The annual New Year's holiday is over, the traffic noise is louder, more intense. Monday.
Today I will find out something important. Yunnan is a different china.
Despite my empty stomach and sleepy head - rarely a good prerequisite for an objective assessment of an unknown city - I am filled from the very first moment with a strange feeling of well-being. Completely contrary to expectations, there is a busy, yet somehow relaxed atmosphere.
Is that really China?
The hectic, greedy, Dollar-hungry China that puts us all behind in the future? Looking around I only see friendly, serene faces throwing me a quick but ultimately not really interested look and going their own way.
Only the children look more closely, with a mixture of curiosity, surprise and a bit of alarm. Despite Monday and the start of work, it doesn't seem to lead to high blood pressure. In the middle of the morning, quite a few people are squatting over their soup plates or whatever is in their bowls. Others play Chinese dominoes or cards, the corresponding yuan notes hidden from curious eyes.
Orientation in Jinghong
A good sense of direction is a nice thing, if you have it. One thing is for sure - I do not have it. I keep asking myself how I managed to come back safely from all my travels without finding myself in a hopeless situation at the North Pole.
Well then, in any case I am moving - completely convinced to interpret the position of the sun correctly - in the wrong direction. I am somewhat disappointed that the boulevard is getting lost somewhere near the Mekong. The irritated face of the man, whom I try to make clear on the map my supposed location, does its part. It is of course exactly the other way round ...
Language tests in Mandarin
Okay, a little ashamed, but cheerful, and after some uncertain looking around (how do I find my way back to the hotel??) I end up at the coffee shop indicated in the travel guide. It is supposed to be one of the few restaurants that offers menus in understandable language.
And now it's time to make my first attempts at speaking in Mandarin. The friendly waitress smiles bewildered when I use my first Chinese expressions. She finally starts laughing out loud, which doesn't lift my self-confidence in language skills to new heights.
I order a Swiss Breakfast - haha - but the coffee is sweet and strong and good, as well as the Birchermüesli. In Jinghong of all places. The ways of the Lord are truly unfathomable ...
Sightseeing
Every city exploration has its own charm. I have long been convinced that a city only opens itself to you when you walk through it, at least the most important areas.
The centre of Jinghong basically consists of several chessboard-like streets, wide and covered with tall deciduous trees. Every few meters there is a shop, a bank, a dark entrance, a soup kitchen. Or whatever you call those things, where numerous people crouch on children's chairs while eating, palavering, chewing, spitting, laughing ...
Museum visit
Looking around and wondering, I almost miss the museum. It's closed, but even the exterior is impressive (like so much I've seen today). Slowly the realization dawns that I should have planned much more time for the trip to China. Next time …
Large families in the restaurant
The search for a place where I can get dinner, which can be a) read and b) identified, is difficult (no surprise). I finally end up in a full restaurant (old travel rule: always eat where most people do). After some waiting I am seated at a table.
Friendly as I am (LOL), I leave the table to a family who bow almost to the floor in gratitude (new friends). I am politely invited to the table of another large family who euphorically welcomes me into their circle.
For understandable reasons, the conversation that is about to begin is not successful, because we simply do not understand a single word the other person says. But we throw each other a friendly smile again and again. The baby sleeping at her grandmother's breast is the main reason for all sorts of happy and proud grimaces ...
A dance in the evening
Night has fallen over the city. On the way home music suddenly sounds in my ears, and as I get closer it is unclear at first whether someone is celebrating a party, a wedding in progress, something else ...
Far from it: On the shore of the small lake at the centre of the city, crowds of people have gathered, dancing in circles, led by an old man blowing into a kind of trumpet and producing sounds, which in my ears, let's say, are quite strange. But people like it: strangers dance together, it looks weird and elegant and touching in a special way.
I like it very much here in Jinghong. It's a shame that my travel planning only included a short trip to Yunnan Province.
A province so different from China.
P.S. Matching Song: Martha and the Vandellas - Dancing in the Street
And here the journey continues ...
