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Ever since I was young, I've wanted to experience the March 3rd Water Splashing Festival; at the Xishuangbanna Dai Nationality Park, you can experience this "water splashing carnival" every day.
In 2021, the incident of 16 wild elephants "elephing" their way north made me realize that Xishuangbanna is the only habitat of Asian elephants in China.
The Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences boasts the largest collection of exotic flowers and plants.
A kingdom of plants, an animal kingdom, and a world garden—Xishuangbanna is a place I long to visit.
Autumn is the most comfortable time of year in Xishuangbanna.
On November 19th, we began our Yunnan trip.
Route
Day 1 (19th): Fly from Xiamen to Kunming, then take an intercity train to Xishuangbanna
Day 2 (20th): Experience the water splashing carnival at the Dai Nationality Garden, then arrive in Menglun Town in the evening
Day 3 (21st): Visit the Botanical Garden in the morning, then visit the Wild Elephant Valley in the afternoon to look for wild elephants. Arrive in Jinghong City in the evening
Day 4 (22nd): Visit the Primeval Forest Park for the second time, just to watch the peacocks release
Day 5 (23rd): Depart Xishuangbanna
Highlights
Day 1 (19th): Fly from Xiamen to Kunming, then take an intercity train to Xishuangbanna
On the first day, fly from Xiamen to Kunming, then take a train to Xishuangbanna.
Day 3 (21st): Visit the Botanical Garden in the morning, then visit the Wild Elephant Valley in the afternoon to look for wild elephants. Arrive in Jinghong City in the evening
Day 4 (22nd): Visit the Primeval Forest Park for the second time, just to watch the peacocks release
Day 5 (23rd): Depart Xishuangbanna
Highlights
Day 1 (19th): Fly from Xiamen to Kunming, then take an intercity train to Xishuangbanna.
Day 1 (19th): Fly from Xiamen to Kunming, then take a train to Xishuangbanna.
Day 1 (19th): Fly from Xiamen to Kunming, then take a train to Xishuangbanna.
Day 2 (21st): Visit the Botanical
Book your ticket over a month in advance and you'll find a 80% discount on your Xiamen to Kunming flight, ¥500 including fuel and tax—a fantastic value.
Xiamen Airlines MF8405, Xiamen Gaoqi Terminal 3, 8:00 AM to Kunming Changshui International Airport, 10:55 AM. The flight landed 15 minutes earlier than scheduled.
Take the train to Xishuangbanna from Kunming South Station.
After unloading your luggage, Changshui Airport is seamlessly connected to the subway station.
From Kunming Changshui International Airport, take Metro Line 6 (towards Tangzixiang) and get off at Juhua Station, 4 stops away. Transfer to Metro Line 4 (towards Kunming South Railway Station), 17 stops away at Kunming South Railway Station, and walk 80 meters to Kunming South Railway Station.
Arrive at Kunming South Station at 1:15 PM.
From Kunming Station (Kunming South), take a high-speed train to Xishuangbanna for 3-4 hours.
We took the C385 intercity train. (Purchase tickets 15 days in advance!)
C385 Kunming South 2:00 PM - Xishuangbanna 5:40 PM (3 hours and 40 minutes) (Second-class ticket ¥198) (First-class ticket ¥315)
Walking to the platform, I saw a train carriage painted green. Is this a Fuxing train?
The carriages contained high-speed train equipment; the train runs between 130 and 190 kilometers per hour.
Arrived at Xishuangbanna Station at 5:40 PM that evening.
Picked up a Passat from the car rental agency at the high-speed rail station.
Inspections: driving license, insurance; vehicle exterior, engine, tires, brand name, and oil level.
Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture is one of Yunnan Province's eight autonomous prefectures, with Jinghong City as its capital.
There are numerous hotels and B&Bs near Xishuangbanna's Gaozhuang Night Market.
We preferred a quieter environment and chose a hotel in Jinghong.
Jinghong City is northeast of Xishuangbanna Station.
Xishuangbanna Station is approximately 5 kilometers from Jinghong City.
Xishuangbanna borders Laos to the southeast and Myanmar to the southwest, spanning a 966.3-kilometer-long border. Connecting six countries, it boasts four national-level ports.
Xishuangbanna's altitude ranges from 470 to 2,429.5 meters, with an average elevation of approximately 1,450 meters.
Xishuangbanna has a minority ethnic population of 790,300, with the Dai being the majority. As of the end of 2023, the Dai population in Xishuangbanna was 334,400.
Xishuangbanna boasts the most intact tropical ecosystem in China, earning it the nicknames "Plant Kingdom," "Animal Kingdom," "Biological Gene Bank," and "An Emerald in the Crown of the Plant Kingdom."
Xishuangbanna boasts one 5A-level scenic spot and nine 4A-level scenic spots.
In the evening, visit the Gaozhuang Starlight Night Market.
Jinghong's main roads are busy, and waiting times at several traffic lights can be quite long.
The city's roadside trees are dense and relatively free-growing.
To reach Gaozhuang, you have to cross a bridge.
None of the parking lots at the Gaozhuang Night Market are empty.
We saw a parking lot next to the Mekong Jinglan Hotel and parked.
