Text/Northeast Old Soup
Winter in Shenyang, as always. The long snow season is wrapped in a matte sky dome, pulling away from the color itself, and in stark contrast to the lights of thousands of homes, it is only people's "righteousness" helplessness. Finally, in this rare winter in the northeast, traveling south has become a decision that my family and I unanimously passed this year.
I'm ashamed to say that I have turned 30 this year, and I have never had a long-distance experience during the Spring Festival, let alone flying to the south hundreds of kilometers away. In mid-December, when the idea of "going south for the New Year" was first mentioned at home, the irrepressible physical excitement was enough to make me forget the steadiness that a 30-year-old should have.
"Goodbye, Northeast. I'm going to have to go out and have a look this winter! ”
Winter travel, even in the relatively warm south, the suitcase can not escape the input blessing of a piece of cold suit. Thick down, must-have autumn pants, bibs, gloves, cotton socks... Until stuffed enough to be bulky, leaving no extra space.
But if, I chose Xishuangbanna this year...
The empty 20-inch suitcase in front of you may have more possibilities.
Earlier, donkey friends had sworn to me: "To spend the winter, you have to go to Xishuangbanna!" The one-piece coat is the last respect the locals have for winter. At the time, it seemed like nothing more than a joke.
It wasn't until the first week after New Year's Day, when I made up my mind to take my family to Banna for the New Year, that I began to re-examine the novelty of this land at 21° north latitude: even if you look across the country, it is difficult to find a pleasant winter like Xishuangbanna, with outdoor temperatures around 25 ° C and early summer vitality everywhere, throwing away the solid image of cold, cool and stylish outside is the correct posture for winter travel to Banna.
On the evening of January 16, I closed my suitcase. I wanted to rest early to prepare for tomorrow's long trip, but obviously this is not reliable... I tried to suggest that I was no longer imagining those tropical images, but when I opened my eyes again, the hands of the watch had already landed at one o'clock in the morning.
On January 17, the flight penetrated the dusk and arrived at Xishuangbanna Jinghong Airport as scheduled, even after experiencing the insomnia of the previous night plus the toss of the transfer, the residual temperature of my body was still undiminished, just after stepping out of the airport, I took out my camera and took a wild shot at this unprecedented "warm winter summer scene".
On the way along the highway to Jinghong City, the scattered temples and temples outside the window echo and complement the tropical rainforest. For a time, a variety of superimposed colors that have been mixed by nature came to the face, as if they were in the long-shot picture of a road movie, although it was heavy and colorful, but there was no sense of violation. It was also from this moment that all my previous visions of Xishuangbanna were fulfilled in the next scene transformation.
Hotel location is especially important for travel arrangements. According to the plan, we settled in a folk inn on the banks of the Lancang River near the bar street, only 5 minutes away from the city, and this is also the only way to the Wild Elephant Valley, Forest Park, Dai Garden, Botanical Garden and other punch card attractions.
The next morning, with the anticipation of the vivid context of last night's innkeeper, we came to the confluence of a stream in the southern section of the Lancang River, the dawn had just climbed over the mountain, and the camera in place in advance had fixed the focus on the unknown Dai family village behind the mist, the sun crossed the eaves, the first wisp of cooking smoke rose, and the villagers went out one by one, chatting and joking, enjoying the Banna-style warm winter life that the outside world could not reach.
Locals say: "Along the banks of the river in Banna, villages like this abound, and if you are lucky, you can still take pictures of villagers catching in winter, or you can simply row a boat to the lake with the fishing villagers and be an authentic Dai family." ”
Rainforest encounters, the ambiguous time of "Meng Balanasi" narrates the most beautiful encounters in the interlaced passage of late winter and early spring. In terms of intuitive experience, choosing this time to travel can just avoid the humid and hot rainy season in Xishuangbanna. Punch in the street, don't worry about wearing autumn pants deliberately concave shape; when you go out to watch the scenery, you don't have to worry about the monotony of the winter scenery and be disappointed... Free, natural, white space about the warm winter in Xishuangbanna was told in my first encounter with her.
After a short stop, we packed up our equipment and traveled south along the Kunmo Expressway towards the Wangtianshu Scenic Area in Mengla County. Warm, moist negative ion air envelops every inch of skin, even if the road is bumpy, it does not affect the comfort of the roaming oxygen bar.
For the Wangtian Tree, it is the most representative landscape in the Daytime period of Banna. Words such as "the only oasis at 21 degrees north latitude of the earth" and "the only tropical rainforest recognized by the world in China" are cherished in various media expressions. Although I have not seen it with my own eyes, the above name is also tempting enough.
After arriving at the scenic spot, first take a speedboat ride from the Nanla River, and then walk along the dense forest trail, which is mainly based on ornamental rare plants, scorpion tail flowers, dancing grasses, mysterious fruits, and flame trees can all be presented. If it was all appetizers before, then the ensuing "sky corridor" is the real main dish of the Wangtianshu Scenic Area.
