Xishuangbanna

Total distance: 5600 km
Mengman - Menghai - Jinghong - Menglun - Mengla - Mohan

Yunnan's southern part is a special one. It's different to what we have seen so far and the name already sounds strange: Xishuangbanna. Sorry what? I simply refer to it as the Banana Republic and nomen est omen there are even more banana plantations than anywhere else in Yunnan. We rode through so many wide banana plantations that you couldn't see anything else.

2 cycling days before Jinghong, the capital of the Xishuangbanna prefecture, we were welcomed by a gate that didn't look Chinese any more but rather Thai style. Besides the Chinese signs and English letters a third language - is it Thai? - appear on road signs, shop signs etc. The buildings are more and more wooden houses built on stilts. Every now and then monks in the orange robes whiz by on their scooters.

Our next stop was in Jinghong where the Mekong flows through. After we checked into the International Youth Hostel we went out looking for food. And Hallelujah, people here use fish sauce! Fantastic! It feels like home. We had cold rice noodles and fresh papaya salad. Apart from "exotic" food Jinghong's architecture and streets are "exotic" too. The big buildings look absolutely Southeast-Asian. Streets are full of palm trees like in Cannes or Nice but there is a significant difference. Here in Jinghong you have to watch out for coconuts!

Jinghong

We stayed in Jinghong for 4 days, relaxing and enjoying the benefits of the last big Chinese city on our trip. On our last day there were suddenly two bicycles besides ours. Hmm, they looked very familiar. Surprise, surprise, the cyclists' world is so small, they belonged to Regula and Reto, two Swiss cyclist who we had met some weeks ago on our way from Chengdu to Leshan. Their plan is to cycle to Laos as well. So it's certain that we'll meet them again, probably in Luang Prabang.

When we left Jinghong it was a nice ride along the Mekong river. Since we have entered Xishuangbanna we can truly say that we are in the jungle. It's hot again and we can hardly believe that it is winter in France and Germany when we speak with our families and friends. Cold? Winter jacket? Impossible! At least on this year's tour! Did we mention bananas? On the way from Jinghong to the Lao border there are even more banana plantations. If not bananas, you find pineapples or rubber trees.

In Menglun we had to squeeze in an emergency pause. No idea what was wrong with our dinner or water but the night was horrible and dinner ended up in the toilet. That was the start for my distaste for Chinese food. Don't get me wrong, Chinese food was delicious, but after 50 days in China and that dinner in the toilet I was glad that our days in China were coming to an end.

Yunnan said good-bye with some serious stretches of climbs. While in the North of Yunnan we moved between 1000 m and 2400 m above sea level, Xishuangbanna ranges between 500 m and 1200 m. It sounds like only downhill all the way? That's far from it! There were countless mountains in between and we climbed and climbed and climbed... well, we had some pretty awesome downhill parts as well :)

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