We visited Yegaozhuang Night Market, mainly for snacks and shopping; we also took in the night view of the Shwedagon Pagoda beside the Lancang River.
We woke up early to catch our flight and arrived in the southernmost part of Yunnan. Tired, we wandered around for over an hour before returning to the hotel.
Day 20th: We visited the Dai Nationality Garden to experience the Water Splashing Carnival, and arrived in Menglun Town in the evening.
In 1961, Premier Zhou Enlai participated in the Water Splashing Festival in Xishuangbanna.
We began to yearn to attend the Water Splashing Festival.
On this trip to Xishuangbanna, the Water Splashing Festival was scheduled for the first day of our itinerary. The Xishuangbanna Dai National Park holds two "Everyday Water Splashing Festival" events daily. [First: 2:00 PM - 2:40 PM; Second: 3:40 PM - 4:20 PM]. The Water Splashing Festival is a New Year celebration for ethnic minorities in China, including the Dai, Achang, Bulang, Wa, and De'ang, as well as certain other ethnic groups in Indochina. It is the Dai people's grandest traditional festival of the year. On November 20th, we drove an hour from Jinghong City to the Dai National Park, equipped with a change of clothes for the Water Splashing Festival. Carrying our costumes, we toured the Dai National Park and watched the beautiful Peacock Dance (see the travelogue "Dai National Park: Peacock Dance").
Peacock DanceNot enough homework: The new Splashing Water Square, which opened in April this year, has lockers where you can store your clothes before visiting the Dai Garden.
We walked into the splashing pool and experienced the first splashing carnival in the afternoon. The Dai Garden's "Celebrate the Water Splashing Festival Every Day" event was grand, joyful, and orderly. Its unique cultural atmosphere and carnival scene will be unforgettable for us (see the travelogue "Splashing Water Carnival").
Dai Garden New Water Splashing Festival Square
A little after 4 p.m., we drove from the Dai Garden via the Kadong Highway to Menglun Town, a 41-kilometer journey that takes one hour. Over 20 kilometers of the national highway pass through dense forest, making the lanes narrow.
We stayed at a guesthouse in a self-built building with exquisite decoration.
There are only a few restaurants in Menglun Town at night, so dinner was a bowl of cross-bridge rice noodles.
Day 3 (21st): Morning visit to the botanical garden, afternoon search for wild elephants in the Wild Elephant Valley, evening arrival in Jinghong City.
In the morning, we drove to the west gate of the Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; the distance from our homestay to the west gate (parking lot) is only 1.2 kilometers.
The Tropical Botanical Garden is located in a tropical forest and is divided into two parts: the East and West Zones. We only visited the West Zone.
Our three-hour visit left us with the following impressions: In autumn, the best scenery is from the Shade Botanical Garden (Station) to the Exotic Flower Garden: the Hundred Flowers Garden, the Victoria Regia Pond, the Palm Garden, the "One Tree Forest," the Aquatic Botanical Garden, etc. (See the travelogue "Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden").
Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Asian elephant is the largest extant land animal in Asia.
Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant Valley is located in the Mengyang China Wild Asian Elephant Nature Reserve.
At 1:30 PM, we left the Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and drove to the Wild Elephant Valley Scenic Area (a 4A scenic area).
From the Tropical Botanical Garden, heading northwest via the Kunming-Moshan Expressway, the drive to the Wild Elephant Valley's north gate parking lot is 66 kilometers, a one-hour drive.
We didn't find any wild elephants in the Wild Elephant Valley, but our experience feeding elephants at the Elephant Science Park near the scenic area's south gate taught us that an elephant's trunk can perform movements that human arms can't. An elephant's trunk can perform movements that human arms can't.
Another surprise: We got a close-up look at the endangered slow loris. Did you know there are only 100-150 of them left in China?
Slow Loris
Return to Jinghong for the night. Wild Elephant Valley is 33 kilometers from Jinghong City.
Day 4 (22nd): Second Trip to the Primeval Forest Park, Just to Watch the Peacock Release
Today's plan: Watch the peacock release at the Primeval Forest Park and experience the Thai royal heritage at Manting Park.
Due to the rain, our morning trip to the Primeval Forest Park was wasted.
Nearly a hundred peacocks flying across the lake are a sight only found in Xishuangbanna Primeval Forest Park.
We're leaving Xishuangbanna tomorrow, and we didn't want to miss this spectacle.
Finally, the rain stopped in the afternoon, and we returned to the Primeval Forest Park for the second time, watching the peacock release from the shores of Jin Lake (see the travelogue "Peacock Release").
Over the course of three days, we visited five scenic spots in Xishuangbanna, participated in the "Water Splashing Carnival," fed elephants for the first time, saw slow lorises for the first time, and saw many exotic flowers and plants.
A three-day drive covers over 200 kilometers; self-driving is more convenient for visiting Xishuangbanna.
Day 5 (23rd): Departing Xishuangbanna
Today, we will depart Xishuangbanna and stay overnight in Jianshui County.
The train from Xishuangbanna to Jianshui County can only be transferred at Yuxi Station.
In the morning, arrive at Xishuangbanna Station and take the C308 train, another "green train."
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