The time went back to 5 o'clock in the morning on December 29, 2018. The reporter walked from his home in Beijing to Guang'anmen to the bus station of the Capital Airport. Departed on 22. After nearly four hours of flight, it arrived at Kunming Changshui Airport at 12:20 noon; after that, it continued to transfer to Jinghong at 14:00, and arrived at Xishuangbanna Gasa International Airport at 15:00 on the same day. The sunny sky on the way from Kunming turned to drizzle when we arrived in Jinghong. However, the ground temperature was 23 degrees. From minus 10 degrees in Beijing, wearing a down jacket, the reporter obviously felt a little hot.
Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, this is also the first time since December 1998 in the last century, the reporter came here to shoot a large-scale TV series "Chinese National Sports--Dai Ethnic Group" and set foot on this southern holy land again after 20 years. Xishuangbanna, known as Mengle in ancient times, is a branch of the ancient Yue people. During the Three Kingdoms and Jin Dynasties and before, it was under the jurisdiction of Yongchang County. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the 12 Dai tribes in the Xishuangbanna area "泐Xishuangbang" worshiped the Tian Dynasty as the "king of heaven" and were rewarded. In the fourth year of Taiding (1327 A.D.), the "Cheli Military and Civilian Consolation Commissioner" was changed, and Kan Meng was appointed as the Consolation Commissioner. In the 932nd year of the Dai calendar (AD 1570), in order to distribute the tribute, Zhao Yingmeng, the consolation envoy, divided the area under his jurisdiction into 12 "He circles", that is, "Xishuangbanna" (meaning 12 Bannas), which is the name of Xishuangbanna The reason. On January 23, 1953, the Dai Autonomous Region of Xishuangbanna was formally established, and the capital of the autonomous region was located in Jinghong, which is now Xishuangbanna.
On the way from the airport to the hotel, looking at the scenery outside the window, I couldn't help recalling my many trips to Yunnan. The reporter has a deep relationship with Yunnan. I remember that the first time I came to Yunnan was in April 1994, when I went to Dali to shoot the TV series "The Fishing City" with the director of Beiying Huang Jianzhong. Very impressed. What impressed me the most was that I came to Yunnan for the second time at the end of October 1998 to shoot the feature film "Chinese National Sports". During that one-and-a-half month period, we traveled from southeastern Yunnan to northwestern Yunnan, and basically traveled all over Yunnan Province, shooting about a dozen ethnic groups such as Hani, Lahu, Naxi, Dai, Yao, Nu, Lisu, and Jingpo. And after that, self-driving, traveling, participating in activities, etc., I can't remember the specific number of times I came to Yunnan. But in any case, Yunnan is one of the reporter's favorite places.
After a night's rest on December 30, the reporter started the itinerary for the competition. The 2018 "Junfa Cup" Scenic China Cycling League Yunnan? Jinghong Finals, hosted by the China Scenic Area Association, organized by the People's Government of Jinghong City, Yunnan Province, co-organized by the Xishuangbanna Bicycle Association, exclusively named by Junfa Group, and exclusively by Shizhi Sports operate. The competition and the public "ride" to the New Year's Eve. More than ten professional teams and more than a thousand contestants gathered in Xishuangbanna to create a classic New Year's Eve cycling event and cheer for the arrival of 2019! The professional event service and the beautiful scenery of the venue jointly contributed to an annual final battle to welcome the arrival of the new year and also opened a new starting point for the "sports + tourism" development model.
The 30th is the day before the official opening of the competition. Since the current schedule passes through Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant Valley and Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park, under the arrangement of the competition press officer Wu Taidi, the reporter and media reporters Wu Hao and Li Lin from Hainan, two The young and handsome guy who is full of vigor went to these two places to shoot together. After less than an hour's drive from the Jindi Hotel where we stayed, we first arrived at the Wild Elephant Valley, 47 kilometers away from Jinghong, to collect scenery. This is the most fascinating forest park in Xishuangbanna and a tourist attraction for viewing wild elephant activities. It is named Wild Elephant Valley because wild elephants often come and go.
