What's Hot in Xishuangbanna :: Travels in China
Xishuangbanna is a tropical region in the south of Yunnan province. It borders Laos and Burma, the local language is a Thai dialect, and the region often feels more like Southeast Asia than China. The following is a list of what I noticed a lot in Xishuangbanna that aren't common in the rest of southern China.
- Thai on signs
- Motorcycle helmets
- Smoking cigarettes through giant metal bongs
- Hotel rooms without hand soap
- Jade jewelry stores run by Caucasians
- Buddhas with big ears and head spikes
- Roadside strewn playing cards
- Expensive fruit stands
- Rice and thin candle temple offerings
- Casual monks
- Villages and roads starting with Mêng
- Absence of trash cans
- Standing water in rice paddies in a malaria zone
- Phone numbers on building walls
- Homeless men
- Roundabouts
- 24-hour hot springs pool
- Solar water heaters
- Hazy skies
