This is a six part travelogue series exploring a section of Yunnan Province in China, from the autonomous prefecture of Xishuangbanna (西双版纳) to the remote village of Manwa Laozhai (曼佤老寨) and finally to the ancient tea forests of Jingmai (景迈).
- Xishuangbanna
- Village of Manwa Laozhai
- Mountains of Manwa Laozhai
- Canyons of Manwa Laozhi
- Ancient tea forests of Jingmai
- The Bulang People
My wife Kammy and I have been meaning to explore the northeast corner of India, but chance would have it we were visiting family in China, and Christina, a friend of ours in the Bay Area (originally from Yunnan), connected us to A-Yun (阿云 – his moniker, meaning cloud). He lives in a mountainous village Manwa Laozhai (曼佤老寨 – literally Manwa Old Village), a couple of hours from Xishuangbanna (西双版纳). It’s roughly the same latitude as Assam in India, but east of Burma. We went on a 4 night trip there and frankly, was hard to leave.
Yunnan: Xishuangbanna (西双版纳)
Yunnan (size of France?) has the highest number, 25 of the 56 recognized ethnic groups in China and the Bulang ethnic people (from A-Yun’s village) from Manwa Laozhai may have migrated 100’s of years ago from Tibet or Nepal. The province is quite sparse too, and is China’s fourth least developed province.
The early am flight from Guangzhou was just a few hours and we land in the Xishuangbanna airport in the morning. A-Yun picks us up in the rental car, a young dude in his late 20’s, early 30’s. As we would discover over the next few days, he’s quite the enlightened one and has found his calling to lift up his village by providing enrichment schooling for the kids.
Yunnan: Menghai (勐海)
The mountains were certainly calling me! At roughly 4,500ft the weather was temperate in early January, dry, no rain and just gorgeous to be out. We stop at a small fruit market and it’s incredibly to see how fertile the land is out here. It seems one can pretty much grow anything here! The bananas, mangoes, passion fruits, dragon fruits, apple/dates, and a bunch I’ve never tried before, were in such abundance. I’m joking that I could practically just live off these fruits during our stay.
We drive out to Menghai (勐海) to have lunch with Christina’s mom and her friend’s family. It was quite the spread! Coming from Guangzhou, the food was surprisingly spicy – blend of Sichuan and Thai/Burmese spices. I guess being fairly close to the border, there’s been a lot of cross pollination. As we would later learn, some of these places were under the rule of Thai kings, so their influence in food, architecture, elephant/peacock motifs can be seen all around. Even the innocuous looking roofs would have a little touch of Thai in them. Many of the signs were in Chinese, Thai and English!
Yunnan: Manlacun (曼拉村)
On our way to our destination, we stop at another small village In Manlacun (曼拉村) and walk up the steps to a temple on top of hill. From there we can see the farmlands all around us. They were planting rice in the fields below in the shape of elephant and peacock (more Thai influence!), not unlike corn mazes, getting ready for the Chinese New Year.
It was interesting to note that in a line of animal sculptures in the temple representing the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, the pig (my sign!) had been replaced with an elephant!
Yunnan: Jingzhen Bajiaoting (景真八角亭)
We hop in the car again and our next stop is a Buddhist temple. One of the structures is a national cultural heritage because it’s still the original structure – solid foundation, brick walls and a wooden roof – still standing after 100’s of years. There’s even a Bodi tree at the entrance!
Yunnan: Zhanglangcun (章朗村)
We drive further west and deeper into the mountains, getting closer to the Burma border and climb up to 5,500ft. We pass numerous vineyards with little road-side stalls selling wine in plastic bottles for 30¥! Before the long dirt road descent into our designation village Manwa Laozhai, one more stop at a 1,000+ year old Buddhist temple – Zhanglangzong Fosi (章朗总佛寺) – literally the Buddhist temple in honor of an elephant that froze!). It’s possible that Buddhism may have entered China across these northwest mountains from India/Nepal through Burma/Thailand.
From here we will now drive another hour descending a series of switchbacks and some dirt roads to our destination village Manwa Laozhai.
This is a six part travelogue series exploring a section of Yunnan Province in China, from the autonomous prefecture of Xishuangbanna (西双版纳) to the remote village of Manwa Laozhai (曼佤老寨) and finally to the ancient tea forests of Jingmai (景迈).
- Xishuangbanna
- Village of Manwa Laozhai
- Mountains of Manwa Laozhai
- Canyons of Manwa Laozhi
- Ancient tea forests of Jingmai
- The Bulang People
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