Wild Elephant Valley is located in the valley of the Sancha River in the Mengyang Nature Reserve to the north of Jinghong, with a total area of about 370 hectares, a building area of more than 2,800 square meters, and a water area of 8,000 square meters. It is a landform of low mountains, shallow hills and wide valleys. 747 meters to 1055 meters. There are animal viewing area, primeval forest adventure tourism area and reception center in the park. Because this is the most concentrated and frequent place for wild elephant activities, coupled with convenient transportation and unique tropical forest landscape, it has become one of the famous tourist hotspots in Xishuangbanna.
Walking into the Wild Elephant Valley, the reporter and his party first came to the scenic spot called "Elephant School", and saw a warm and extraordinary elephant performance being held here. In the middle surrounded by many audiences is a rectangular viewing performance area. Under the command and tame of the elephant trainers, more than a dozen elephants play football, painting, math, rings and other programs in a witty way, which arouses the scene from time to time. The audience applauded and cheered enthusiastically. At the other end of the performance area, tourists can also use ladders to climb up the elephant and ride on the back of the elephant to take pictures. It can be said that they have intimate contact with the elephants at zero distance. It is reported that 16 performing elephants are domesticated here, and it is also the first elephant training school in my country.
Walking in the Wild Elephant Valley, people can see that there are some big tree hotels and other facilities built here. If tourists are patient and lucky, they may see wild elephants drinking and bathing by the river within a day or two. In history, China is a country that produces images. After thousands of years of vicissitudes, there are only about 300 Asian elephants living and multiplying in the primeval forest of Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Elephants live in the Xiaomengla Reserve and Mengyu Reserve, and are domestic elephants. The elephants in the Mengla Reserve are international elephants. They have their own channel, the elephant road, and often travel between China and Laos.
There are many routes to choose from for sightseeing in the Wild Elephant Valley. The reporter and his party first came to the cableway station and took the cable car up the mountain. During the half-hour ride on the cable car, people can watch wild elephants from different angles from top to bottom. Unique views in the valley. Due to the continuous light rain that day, the scattered and undulating mountains in the distance were shrouded in patches of floating white clouds, like a fairyland.
Looking down is a lush tropical rainforest landscape. For some reason on the way, the reporter remembered the memory of taking the cable car to the top of the cloud in Malaysia, perhaps because the cable cars in the air are all in the dense tropical rainforest.
Arrive at the cableway station at the top of the mountain and get off the cable car, you can walk on the sightseeing plank road in the Wild Elephant Valley. Today, the main scenic area of Wild Elephant Valley has built elevated corridors and forest bars for tourists to watch wild elephant activities. Come to the circular observatory and look down. The loess-colored river that has just rained has turned into a rolling river. If you look carefully by the river, you can see the footprints of elephants. However, after waiting for a long time, there was no sign of the elephant. The good thing is that there is a TV on the observatory, which plays the rare scenes of elephants in turn. What is particularly interesting is that a few elephants walked along the road and smashed the small sleeping car parked by the roadside with their huge bodies. The real record made the reporter feel sorry for the owners of the destroyed vehicles.
Photo of Wild Elephant Valley
According to records, Xishuangbanna Sanchahe Nature Reserve is famous for its unique tropical virgin forest landscape and hundreds of wild Asian elephants. In the park, there used to be an elephant pond where wild elephants often come and go for drinking water. Since the late 1980s, the relevant units of the National Nature Reserve have put salt on the riverside near the elephant pond to lure wild elephants for a long time. Wild elephants from time to time appear by the river to drink water around the elephant pond and lick the artificially added salt. Therefore, since 1991, Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve, a national nature reserve, has built an observatory and observation shed here to conduct scientific observation of wild elephants.
Wild Elephant Valley began to invest in construction in 1990, and officially opened to receive domestic and foreign tourists in 1996. The area has vertical and horizontal river valleys, dense forests, and a tropical rainforest scenery. In addition to Asian wild elephants, there are bison, green peacocks, macaques and other rare animals. Since the scenic spot is located at the junction of the east and west areas of Mengyang Nature Reserve, there are many birds and animals, and it is a passage for various animals to parade. Therefore, it has become the only place in Xishuangbanna where wild elephants can be seen.
At present, there are 2936 meters of elevated corridors for observation, 1886 meters of high-altitude cableways, and 3380 meters of newly built walking trails. It can be said that the Wild Elephant Valley is full of mystery and strangeness; its beautiful natural scenery and thrilling adventure activities here will be pleasing to the eye and will be unforgettable for a lifetime.
