Pagodas and
temples and a dramatic touch to the Xishuangbanna
landscape. |
It was getting dark and I
was in the middle of the jungle near the Sino-Myanmar border, almost out of
water, and without a tent.
Suddenly, a member of the local formerly tiger-hunting people seemed to rise
directly out of the ground beside me; a tiny lady with blackened teeth and
coin-sized holes in her ear lobes. She had climbed up a steep mud slope to reach
the path, and beckoned me to follow her back down.
Slipping a little, we reached an encampment of stilted houses near a river
where firelight danced through the cracks in the walls.
Though it reads like a novel, this is exactly what happened on my recent
walking trip in Xishuangbanna in the southern part of Southwest China's Yunnan
Province.
The village where I stayed that night was Songeer, halfway between the towns
of Damenglong and Bulangshan. It normally takes three days to walk the 48
kilometres between the towns, but a fast walker can manage it in two. Along the
way you pass through a variety of minority villages: Weidong, Bannakan, Songeer,
Nuna, Guangmin, Manpo and Manguanghan.
The inhabitants of Songeer are Lahu people, who settled in the area during
the 19th century. Before that they were nomads.
"Lahu' may be rendered from 'Tiger-roasting' but the Lahu have given up their
former, ferocious hunting habits. There were no striped skins visible in the hut
where I was invited for dinner. Besides the green vegetables and potatoes,
however, I was offered an unidentifiable, spicy meat... Tiger?
Although most Xishuangbanna minorities speak Mandarin, the Lahu of Songeer
speak only their own language. Accordingly, hospitality was expressed through
gestures. They made me sit beside a fire while I shared cigarettes with the
adults (the Lahu, men and women, are avid smokers) and played with the children.
When the moon rose above the dark outlines of the forest vegetation, they
showed me where to sleep, wrapped in blankets on the comfortably springy floor.
The Chinese Government has already wisely protected 2,500 square kilometres
in Xishuangbanna as forest reserve land. Hopefully, it will also be possible to
curb the deforestation becoming evident in many areas, including the walk
between Bulangshan and Songeer, in order to prevent hillside erosion.
A brief walk up the path from Damenglong brings you to Manfeilong (White
Bamboo Shoot) Pagoda. This magnificent pagoda was built in 1204, supposedly over
a footprint of the legendary Buddha Siddhartha Gautama - a difficult story to
verify!
During the Tan Ta Festival it resounds with celebratory rockets, but the
quiet of a solitary hilltop allowed me to appreciate the pagoda's serenity.
Ganlanba (Menghan), my next stop, is a village beside the Lancang River
within easy reach of the region's capital, Jinghong.
The author
shares a smile with a little friend he met during his
travels. |
It is mostly inhabited by Dai
people, the largest minority group in Xishuangbanna. The Dai were driven south
by Genghis Khan's forces in the 13th century. Now, there are over a million in
the region.
Their belief in the Hinayana version of Buddhism is evident in the associated
pagodas and temples, some being rebuilt, and the presence of novice monks in
trailing orange robes.
"Buddhism is a very important part of Dai culture," explained a monk of about
my age. He was on his way to a Buddhist conference in Jinghong, and happened to
share a seat with me on the bus.
"In every community some sons become monks. Monks are very educated, and can
record their communities' culture," he added.
Like many foreigners, I was entranced with the Dai people. The women's
clothing, consisting of brilliantly coloured sarongs and high-cut blouses, gave
the charming illusion that they were dressed for the evening in the middle of a
sunny afternoon. Every one of them was immaculately groomed; apparently, some
Dai wash up to 10 times a day - and even more during their regular
water-splashing festivals.
I even noticed, outside the Dai temple in Damenglong, a life-size sculpture
of a Dai woman washing her hair.
The grace of their movements is echoed in the curls, loops, and tadpoles of
their beautiful script. It can also be heard in Zhang Khap, Dai's solo narrative
opera.
Visitors can sample the famed Dai sticky rice (Khao nio) cooked in a bamboo
tube, which can also arrive inside a pineapple, or wrapped in banana leaves.
My personal favourite was a small spiny fish, roasted between bamboo splints,
fresh from the Lancang.
For a very reasonable fee one can stay in the highly recommended Dai Bamboo
House. There you sleep in the traditional Dai manner on the floor.
The roof of this building follows the design shared by all Dai houses,
triangular gables sloping into semi-circular eaves.
I was fascinated to note that the Blang, Lahu, Jino and Va people also build
their roofs this way. During a recent trip to Viet Nam, I even noticed it in the
black Thai houses around Lao Cai on the Viet Nam border.
"There is an old story behind that design," explained a local Blang teacher I
met. "The turtle is said to have taught people how to build their roofs, and the
shape imitates his shell."
He also recounted an old legend accounting for the ancient friendship between
the Blang and the Dai people.
"They used to be brothers. After the death of their father, the Blang brother
left the Dai brother and went to live in the hills." He smiled.
Maybe that is why I have trekked for a day to catch this bus to Jinghong,
where so many Dai people live.
Jinghong is now easy to reach due to improved roads. The trip, which used to
take up to two days, can now be completed in around 14 hours on a sleeper bus,
or in less than an hour by plane.
As more and more visitors take advantage of this access there is a risk that
some of the local culture may be lost. This would be irreplaceable: It is
essential that tourism in this wonderful area be carefully controlled.
The author is now teaching at Kunming University of Science and Technology in
Yunnan Province