Day 5 Jinghong
After leaving the Hani village we had a long, long bus ride to our next destination, Jinghong, a city along the Lanchang River (also known as the Mekong). We crossed the Tropic of Cancer into Xishuangbanna, a tropical region of Yunnan, so we were wearing shorts and catching shade under palm trees when, back in Beijing, it was snowing for the first time all winter!
Tonight was Chinese New Year's Eve, and even before it was dark, the smell of firecraker smoke was in the air. Red Chinese lanterns glowed along every street, and the Chinese character for horse, "ma" was pasted all over town. We ate dinner at a restaurant along the river, where we traded conversation for a fireworks show once it got dark, and got free drinks from a group of Chinese students who wanted to repay us for agreeing to take a picture with them!
We wandered along the rocky beach alongside the river after dinner, waving around sparklers which we bought for a few yuan at a fireworks stand. In China, there are no regulations about fireworks, and you can casually buy a giant box, full of massive professional-grade fireworks from any number of stands around town. Luckily, most people seemed to stick with the wimpier kind of fireworks, and we only had to dodge the occaisional rogue firecraker.
After leaving the Hani village we had a long, long bus ride to our next destination, Jinghong, a city along the Lanchang River (also known as the Mekong). We crossed the Tropic of Cancer into Xishuangbanna, a tropical region of Yunnan, so we were wearing shorts and catching shade under palm trees when, back in Beijing, it was snowing for the first time all winter!
Tonight was Chinese New Year's Eve, and even before it was dark, the smell of firecraker smoke was in the air. Red Chinese lanterns glowed along every street, and the Chinese character for horse, "ma" was pasted all over town. We ate dinner at a restaurant along the river, where we traded conversation for a fireworks show once it got dark, and got free drinks from a group of Chinese students who wanted to repay us for agreeing to take a picture with them!
We wandered along the rocky beach alongside the river after dinner, waving around sparklers which we bought for a few yuan at a fireworks stand. In China, there are no regulations about fireworks, and you can casually buy a giant box, full of massive professional-grade fireworks from any number of stands around town. Luckily, most people seemed to stick with the wimpier kind of fireworks, and we only had to dodge the occaisional rogue firecraker.
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| Haha, just kidding Mom. |
The new year commenced in one explosive, cacophonous moment at the stroke of midnight. Fireworks colored the sky in every direction, which we 'oohed' and 'aahed' over from the safety of a little park overlooking the river. China has no time zones, so it was kind of cool to think that the entire country was, at that moment, setting off fireworks and celebrating the beginning of the new year! We wished everyone "xinnian kuai le!" and headed back to our hotel an hour or so later, but the fireworks continued well through the night and even into the next morning!
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| Xinnian kuai le! Happy Chinese New Year! |
We set off the next morning, New Year's Day, for our next village stay with the Dai people.