In the afternoon of the same day, the reporter, Wu Hao and Li Lin continued to go to Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park to collect folk songs. The park is located next to the Kunluo Highway, 8 kilometers north of Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province, with an altitude of 500-1000 meters. There are strange tropical rainforest landscapes and special topography. Mysterious clouds, mountains and seas of mist and rich ethnic customs. Since the forest park was built in 1999 and officially opened to the outside world, it has attracted many tourists and scientific workers at home and abroad with its magical and beautiful features.
To enter the scenic spot, you must first take a sightseeing car and go straight to the mountain before you can enter the virgin forest. If Xishuangbanna is a paradise for elephants, green peacocks, gibbons, bison and other rare animals, it is the "Animal Kingdom", or. It is a place where national key protected plants such as Wangtianshu, Banna green plum, and Meidengmu gather together. It is "the emerald in the crown of the plant kingdom". Then, Xishuangbanna Primeval Forest Park is a bright spot on this emerald.
After entering the forest park with the sound of gongs and elephant drums, the plants with the characteristics of tropical regions are greeted by people: scattered and orderly coconut trees, oil palms, palm sunflowers, fishtail sunflowers, betel nuts, and huge leaves Blow in the wind. Entering the original tropical rainforest scenic spot, I saw the dense forest covering the sky and the sun, and the vines intertwined. Intertwined. The upper arbors include terminalia chinensis, longan velvet, neem, and tianliao, etc., with an average tree height of more than 30 meters, an average diameter at breast height of 40-50 cm, stalwart and sturdy: followed by Baiyan tree, soft-leaved wild paulownia, etc., with an average height of more than 30 meters. More than 20 meters, medium build. There are many kinds of trees in the lower layer, such as cycads, Meideng wood, dracaena, bamboo and so on. According to statistics by botanists, there are more than 130 kinds of higher plants in an area of less than 50 square meters, which can be seen as one of the biodiversity in the rainforest.
Another peculiar phenomenon seen in the rainforest scenic area is that dozens of epiphytic plants such as bird's nest fern, crown fern, and epiphytic orchid grow or climb slowly on tall trees and branches, blooming various flowers. A cluster, a string, a cluster. Colorful, woven into a natural "sky garden", observe carefully in the rainforest. Lianas, aerial roots and buttocks can be seen everywhere. Fish vines, snake vines, uncaria, and kylin leaves criss-cross in the forest, and some are like dragons. Straight up to the edge of the forest. Some cling to the trees and intertwine with each other; the thick aerial roots of the banyan tree make it difficult to distinguish the true and false trunks, and a single tree forms a forest; the large buttress roots of the four trees are like a "retaining wall" to protect the soil and prevent rainwater scour.
It is said that the people of Xishuangbanna often call the period from November to February of the following year the fog season. In Xishuangbanna Primeval Forest Park, there are more than 100 days of fog a year, which is more than that of Chongqing, the "fog capital". This kind of fog usually rises from one or two o'clock in the night and dissipates slowly at around twelve noon. In the fog, you will feel moist and cool, and when it dissipates for a while, your eyes will be fresh. Fog, full of water vapor, brings vitality to plants; fog is a magical veil, making visitors experience a fantasy world.
There are several miracle fruits planted in the rare botanical garden of the park. Miracle fruit belongs to the Sapotaceae plant, which is native to tropical West Africa and is a peculiar tropical fruit tree. The fruit not only has miraculous effects but also the shape of the tree is a good material for making bonsai. The pulp of the miracle fruit is sweet and sour, extremely delicious, and has a special refreshing feeling after eating. Especially when you eat a miracle fruit, and then eat sour food such as lemon, sour plum, sauerkraut, etc., you will always feel sweet and amazing.
The Caiyang River flows along the foot of the mountain and the edge of the forest in the park, with green bamboos dancing on both sides. In the middle section of Caiyang River, the mountains on both sides are relatively steep. The environment here is quiet and quiet. There used to be a small natural waterfall. The craftsmen were ingenious and adapted to the situation, raised and widened, and built a unique artificial waterfall. Although the waterfall does not have the majestic momentum of "flying down three thousand feet", it has the fairy appearance of flowing silver and jade. Under the waterfall is a deep pool, in which there are nine dragons and a warrior subduing the dragon. Tourists take a walk in front of Jiulong Waterfall, and they can also see the beautiful shadows of Dai girls bathing in the pool, and listen to folk songs played with national musical instruments.
