Jinghong, China to Luang Probang, Laos and our first exchange of friendship letters

We had a great two days in Jinghong, resting our legs and our sore butts, and refueling with lots of spicy Dai style food and Beer Lao. We were even lucky enough to receive a blessing from one of the head Buddhist monks at a Southeast Asian style temple.

In Jinghong the governor of Xishuangbanna Prefecture also presented us with some friendship letters to transfer on our journey as Xishuangbanna is the hub between Southeast Asia and the rest of China.

The road from Jinghong was awesome. A newly built highway that runs all the way to the border, cutting right through the mountains and over the deep valleys. The scenery was gorgeous, but unfortunately 90% of the forests have been clear-cut and replaced with massive rubber tree forests.








We took three days to reach the border of Laos, and both nights we stayed in some beautiful parks and natural reserves. The first night we stayed in China's largest botanical garden and Science Academy. After a lovely tour of the garden, a meeting was set up between the leading academics, the park officials, and us to discuss the purpose of our trip and the content of our environmental message, as well as seek advise from Fei Bao on how to better market the park so that environmental conservation promoted throughout China.


The next day we stayed at a wonderful tropical rainforest preserve containing both the largest trees in China, as well the highest canopy walk in the world. The park was very pristine, and also filled with loads of entertainment including:

Haidong having a toast with three beautiful singing ladies

Fei Bao cycling the highest canopy walk in the world. A new world record?

After three days of traveling in Xishuangbanna, we finally arrived at the border with Laos and I can't tell you how relieved I was to leave the chaos of China behind, especially the constant presence of reporters, and enter into a completely different world. Lao style of life is still totally uninfluenced by the West and as soon as we left the border town that became quite clear. Children playing naked in the streets, adults showering in public and no Internet anywhere within miles. Our group was lost without access to the outside world, but at the same time totally in awe.


It took three plus days to get to Luang probang from the border, but we have enjoyed it all, even all the mountains in between. The scenery was spectacular and the outgoing friendliness of the local people is inspiring. Every person we saw greeted us with a "Sabaidee!" Lao for hello, and many children would run with us for a little while laughing and waving.

Today we exchanged our first friendship letters to the office of Foreign Affairs in the World Heritage Site of Luang Probang.

 For more photos check out my picassa album and the other team member's blogs (see right side panel).