Apr 12, Sunday, Puzhehei to Jinghong

Frank is having phone issues…we started out at 9:00 for a six+ hour drive to the airport, got about 15 or 20 minutes into it when he realized he had left the phone at the hotel.  So back we went.  That did give us more time to take yet more pictures (as if we didn't have enough).

The drive back to Kunming was a little clearer today so we were able to see the mountains and valleys much better.

There were large sections of hillsides covered with black coverings.  Frank said that they were growing various Chinese medicines under the structures.

We saw more pretty villages.

More livestock along/in the roads.

Here are some pictures of the typical restaurants that we have been eating at.  Pick out whatever you want and they'll fix it.

Buddha with hand:

As we approached Kunming we saw more of the stone forest formations along the road.

When we finally got to the airport at 5:00 we had another surprise, Paul’s name was misspelled (“Pual”) in the airline reservation system so they wouldn’t check him in.  It took Frank nearly an hour to get it straightened out as it is Sunday and no one was at the travel office.  We don’t know if they actually fixed the problem of if they just bought Paul another ticket.  Either way, we made our flight to Jinghong in far southern China.

Jinghong is the capital of the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, which shares a border with Myanmar (Burma) and Laos.  It is on the Burma Road, which played an important role in World War II.

We are staying at an immense Crowne Plaza.  The architecture of the hotel and in the general area has a strong Thai feel.  We are only about 110 miles from the Myanmar border and about the same to Laos.  Also, the largest minority group in the area is the Dai, who are, in Thailand, called Thai.

Peacocks roamed outside the dining room at the hotel, and would occassionally need to be chased out of the dining room.