Along the Mekong

(Sandy)

February 24^th

OK, so here we are at the Tai Garden Hotel…a very, very nice hotel and quite unexpected. We all thought the area and the facilities would be much less developed. The hotel has marble floors, a large glass façade and highly manicured landscaping. After an 8AM breakfast, we jumped into the “super van”…a 13 passenger vehicle that can easily accommodate a few stretched out sleepy travelers.

We are most definitely in the tropical part of China. There is vegetation everywhere that reminds me of my trip to West Africa. Lots of different kinds of palm trees and lush greenery lining the streets. Many of us were saying that we didn’t even feel as though we were in China anymore. Jinghong is known as “The Garden City” and is larger than I expected with lots of hotels, restaurants, stores and tourists. The incessant honking that we became accustomed to previously has nearly completely stopped giving Jinghong a much more calm and peaceful ambience albeit a busy place.

As we drove along the Mekong River, our guide, John, told us that it is considered the “Grand” Mekong because it travels through 6 countries. Beginning in the Himalayas in Tibet, the river finds its way to Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He continued to list the many different minorities in the area giving us a bit of background information for each. The largest minority group is the colorful Dai…with a population of 400,000. They are known as the “water Dai” living near the water at the base of the mountains and using it to clean and wash everyday and to grow crops in the fertile soil. The Dai is the only minority with a written language. They follow Buddhism and are considered the “older brother” to “little brother” minority, the Bulang.

The second largest minority is the Aikha. There are about 200,000 “mountain and fire people” and are intent on always keeping their fires burning… at least an ember so they don’t have to struggle to make it again. While there is most definitely a language barrier, John was trying to explain something about the Aikha being poor fire makers, and originally getting their fire from lightening. The Aikha don’t like water and demonstrate great fear when it is necessary to “risk” crossing a bridge. (interesting combination, all fire and little water!) Originally the Dai fought with the Aikha but now they intermingle and marry.

“little brother” Bulang is the third largest minority. They are “mountain people” and highly respect and follow their “big brother”, the Dai. Next on the list are the Lahu and Miao. The Lahu are known as “hunting tiger” (although the Chinese tiger is basically extinct now). They are a shy group, not much communication, only nods, and will “hide” in their homes. There is also the Jinho minority. A group of about 20,000 that John described as short-sighted, also not communicative, not wanting to contact other groups…and incestuous. They drum to contact “God” in the sky.

The Hua people, according to John, are a dark-skinned group and believe that death is a part of life, so really do not worry about illness. They are good fighters and not very good cooks, making only porridges to eat. They are strong mountain climbers, good soldiers and are learning to produce rice and other crops...sooo…make less opium! There is another group called the Keren (sp?). They are considered the “long neck” people. It appears that they were not very civilized, forced women into slavery and could be very brutal. The women decorated their faces with tattoos for protection and wore long metal neck pieces to prevent being decapitated.

Outside the Buddhist Temple, our first stop of the day, we saw some Dai women making “guing tai” (sp?) a round flat lacey sphere of Kelly green seaweed. This fifteen-inch circle of thin wet hair-like vegetation will be dried and eaten at a later time. I tried making one and found that the feel of the slippery grass was pleasant! We later saw it sold in the Dai market along with meats, fruits, lots of chilies and peppers, splashing fish, and other household items like fabric. The Dai people are very warm and friendly…probably because there is a fresh abundance of food and they live near the water, in a place that affords them a little easier life.

On the road again, we passed large banana plantations, rubber tree farms, and were told more about the Han, White, Blue, Red and Hua Hou (flower-belted) Dai people. In Yunnan there are over one million Dai. While we are not here during the right time of year, we were told about the Dai’s Water-Splashing Festival. The people congregate at a very large man-made lake and celebrate by playing music, participating in boat races, and by “splashing”. Water is most definitely an important and much appreciated part of their culture.

Next we went to the Botanic Garden in Menglun Township. It is a large and beautifully maintained park with water features and indoor galleries dedicated to the minorities of the area and to the flora and fauna. There was one particular section with all the medicinal plants…a great place for Lauren to get a bunch of info for her senior project. John spent quite a bit of time translating the signs for her.

While I am usually not one to eat my way through a trip, I am getting a big kick out of the importance that food has taken on for the “Shanghai Five”. So here’s my take on lunch…one dish can only be described as a bunch of lemon-grass embraced by a contorted roasted fish. It actually tasted really good…just be careful of the bones. Another dish looked like a simple mound of corn kernels…but it was somewhat creamy and with a very nice texture and taste to each niblet (it’s hard for me to pick up more than one at a time with chopsticks!). There was a pork dish with peppers, soup with vegetables and tofu, an omelet with what we think was broccoli…and a stew with little 3-inch chubby fish (passed that one up). Our food authority, Alaina, was not feeling well (a bit queasy) so we did not have her effervescent descriptive dialogue during lunch. It was missed.

After lunch we drove through the rain forest nature preserve, admittedly a bit underwhelming. Alaina was a real trooper sitting in the front seat trying her best to put up with the gazillion hair-pin turns on what must have been the winding mountain road from hell for her. Kudos to Alaina!! When we got back to the hotel, she and Cassie and Alex rested while Lauren and I meandered into town. We stopped at what appeared to be a clinic just to say hi to the doctor and nurse at the doorway. We also made our way to a supermarket to buy Alaina some jello. It was an experience. The small plastic containers are paid for according to the weight. We also accidentally passed a school at dismissal time. It was interesting to watch them all buy after school snacks at outdoor venders. We got back to the hotel just in time for dinner at a Thai restaurant. After dinner, Cassie, Lauren and Alex went to a night market with John and I took a taxi back to the hotel to check on Alaina

It was a BUSY day. Best to all.