Jinghong is 70klm from Burma’s boarder and about 200klm from Laos. It’s streets are lined with palm trees. Its footpaths are paved in colourful tiles and people can cross the road at a comfortable pace. I spoke to one “European”, who happened to be Aussie, and saw one other couple who had obviously spent far too long in Thailand and were wearing brightly coloured matching shirts and shorts. Mostly it’s just me and a sea of black hair. You might say ‘I stick out in a crowd”.
The botanic gardens are bursting with familiar tropical fruits, such as macadamia, custard apple, mango, banana, avocado, coffee etc. An amazing bridge spans the mighty Mekong River and there is a mixture of groovy modern shops as well as traditional Chinese shops crammed with their specialties such as tea, herbs, spices, and dried things unknown to me. And at the moment there are shops full of people and fire crackers and red shiny paper things ready for the Chinese New Year celebrations that start on the 6th Feb. It seems to be different from the rest of China that I’ve seen. People are more relaxed. There is a different ethnic mix.
At night the town comes alive. The Aussie guy had told me to go to the park. “It’s worth the look” he said and so I did. Wow…everyone was there ….. the park wrapped around a small artificial lake with water features lit up after dark, just beautiful ….the grounds were immaculately manicured and people of all ages swarmed around.
I wandered around taking in the relaxed atmosphere. There was a group of about 100 people of all ages doing what looked like a cross between line dancing and tai chi. I watched with heart felt amusement as one obviously senile old man had the time of his life, and must have looked forward to this time of day each evening. It was very relaxing and a positive way to see the community’s attitude towards health, fitness and well being.
As I sat I was approached by a number of masseurs that came with oils to sooth the feet and shoulders. Food vendors passed by, but nobody hassled me. Eventually I came to rest beside an older woman to sit and listen to two musicians. Another woman held out the song book (written in Chinese) and invited me to join in. The older woman offered me a piece of cardboard to sit on. It was wonderful to have an experience like this in China.
Parks are fascinating places to spend time. The next group of people over my shoulder that caught my eye was another musician again playing an instrument that I do not know the name of but is played with a bow and has a long neck joined to a coconut shaped end. Slowly a crowd gathered and joined in the circle dance…two steps forward, one back, with a few hand movements from side to side. I was asked to join in but was too shy to try ( silly me I thought!!!) A short walk away there was a loud and excited crowd packed around a central figure who was singing passionately into a karaoke machine. There was some kind of money exchange going on. It rather looked like gambling to me. I just couldn’t understand what was going on, but nobody could speak English so I never found out.
Yep, the trip to the park was worth while and the walk back to my dingy hotel very pleasant…it was certainly comforting to be in a warm climate again…and tomorrow I’ll be on my way to Laos…yippee…looking forward to it.
