30th July 2009
XISHUANGBANNA: WATERFALL TREK
Last night, our flight from Chengdu to Jinghong in Xishuangbanna had virtually no setbacks at all. The only exception being stuck next to a very boring English person, who wrongly assumed he was going to adopt us as friends. It was quite amusing that the airline put the only three westerners together on the same row. If you did that to black people in the West, they would sue for racism.
We were greeted at Jinghong airport by a host of aggressive and unwilling taxi drivers. One literally threw us out of his taxi when we requested he put on the meter. This set us up for a good start.
We then elected for a ‘non official’ taxi man who stood a little way off from the rest. He appeared less belligerent than the others and did not mind putting on the meter. It turned out he was quite drunk. Even so, he found the café I had requested, despite driving constantly in 4th gear and stalling several times.
We ordered some food at the café and asked if they could recommend anywhere to stay. They directed us over the road to an absolute dump of a hotel which we have renamed ‘The Random Shit Hole’. I don’t even know the real name. It smells of egg. The bathroom is 3ft square. It has a hole in the floor as the toilet and the sewage pipe is open below it. You can see all the waste from the other rooms washing through it.
The shower either boils or scalds you and then runs directly in to the toilet-hole in the floor. You have to stand with your feet either side of the hole, lest you fall in.
The door to the room has a minuscule flimsy lock. You could burst the door open by leaning on it. The room is suitably clean and the whole thing is only costing us £3.50GBP per night, so I guess we cannot complain too much!
Jinghong is the capital of Xishuangbanna province. It is again very different from all the places we have been so far. It has palm tree-lined streets and a chilled out, festival vibe. It is classed at China’s own mini Thailand and although the main town is touristy (Chinese only), it is quite easy to walk a mile in any direction and find yourself in a tiny countryside village.
Today we went to Mei Mei’s café, a very popular western-ish bar which is great for local information. We organised a trip to a waterfall nearby, for this afternoon.
We set off at 1pm with a non-English speaking driver, as is standard. He drove us along rugged, crater filled roads for about 1 hour while we bounced around in the back seat taking in the view. Our driver drove along a very small dirt track and dropped us near a stream surrounded on both sides by rice fields, and further on, jungle. Due to the communication breakdown, he gave us instructions via charades.
We deduced we were to follow the water until we found the waterfall, and then turn around and come back. It seemed logical. He would not be joining us but mimed that he would wait for our return.
We set off on our own but soon we came to a dead-end. The trees were too close together and the ground was impassable. We decided to cross the water to the other side and follow the little trodden path embedded in to the rice field. There was no one else around and no sounds at all except water flowing, birds overhead and our feet padding along the route.
Soon, the rice fields became forest and we ended up in the same predicament as before, where the ground was impassable. We decided to physically wade through water, climbing over the rocks, heading upstream. This seemed far easier than facing the trees and brambles and the creatures they may or may not contain. We soon entered the rainforest; towering trees and vines shielding us from the sun.
We trekked for about an hour and a half upstream, with not another soul in sight. The last time we did a rainforest trek we had a guide and several other people, so this was quite special.
You just cannot recreate the same feelings or experience at home. We were alone, in the Chinese rainforest with only nature to keep us company. Extraordinary. The rainforest was completely pure, untouched by human hand. Such a beautiful experience.
Of course, the trek was not without its calamities: we slithered and skidded about on the rocks, I nearly got blinded by a precarious stick that struck my sunglasses full frontal and Lizzie clunked her head on a rather humongous – yet completely unobserved – branch.
Finally, we arrived at the waterfall, sweaty but in good spirits. Thank God the trek had been so amazing, because the waterfall was absolutely miniscule. A complete anti-climax.
We started on our return journey, only to be met with a sudden immense tropical downpour. We were completely drenched in less than 2 minutes.
Even though the rain is warm, it is unnatural to not want to take shelter when you are completely sodden; rain getting in your eyes and wetting you through to your knickers. We hid under a big tree until it subsided.
We had thoughts of being stuck in the rain forest and attacked by a leopard. We discussed how we could fight him off. Fortunately, this did not happen. We encountered many other tropical other creatures, including a very hairy caterpillar and a snake.
After another hour and a half walking downstream, following the same footprints we had made earlier, we arrived back the beginning; covered in scratches, blisters and dehydrated but in one piece. The driver was there waiting for us, thankfully. Brave as we are, a night in the rainforest alone was not on the agenda. The walk was very impressive, despite the below par waterfall itself. We have signed up for another trek tomorrow. A 2 day trek this time!
The scenery here is very different compared to the rest of China we have seen so far. The landscape is tropical and the temperature is hot all day and all night. The people look different here too and there is a much more relaxed/easy-going feeling to the area.
After the waterfall trek we went back to the ‘Random Shit Hole’, where we found the drunk owner of the hotel stumbling around in the back courtyard/car park, smoking what appeared to be a massive spliff and holding a bunch of fireworks in his hand.
He was shouting angrily up at the sky, setting light to the fireworks with his spliff and then throwing them in the air. We were not sure who/what he was angry with, as there was clearly nothing there but he continued to do this for about 15 minutes. It was gone midnight. You’d think being the owner of the hotel you would try and keep things quiet and orderly for your guests, not so in China.
After being traumatised by the handheld fireworks display, I was then faced with a screaming Lizzie running out of our bathroom…
As if our disgusting bathroom with a shower over the sewer-hole in the floor was not enough, we had a massive cockroach as a guest. It had evidently run through the open sewage pipe, up in to our shower/toilet cubicle and was now running around our room, presumably, covered in everybody elses shit.
It came scuttling in to our room and under Lizzie’s bed. Much shrieking ensued. It ran up the wall and on to the headboard. We sprayed it with 100% deet, it struggled on…
It finally crept out from under the bed where I threw a heavy guide-book on it. And there it remained until morning, just to be sure it was dead.
Tomorrow we leave at 9am for our 2 day/1 night trek. This time we have hired an English-speaking guide called ‘Mr Rush’ who will be accompanying us. Mei Mei’s café arranged it for us. We met Mr Rush tonight at Mei Mei’s and he seemed very nice; cordial, with good English.
Fingers crossed!
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