The national characteristic landscapes and tourism projects in the forest park are rich and colorful, such as Manshuanglong White Pagoda, 100-meter relief, Aini Shanzhai, Tiannan No. 1 Drum, and large-scale ethnic performance hall, which are very rich in ethnic customs. In the Aini Shanzhai, tourists can participate in activities held by the Aini people: in the Fengqing Garden, people can participate in the Songkran Festival; in the performing arts field, they can watch the colorful costumes of Yunnan ethnic minorities: next to the Jiulong Waterfall. You can listen to music played by various beautiful national musical instruments. The most exciting performances are "Firing Fire", "Eating Fire", "Stepping on Broken Glass", "Changing the Knife Mountain", "Eating Raw Meat and Drinking Raw Blood", "Chewing Betel Nuts", " shave".
The Dai and Blang people in Xishuangbanna of Manshuanglong Baita all believe in Theravada Buddhism. Every village has a Buddhist temple, and almost all the boys will go to the Buddhist temple to become young monks when they are seven or eight years old. The pagoda can be said to be one of the symbolic buildings for local people to believe in Buddhism. There is also a pagoda in the forest park, named "Manshuanglong White Pagoda", which is very white and magnificent.
The Golden Lake, located next to the Peacock Villa in the Forest Park, was the last scenic spot that the reporter arrived at. The clouds and mists above the lake, like veils and thin clouds, sometimes gather and sometimes disperse. The water surface of Golden Lake is wide, 2-4 meters deep, clear as a mirror, and the graceful betel nuts, coconut trees, palms, banyan trees, hibiscus, and red mulberry on the shore are reflected in the lake, just like a beautiful gouache painting. There are two unique pavilions built in the lake, one is called the Prince Pavilion and the other is called the Princess Pavilion. According to legend, this is the moving place where Zhaoshutun and the peacock princess Nanmu Nuona met and made love by the side of the golden lake. Today, peacocks are seen foraging and playing on the grass by the lake, creating a peaceful and harmonious scene. The daily release of peacocks is the most popular sightseeing item here. Flocks of peacocks fly over the Golden Lake, which is very spectacular.
The tropical rainforest area of Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park provides rich food sources and good habitat for the survival and reproduction of wild animals. In the vast forest, on the forest canopy, beautiful tropical birds such as bee-eaters and spider-catchers are busy catching insects hidden among the leaves and branches, and parrots, hornbills, munias and weavers are on the branches with macaques and flat-topped birds. monkeys, gibbons. Sometimes macaques and gibbons can't find food in the forest; they often come to visit the monkey garden in the forest park. After a full meal, Wen goes back to the forest. In the grass and by the ditches, monitor lizards, boa constrictors, and cobras can often be seen hiding their heads and showing their tails; in the vegetable seedling river and streams, you can find black-webbed tree frogs, ratites, mountain turtles, naked-eared flying lizards, and crabs. In the eyes of ordinary people, the appearance of these animals seems a bit ugly, but they play an important role in maintaining the balance of the tropical forest ecosystem.
The reporter and his party finished the sightseeing in the primeval forest and returned to Jinghong City to the Jinghong Shwedagon Pagoda in the urban area, also known as the Myanmar Shwedagon Pagoda. After all, it has another name of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar, because the reporter went to Myanmar in late January 2018 and visited the famous two Shwedagon Pagodas in Burma, Bago and Yangon. Now I see the Shwedagon Pagoda in Jinghong, so I feel very familiar and friendly at once.
