Xishuangbanna is located in Yunnan Province of Southwest China. It can be found bordering Laos and Myanmar. Xishuangbanna takes a lot of cultural inspiration from its surroundings including Laos and Thailand. Many minority cultures live here as well. I visited in July, meaning it was rainy season and Xishuangbanna has a very similar climate to the likes of Thailand.
Xishuangbanna (昭取寨) mightn't have the capital resources of Kunming, but the monastery in the centre of the city is a great place to go for historical sights. Wander around the streets and enjoy the high-speed rail journey from Kunming. Xishuangbanna is China's best-known Buddhist pilgrimage site.
Gaozhuang Night Market
Food Places I would recommend:
Coconut Lailiao
Mei Mei Cafe
Flying Snake Brewhouse - Highly recommended!! (See Day 5)
Gaozhuang Night Market
Things to see and do:
Wild Elephant Valley
Manting Park
Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park - Under Water world of Mekong River
Xishuangbanna Tropical Flowers and Plants Garden
Gaozhuang Night Market (Starlight Night Market)
Jiangbian Night Market
Xishuangbanna Total Buddhist Temple
Mengle Cultural Tourist Zone/ Mengle Rain Forest Park
Xishuangbanna Nationalities Museum (Museum of Ethnology)
Arriving in Xishuangbanna:
For me, I travelled from Xi’an to Xishuangbanna in the early morning so I arrived in Xishuangbanna by 12pm. From the airport, it’s really easy to call DiDi or grab a taxi. I used DiDi purely because I could just link it through my Apple Maps to get directly to the hotel. If you book through trip.com they will give you access to the hotel name in Chinese and taxi navigation should you have to grab a local taxi. I stayed in Jinghong district, which is the main district of Xishuangbanna. My DiDi cost 15RMB (£1.50) to reach the hotel. After check in, I walked around the hotel area.
Hotel 1 - Lavande Hotel, neat Manting Park, Jinghong (¥550/£55 a night) - I would not recommend this hotel at all! It was against a kindergarten, with no warning, music was blaring out in the morning and lots of screaming children around. This might not bother some people but for me it was awful. The hotel was quite pricey per night, given its surroundings and how far from the tourist zone it was.
Day 1 - Xishuangbanna Total Buddhist Temple and Jiangbian Night Market
This Temple is located beside Manting Park. It’s fairly easy to access and tickets cost ¥40(£4). Inside here you can see the Thai influence on each building with its golden details and intricate dragon designs. The Buddhist Temple leads round to Manting Park as the two areas are connected, at the time, I wasn’t aware of this though. The park has so many opportunities for photos, the brightly coloured buildings and the unusual architecture make it worth a trip. My Day 1 had bad weather, but it almost made my visit there more ideal. Less people around but also
I could really take in the sights of the area.
After my walk around the park, I bought some fruit from the local shop (Xishuangbanna has fresh fruit everywhere!) From there I headed back to the hotel before finding somewhere for dinner that night. I ended up a short walk away from the hotel at LuoLuo cafe. Dinner here was ok, but not somewhere I would say you should make sure you try.
To end my first day, I went to the Jiangbian Night Market, it is much smaller than the main one across the river but it is also along a bar street. This night market is along 2 sides of the same road and you can just follow it along no problem. I went down one side and came back up the other side in order to see everything before walking down onto the bar street.
Day 2 - Mengle Culture Tourist Zone, Gaozhuang Night Market
I chose to move to my second hotel on this day, it was overlooking the Gaozhuang Night Market. I would definitely recommend this side. I stayed in the Wanji Lijing Hotel (¥210/£21 per night). The location was great, it was clean and the room was huge compared to usual rooms I've stayed in.
Gaozhuang Night Market from the top of the steps
Mengle Cultural Zone is interesting to say the least, it was completely unexpected for me. I took a DiDi from the hotel to the area, it was around a 20 minute drive and the car dropped me at the entrance. Again, it was a rainy day so less people around but this area was quite slippy because of the rain. It takes around 2-3 hours to fully enjoy the whole park. I walked through the entire area briefly before heading up the steps towards the Golden Statue. The statue is huge, and you only really see her size when you get closer. You can take either the left or right path up and around the statue to bring you out at Mengle Temple and a glass walkway which overlooks the whole area.
Mengle Culture Park
Lunch on Day 2 was across the river at Coconut LaiLiao, which is a little cafe inside a hotel. It's set up is almost like a camping style and most of their food has coconut in. I then used the afternoon to move across to the new hotel mentioned above.
<-- Coconut LaiLiao
Evening - I started by walking the streets around my hotel, they are lined with little stalls and markets even in the rain. I stopped off at a local bar which played live music as well. This is where I grabbed some snacks for my dinner. After a couple of drinks, I walked down to the main entrance of Gaozhuang Night Market. The markets themselves are huge and row after row is filled with trinkets and snacks. This was the first place I have tried the meats on a stick and they were delicious!
Day 3 - Elephant Wild Valley, Tropical Flowers and Plant Garden
Starting a new day with an early morning trip to Xishuangbanna's Tropical Flowers and Plant Garden. And finally, no rain!
Entrance fee here is 75RMB and you could spend a few hours. The garden is basically a circle with small veers off to dedicated plant areas. There is also a small 'museum' as such in the middle where you can see some of the plants that have been grown in the area and how. It also has some history of the place inside here.
