Xishuangbanna

There are lots of different minorities in China, from the Han people to the Dai people. Yunnan in particular has the most variation and population of many of these minorities. The Dai people celebrate the ‘Water Festival’ and it is mainly held in the southern part of the Yunnan province in a place called Xishuangbanna. This is one of those one in a life time festivals where you get to have fun with the local people and get absolutely drenched in the process. The Dai people believe that by throwing water on each other we cleanse our souls and it will bring us good luck in the New Year!

Luckily for me, my Chinese teacher from Kunming, Cathy, who is the nicest and most caring woman I have ever met happened to move back to her native area of china, Xishuangbanna, and offered to let all of the volunteers stay with her and show us around, an offer we could not turn down! So on Friday 8^th April, at about 8pm, Zoe, Nat, Maddy and I hoped on a ‘sleeper bus’ from my hometown of Yuxi and got ourselves comfy for the 7 hour, overnight bus journey. The sleeper bus is basically a bus with bunk beds on, a pretty nifty system if you ask me! They aren’t the most spacious of beds so the best way to sleep is just on your back but I was very happy to find that it was the softest and most comfy bed I had slept on in China at that point. In no time I was asleep…..well I had to be after some crazy Chinese lady basically went all mortal combat on Nat and I, telling us to ‘shut up!!...please’ ahh how the Chinese are so polite!

We arrived in Xishuangbanna at about 3am, but luckily the bus driver let us stay on the bus and sleep until about 6:30am. This place is so far south it is basically on the borders of Cambodia and Thailand. The heat was pretty strong at 6:30am, around 30 degrees and 80% humidity. So I did what all English people would have done at this point, seek refuge in the local KFC and sit under the air conditioning until I had plucked up the courage to step outside and bear the heat.  Xishuangbanna was the closest thing I could get to the Thailand I was craving. The buildings, the people and the food was so reminiscent of Thailand and Koh Samui I felt right at home, yet still not used to the now 35 degree heat and 90% humidity!

We met Cathy, dropped our bags off and headed to a botanical garden in the middle of the City. The place was pretty huge and Odette (one of the Auzzie girls volunteering here) thought it would be a great idea to rent a golf cart instead of walking. That was until we found out it was £20 for an hour. It was so hot and my pure white baby soft skin was not enjoying the burning rays of the sun, however it was a beautiful place with lots of incredible flowers and even a small lake. We ended up spending about 3 hours here. With everyone well and truly exhausted, we headed to a local place for some ice cold drinks, ice cream, oh and some pickle chillies..yum?

That night we went to a pretty famous place for the locals for dinner called MeiMei’s. A western/Asian restaurant with a pretty big following. I almost collapsed looking into the place. There was white people everywhere, speaking English. At first I thought I should say some Chinese racist remarks towards them like I am victim to a lot of the time, then I realised that I am in fact not Chinese. I then relished in the fact I could people watch and eavesdrop and actually understand what they were saying, paradise! Good food and good company, followed by a good night sleep.

The next day was finally time for the water festival! We got on a 2 hour bus to a remote village in the South Western Mountains of China.  Here the streets were crowded with people, happy and celebrating the fact it was their water festival. It’s bigger than Christmas here. We went down some dirt paths and ended up in a field with hundreds of people, crammed together. The smoke of BBQ filled the air, people screaming Chinese phrases and offering to show me a good time were also a common occurrence here. We made our way through the crowd until BAM, some little Chinese kids attacked us all with some water balloons. Thus began the war of the western adults VS the Chinese kids in what can only be described as the most epic war since WW2. It would have been even better if we had been armed with water bombs and pistols instead of just standing there, crying, in the hope that they would soon stop, 2 hours later, they did. Drenched and hungry but still very happy we went for some local delicacies. They were pretty good, unlike the rest of China this place knew that Chilli does NOT have to be added to everything!

Once we had eaten we were hit by the news we would not be making it home that night, even though we were all due to teach the following morning. Luckily with a bit of talking, the odd sexual favour and Adam offering cigarettes to people, we finally managed to get a bus to Simao, where some of the volunteers are and then another sleeper bus to Yuxi that night. Making it back by 5am and teaching at 8am. It was an incredible place and an amazing weekend. Thank you Cathy!