A 36-meter-high canopy corridor winds for hundreds of meters, surrounded by tropical forest communities of more than 60 meters, green branches and green leaves gathered at the top, with the potential to plunge into the sky. After a psychological struggle with our families, we packed lightly, waded into the secret of the Tianshu Rainforest, and came into contact with the tropical scenery at zero distance. Perhaps, this is the best choice for sharing parent-child time!
It is said that the lights at night are the most unmissable fragments of Xishuangbanna. This sentence is used in the two scenes of the west of the village is just right.
Back at Jinghong's residence, the clarity after bathing will sweep away the fatigue of the day's journey. The afterglow ends, the border town at the beginning of the lanterns, and the customs of the Six Kingdoms blend together, just like a Yunnan version of the "Qingming River Map". We wandered forward in the glimpse of the lakelight, only the coolness of the gentle breeze suddenly reminded people that it was winter.
Stopping at the banks of the Lancang River, the Exotic Elements of Southeast Asia, such as The Shwedagon Pagoda, the FlowerIng Field, the Six Kingdoms Floating Market, the Southeast Asian Food Island, and the Cruise Ship Terminal, together constitute the unique night market scenery of Xishuangbanna. As the "top brand" night market in Xishuangbanna, the "Starlight Night Market", the colorful paper umbrellas supported by tens of thousands of vendors are naturally formed in the disorderly composition, and the eye-catching amazement is still unforgettable to me.
Here, either find a corner to drink until late at night, or rush home with your family in the bustling city... Life is different because of "artificiality", even on winter nights, Xishuangbanna is still enthusiastic like fire.
As early as a week before I decided on my trip to Banna's warm winter, my experienced friend listed a bunch of keywords about his foodie experience: grilled fish, sour shoots, fragrant bamboo rice, Nanmi, Luo... Must eat, and so on. After some brainwashing, the imaginary sour and spicy energy occupied almost my entire taste buds, until now I was sitting on the bank of the Lancang River...
Night markets, food, the two are always inseparable in the context of Xishuangbanna. If you don't eat an authentic Banna delicacy in the lancang river's most well-known night market group, this trip is bound to be not perfect. According to the previous idea, my family and I found a Dai family bamboo building located on the riverside, blowing the warm winter river breeze, the lights and shadows swaying, and the first time was substituted into the scene of the Dai family style.
As we all know, the Dai people will "sour" as the main taste, and the food culture of Xishuangbanna is naturally closely related to acid.
Boiled chicken with sour bamboo shoots, as a famous dish of the Dai family overseas, must go to Xishuangbanna to taste fresh. Sour shoots are the soul of this dish, the young bamboo shoots unearthed in summer are shelled, cut into strips, jared, salted, spicy seeds, etc., pickled to make sour for later use. The meat is tender and sour, and can be used as an appetizer all year round.
Fragrant bamboo grilled rice, the staple food carrier must be Xishuangbanna fragrant bamboo, at first glance, the method of fragrant bamboo grilled rice is similar to bamboo tube rice, are made of 3 sections of tender fragrant bamboo, one end leaves the knot as the bottom, and the other saws off the bamboo knot for the mouth. And its biggest highlight is a "roast" word, the bamboo tube is placed obliquely on the chestnut fire to cook, when the appearance is browned, the bamboo tube is cracked, take out the sticky rice pillar tightly wrapped by the bamboo film, with a glass of wine, between the cheeks and teeth is mellow.
Dai flavor fried cowhide, soak the sun-dried cowhide in a butter pan and slowly fry, when the cowhide is foamed and slightly yellow, you can remove it. Undoubtedly, this is not a delicate dish, but the refreshing taste after simple and rough is enough to make people obsessed. Locals often eat fried beef skin dipped in sour horn sauce, which can also be used to make rice noodles and dried rice, and tipped Titian is a must!
Nan secret, just listening to the name is enough to catch my curiosity, waiting for the food to be served, the lightweight shape and color combination are even more unbearable to take out the mobile phone and take a hard shot. Nanmi is a local specialty sauce made of green vegetables, tomatoes, bamboo shoots, peppers, fish, yellow eels and peanuts. Served with dried crab sauce, the fragrance, sour and spicy roll on the tip of the tongue, and all the restraints have long been forgotten in one bite.
Of course, Xishuangbanna at night must not be less accompanied by barbecue, compared to the Sichuan-style barbecue that runs rampant in the national stalls, Banna can be described as a school of its own.
The reason I say this is that the barbecue here once made me "flattered". Smelling the smell of lemongrass, a glance swept by, roast chicken, grilled fish, grilled meat are all counted as a whole, and the usual self-proclaimed heroism finally bowed his head here.
Near midnight, a meal full of sleepiness suddenly appeared, stepping on the dappled traces of light and shadow, and the first day of Banna's warm winter trip was a complete end. Although this is my first contact with Xishuangbanna, it is undeniable that the fit of time has indeed brought me an unprecedented warm winter experience. As an old friend said: go to Banna, except for the mouth and eyes, everything seems superfluous.