"Xishuangbanna" is a Dai language, "Xishuang" means twelve, and "Banna" means one thousand acres, that is, a Banna is a unit that collects and enlists.
Xishuangbanna is the twelve Banna: Banna Jinghong, Banna Mengyang, Banna Menglong, Banna Mengwang, Banna Menghai, Banna Mengchao, Banna Meng'a, Banna Mengsha, Banna Xiding, Banna Mengla, Banna Mengpeng, and Banna Yiwu.
Xishuangbanna is located in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southern Yunnan.
It is connected to laos and Myanmar, and is close to Thailand and Vietnam. Located in Xishuangbanna, the Lancang River runs through the north and south, and after leaving the country, it is called the Mekong River, which flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before flowing into the Pacific Ocean, known as the "Eastern Danube River".
Looking at the world map, you will find that other areas at the same latitude in Xishuangbanna are almost all deserts or gobi, but the 20,000 square kilometers of land here are particularly dazzling like emeralds embedded in the crown.
The residents of Xishuangbanna are mainly Dai ethnic groups, while Dai cuisine is uniquely renowned in Yunnan cuisine, Dai cuisine is based on glutinous rice, sour and baked meat, aquatic food, mostly using wild cultivated plants as spices, with a unique national flavor.
Mummy
Mummy is a Dai word that is actually a sauce mixed with multiple ingredients. There are many types of mimi, such as "Nan bi bu" (crab sauce), "Nan Bi Pa" (Cai Zi sauce), "Nan Bi Nan Nuo" (sour shoot sauce) and nearly 10 kinds, "Nan Bi Pa" (Cai Zi sauce) is the most popular. It is usually eaten with some fried food, but if it is accompanied by local small sour fruits, the taste is too wonderful, and the sour taste is just right.
Fragrant bamboo rice
Fragrant bamboo rice is a famous dish with strong Dai family characteristics, which is made by placing rice in a bamboo tube and baking it with fire, also known as bamboo tube rice.
Boiled fish with sour shoots
Boiled fish with sour shoots is a famous dish of the Dai people. Sour shoots are made of tender bamboo that breaks out of the soil in the summer, cut into strips, add salt, spicy seeds, etc. to marinate into sour taste. Stir-fry in a frying pan a few times, add the right amount of water, bring the water to a boil before you can put in the fish and simmer together. Sour shoots can be paired with fish to remove the fishy smell of fish, but also to improve freshness. Sour and delicious, very appetizing, it can be said that it is a must-eat dish to come to Xishuangbanna.
Plantain flower stir-fried meat
Xishuangbanna has many edible flowers, the more famous one is the banana flower, which has a unique fragrance and can make a variety of dishes, including roasting, boiling, steaming, stir-frying and so on. It is a common dish on local tables.
Fried moss
In Xishuangbanna there is an immortal algae food, it is moss, fried moss is a famous local dish, Dai called "change the English". The moss is fished out of the rivers and lakes, washed, pressed into a pancake, sprinkled with some salt, ginger slices, water, mixed into ginger soup, after a long period of sun exposure to become moss flakes. Cut into small pieces and fry them in a frying pan until golden brown and eat them. It is crisp and fragrant, and has a cooling and detoxifying effect on the human body.
Lemon cold powder
A good product to cool off, with a Dai flavor, taken from Xishuangbanna lime, small size, green skin, juicy and sour. Paired with smooth rice noodles, it cools the mouth.
Pineapple purple rice
Pineapple purple rice is a specialty of Xishuangbanna. It is both a staple food and a dish, and it is relatively simple to make. You need a whole pineapple, remove the stem and the overly long pointed leaves, and cut off the pineapple lid at the top, remove the pineapple heart, soak the purple glutinous rice for 7 hours and then put it into the pineapple shell, cover the pineapple lid and cook until the aroma is fragrant.
The Dai people in Xishuangbanna are hospitable and have distinct national customs, among which wine is an ancient custom of the Dai people, and in the Ming Dynasty, there was a custom of drinking wine, and wine has become a must-have for banqueters.
Since modern times, drinking is a common hobby, men in the morning and evening two meals more like to drink a little, in the event of a festival banquet, will drink painfully and then fast, and drinking is not limited to eating, where dancing, singing, play, will be accompanied by wine, while drinking and singing and dancing.
The wine drunk is home-brewed, Dai men are good at brewing, all made of grain rice, generally not high, sweet taste, but also have a higher degree, such as Xishuangbanna Kaxuan village produced a kind of glutinous rice wine, alcohol content above 60 degrees, wine taste mellow, pouring in the cup, can foam, long lasting, called heap flower wine, far and near famous, known as "twelve Banna" of the good wine.
Dai wine and song and dance, is inseparable, not only a production lifestyle, but also contains a lot of national cultural connotations, as described in the poem: colorful costumes, corner tower elegant snacks fresh. Love songs on the banks of the Lancang River, and the folk customs of robbing marriages have become jokes. Reflecting the national characteristics of agility and enthusiasm, it makes people linger.
Xishuangbanna is an ideal and magical paradise, from the rainforest to the Buddhist temple, from dance to festivals, from Daizhai to Bayeux sutra culture, everything is so full of charm and yearning:
Over here
Pu'er tea became the national drink, and Yang Liping spread the peacock dance to the world
There is a love story of the Peacock Princess summoning the Prince of Trees
The Lancang River runs straight through Jinghong City, and the bamboo building rainforest shines together
Some people say that Xishuangbanna is very mysterious: the ancient Buddhist temple is full of light and color, the water-like gentle Dai dance is moving, the monks chant the sutra and drums, the villagers are devout (dan) Buddha (a kind of prayer ceremony for the Dai people to donate treasures to the temple to eliminate disasters and blessings), the tropical rainforest is green and embraces all things, and the paradise of strange cuisine.
In short, Xishuangbanna has a variety of styles, pleasant scenery, and all-encompassing, which only those who have been there can appreciate.
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