Next stop - DiDi to Elephant Valley Park (the DiDi cost around 100RMB from where I was but it was just easier). The Elephant Valley area costs 58RMB to enter and there is a cable car which would take you from one side to the other. For some reason, unknown to myself as well, I decided to take the Cable car up into the higher areas which meant I had to attempt to find my way back down. Safe to say, I got lost! Not a problem if you're in a group, I was alone in a forest area with no idea where I was heading. The Elephant Valley has an Elephant show which happens near the entrance to the park, you can also pay to feed the elephants. As you walk further in, they have other animals, including deers, crocodiles, snakes and a butterfly house. Some of which seems cruel given the hot and humid temperature of this place. It's a worth while visit, I would probably argue that the cable car should be taken down after you've travelled up but at the same time, after 1-2 hours of wandering, I did find my way back to the entrance. It depends how long you want to spend in the park.
Cable cars in Elephant Valley
Day 4 - Primitive Forest Park, Under Water World of the Mekong River, Mandou Temple, Mekong River
Another sunny day in Xishuangbanna! Primitive Forest Park - there are multiple options when you arrive in this area for what to do. They have a zipwire activity, underwater world and a full forest park complete with monkeys. Based on the previous day, I just didn't have the desire to walk through a forest for hours, also I am not a huge fan of monkeys, potentially terrified of them! But I did buy the tickets for the forest park and the underwater world, this cost 175RMB (mostly the cost of the Underwater world).
The underwater world was actually fascinating to me, they have a multitude of fish and sharks but there is also a Mermaid show you can watch with some of the sharks. There's around 3-4 mermaids entering the tank and putting on a show, it's rather engaging. After this, you can continue through to the Jellyfish section, where they are strategically set up to make light up set designs. Through here has a waiting area which then leads onto a realistic fly through time experience.
Mermaid Show
Jellyfish
Mandou Temple - This is a tiny temple just in the local streets of Jinghong area. It was actually closed when I visited but people were still using the building as a backdrop for photoshoots.
Mandou Temple
Mekong River - There's actually not too much to keep you busy in Xishuangbanna, because of this I found myself with little to do in the afternoons/early evenings. For this reason, I took a very random walk around the Jinhong area and ended up walking some of the Mekong River. It turned out to be quite a pleasant walk and quiet. The Mekong River has some strange currents which you can see clashing as you walk beside it.
Day 5 - Nationalities Folk Customs Park, Fahzi Cultural Square, Manting Park, Binjiang Park, Daijiangnan International Customs Food Bar Street
For my final full day, I decided to become more cultured about the people of Xishuangbanna. I started at the Nationalities Folk Customs Park. This was not a highlight! There was a 'zoo' on the park which stank and I imagine that the animals were not well looked after. The park itself actually appeared abandoned and while it made for interesting photos, I was concerned about those animals still in the park.
<-- Inside the Minorities Park
Next stop - Fahzi Cultural Square. I walked and walked until I found this area, it was like a stereotypical Chinese square but with the minority influence of Xishuangbanna. Besides this, there wasn't much reason to be there so I jumped in a DiDi and returned to Manting Park.
Manting Park and Binjiang Park - It was this second visit that made me realise the 2 parks were connected. The entrance fee of 40RMB covers both parts and they come together in the middle. This time it was sunny and much warmer so more people were around. It was fun to see the photoshoots happening at the various buildings in the parks. Even though it was warmer, it still wasn't busy in the park. I walked around for around 2-3 hours, stopping off at the coffee shop inside Manting Park for a juice and a sit down.
Manting Park
Daijiangnan International Customs Food Bar Street - after a hotel break and nap (yes, I did this a lot here). I found where to go for the evening. I must admit, I was a bit bored of heading to the Night Markets every night. On the other side of the river from my hotel, I had found a bar street on my first night so I went back over there. This is when I found 'Flying Snake Brewhouse' and I loved it! They had a western style restaurant and the owners had lived in America. Every member of staff tried to make me feel welcome. Also the fact that it is a brewery means that you could taste test the drinks first. I couldn't decide so had 2 different homemade brewed beers that were delicious! After a while one of the owners, an American man, came and joined me and told me all about the city and its history as well as offering recommendations for the city. I would highly recommend this place to anyone visiting Xishuangbanna!
<-- Inside the Brewhouse
View from Flying Snake Brewhouse -->
Day 6 - Xishuangbanna Museum of Ethnology, Dai Ethnic Minority Culture Park
Final day, I flew out of Xishuangbanna in the evening so after checking out of the hotel, I made a start on my day. I had seen about the Museum of Ethnology, loving a good museum, I decided to check this one out. I believe I didn't need to pay to enter, but it was pretty empty, some of the lights were even off. I wasn't the only visitor at this time though, and as you move through each room and up the levels, you can see how all aspects of Xishuangbanna's history have impacted the city. The museum breaks down the many different tribes and minorities within the city and it's really fascinating. If you like your history and culture, it's definitely one to check.
Food for the day - Mei Mei Cafe, this was recommended to me by the owners of Flying Snake Brewhouse and it did not disappoint. They had a selection of western and chinese dishes, from hot meals to sandwiches to cakes. Everything I tried here was delicious. Add it to your list!
Dai Ethnic Minority Culture Park - I didn't think I would have time to visit here but it was just a short DiDi ride away and worth it. The area is ticketed and you must have a ticket to enter but I believe it is free of charge. The 'park' is more like a village which is still fully active and lived in. Here you can see the poorer side of life in Xishuangbanna and walk through the streets to reach a temple. It's an interesting area that appears very different to the rest of Xishuangbanna. I ended up finding a little market inside here where locals were selling handmade products. I bought a scrapbook that was made from the trees in the village. I will admit prices were a little questionable (80RMB for a notebook?!) but with haggling you can pay less.
This marked the end of my trip to Xishuangbanna. The airport is relatively close to the main city area and from the hotel it cost 15RMB to return by DiDi.
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