The Yunnan Jinghong Shwedagon Pagoda project officially started construction on November 16, 2009, and was successfully capped on November 3, 2010. Walking into the courtyard of the Shwedagon Pagoda, you can see the majestic Jinghong Shwedagon Pagoda with a height of 66.6 meters, implying that one river connects six countries. Among them, the four small pagodas are solid pagodas, and the large pagoda is the Bayeux Scripture Museum. There are two floors of usable space , there are four entrances from east to west, north to south, and Zhou Buddha is enshrined around the central tower for tourists to pray for blessings. There are also Baye Culture Study Centers around them, which display some of the ancient Bayeux scriptures in their collections, to represent the stories of Dai cultural heritage. The Dai culture inheritance area with carving themes, allusions, legends, etc., the miniature version of all famous pagodas in the Mekong River Basin collected or solicited through different channels, built with pure handicrafts, and the Mekong River domain name pagoda display area that extracts the essence of pagoda culture from various countries .
The second floor of the Shwedagon Pagoda is mainly used to collect special utensils used in the life of the Dai people, ancient farming tools of the Dai people, living tools, clothing, etc. The folk custom exhibition area of the Dai national culture collection and exhibition center. The first floor and the second floor are connected by spiral stairs, and there are exits around the second floor to go up to the roof of the first floor for viewing, overlooking the Lancang River, downtown Jinghong and the entire west of Gaozhuang. In the tower room, a vertical space is made around the central tower column, and the sunlight pours down, illuminating the middle area of the entire tower, like the light of Buddha.
Compared with the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, the Shwedagon Pagoda in Xishuangbanna in front of you looks different. Although both are unique and have their own characteristics, they both have a solemn and majestic momentum, which is admirable. Walking into the courtyard of the Shwedagon Pagoda Temple, facing the Buddha statue in front of you and the surrounding atmosphere, people immediately feel a kind of calm and devout worship.
Xishuangbanna has both a very charming night scene and a bustling night market, among which the famous Starlight World. However, the reporter had already been to the Shwedagon Pagoda Temple near Starlight World during the day, so he did not go there at night, but chose to walk around the hotel where he was staying. It takes less than ten minutes to walk to Jiang'an Avenue from the Golden Land Hotel where we stayed. The commercial street restaurants under the lights here are also decorated with individuality, forming a beautiful scenery along the Lancang River. Standing on the bank of the river and looking around, whether it is the yachts on the river or the restaurants and coffee shops on the shore, they are all very prosperous. It is indeed a scenic spot in Xishuangbanna at night.
At 9:00 on December 31, 2018, in the rainy Xishuangbanna Splashing Square, the 2018 China Cycling League Jingyun? Jinghong finals started on time. This year's event is divided into three 70.3-kilometer-long professional competition groups and a national fitness cycling group. The difficult climbing track is not a small challenge for the drivers. This is also the second difficult stage of the itinerary after the Sichuan Fengjie that the reporter has experienced since participating in the China League event gathering. After the men's open group, the mountain group and the women's group set off one after another, the reporter also took the media car No. 1 driven by Liu Wenkui to the finish line in Dadugang Township, Jinghong.
Dadugang Township is located in the north of Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province. The highest altitude here is 1797.3 meters, the lowest altitude is 688 meters, and the average annual temperature is 18°C. In 2011, it was rated as "National Ecological Township"; in 2013, it was rated as "National One Village, One Product" Demonstration Town". In 2013, it was awarded the title of "China's Beautiful Garden" by the Ministry of Agriculture. The reporter first arrived at the finish line in Dadugang Township and waited for the arrival of the athletes. While there was still a period of time, the reporter walked around in the light rain, and saw that the pastoral scenery surrounded by distant mountains was very beautiful and peaceful.
At about 11:30 in the morning, the first contestant in the open group, Shi Wentong from the China RT Express Team, took the lead in sprinting to win the championship. Then, teammate Huang Guanghong also passed the finish line and won the runner-up. His two results also helped the team win the team championship, and Hu Tiantian from the Novic UCC team crossed the finish line third.
In addition, the mountain group players who participated in this event were not to be outdone, and challenged to the finish line on the same track. Yang Qihang from the Ivy China Team and He Chong from the Hainan Qiongzhong Benge Team won the men’s and women’s championships. Especially during the official race, more than hundreds of cyclists from the National Fitness Group also successfully completed the 5-kilometer cycling experience. It can be described as a successful closing match for the China Freedom Federation at the end of this year. That night, with the celebration banquet held at Jinyuan Century Hotel in Xishuangbanna, it also marked the successful conclusion of the 2018 China Cycling League Yunnan Jinghong Finals.