Wild Elephant Valley in Xishuangbanna

Surprise! When we wanted to start Lian got nervous. She phoned with Süli and after a while I knew that I was right. The taxi driver just wanted more money. Instead of 200Yuen he demanded 500Yuen for both ways because of the traffic jam. Well, there was no jam at all. So Lian worked hard to find out how to get there by bus. Well there is no bus to the park just to Simao north of the park. So you have to take this bus and get out at then Park entrance. So she finally managed tom find the right bus as you can see on the picture. It only took us 1 hour to get there driving on the expressway (freeway) and the cost was only 15Yuan one way.
First of all we visited the butterfly and birdcages and then we walked along the path in the Wild Elephant Valley along a winding brown (probably from the heavy rain we had yesterday) creek, where elephants only show up in the early morning.
The noise in the rain forest was permanent and just like in the movies I saw. The humidity is high and intensifies the smell of the soil and the trees. All the trees host other trees and plants. I enjoyed just to walk, smell and admire the trees around me. It was worth while coming to Xishuangbanna just to see this.
>>Outside there is a big firework going on as part of the opening ceremony of the festival.< For the way back we took the cable car to be above the trees. That gives you a great view over the forest and the flower hedges along parts of the path where they had to cut down the trees for the cable car.
An old bus just stopped outside the park when we left the park. The bus driver assured that he is on the way to Jinghong and there were exactly 2 places left. So we entered the bus full of farmers and boxes. The box next to me started to shake and made me step back. Of course everybody in the bus laughed at me. I opened the box a little and besides a terrible smell I saw a big duck on the way to Jinghong.
At the several stops the driver opened the door with a long rope and my job was to close it since I sat next to the door.
After a shower and a nap I went out for dinner, roasted octobus and 2 roasted frogs tasted delicious. Then I got a haircut (perfect job) and a hair wash with head massage, including ears neck and every spot of the head. I thought it is just a hair wash, but it was a whole body Thai massage. I enjoyed it and with a sudden she was on my back with her knees and massaged my back with her knees. She was light enough that it did not hurt at all. The massage was wonderful and I will sleep heavenly by soon.