat and Yoni.
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