Have spent a very relaxed last few days in Jinghong. Despite looming development, Jinghong very much remains a laid back jungle town. Unlike the normal giant Chinese metropolises you can walk from one side to the other in less than an hour. Plus the palm trees and peacock/pagoda lamp posts everywhere make it a beautiful city. Peacock Lake is the place to go to see everyday traditional Chinese life in action. Retired men take their birds for a walk and gather to p...

1km down the road from our hotel in Jinghong is Manting Gongyuan. We didn't have high hopes but it turned out that this is a fantastic place to visit. Much quieter than other 'theme parks' in the area, the paths are surrounded by dense tropical plants and birdsong. We stumbled upon a Buddhist temple which took us completely by surprise. Isaac loved whacking the giant drums. Whilst enjoying the scenery we bumped into a chatty elderly chinese gentleman ...

On Easter Day we flew from Kunming to Jinghong. It was Bill's Dad's first time on a plane. he is travelling with us (and slowly driving me insane despite never speaking a word to me!) Jinghong (the region capital) is charming. I love it! Here I can still find all the things I love about China:BBQ (shao kao) stalls everywhere all night long.Beer for 30pMilk tea (nai cha) stallsAvailable taxisBig squares for dancing and gathering at nightFruit sellersTraffi...