Jinghong / Xishuangbanna
The Dai Tropics
Portrait
Xishuangbanna is the only part of China with genuine tropical rainforest, on the Mekong at the Laos and Myanmar borders, and its Dai people are culturally closer to Thailand than to Beijing — Theravada Buddhism, stilt houses, and a new year in April spent throwing water at everyone. Wild elephants still live in the reserve north of the city.