National Park Reserve

I met up with Wade and checked out of his hotel. We (he, as I make no plans and just go along with whatever) decided to spend the night at the National Park reserves, just outside of Jinghong. We took a taxi about an hour out of the city and made it to the entrance at about 4 ish.

The taxi ride was crazy. The driver was this fat kid with a pony tail and had a side kick him who looked about 12. The seats had plastic wrap over them- thankfully Wade had the foresight to buy us towels when we stopped for gas. The humidity and plastic were not a great mix. He drove incredibly slowly and played ballads on the radio. Wade and I did however sing along to "I can show you the world" from the Alladin soundtrak.

At the entrance, we paid for our tickets and were told that our accommodations were a 4k walk- which we already knew about. They provided a security guard of sorts to walk us. At first we thought this odd, but the trail did have some off shoots and some wild elephant warning signs so it was a good thing they did. The walk was not that hard, though at times going up hill I defo was out of breath. The guard was in full on polyester uniform and dress shoes- I don't think a bead of sweat came out of him. The trail was on a platform made from weaved bamboo, it was really cool.

There were two options for accommodations. One was at the base of the park on a pond, we later saw that they were really nice. We instead opted to stay in the jungle in a tree house. We finally got to the path that lead us to our tree house. I was expecting a wooden shack in a tree where we had to climb a ladder to get into it, but instead it was an elevated concrete path that led us to the door of our concrete shack with a sheet metal roof. It was a bit of a let down, but the tree house was on a fake tree trunk that was a good 150 feet off the ground. I think we were the only people staying up there and we got to walk the trail with out any tours around which was really nice and peaceful.

The restaurant was closed when we got there as we were told it would be. There were however like 10 employees there smoking a bong and playing a game. We still don't really understand there purpose there.

Wade and I decided to take a walk as it was growing dark. We stayed on the concrete path and when we reached the end we walked a bit further until it looked a bit sketchy and decided to turn back. When we got back the guard that took us there explained to Wade not to go off the track as the wild elephants are dangerous. I love how they saw us leave the track and didn't come after us then, only upon our return did they warn us!

The nights sky was bright as could be. It almost seemed like daylight. It was the brightest full moon I have ever seen- though most of the sky was not visible as the jungle's canopy blocked most of it. You could also hear the craziest insect. I have never heard one like this or one this loud. It sounded mechanical and completely man made.

The bungalow was rundown. We had a light that dimmed and brightened as it pleased and no seat on the toilet- but it was a western toilet! That night it pissed rain! It was a huge storm that woke me up as it hit our tin roof! I saw some very strong lightning from the window. The next morning we were also woken up by obnoxious mega phones. Chinese tourism is the worst! here we were in a nature reserve and the herds of Chinese tourists was immense! It wasn't the quantity of them that spoiled the serenity but the noise generated by them! The tour guides (all saying different things but no more that 20 ft. apart from each other) all had mega phones and their words echoed in the park and clashed with each other. The Chinese tourists paid them no mind and would yell, not talk at each other.

We didn't close our curtains that night... so we also woke up to Chinese people peering in at the whitey's as we woke up and got ready. I felt like an animal in a zoo.

We ventured out, had some fruit and rice bombs for brekky and found the cable car. Well the cable car just took us to the base of the park. The ride was very pretty- being over the canopy was cool. Though the Chinese have no regard for nature or their environment. There was an upsetting amount of litter. We also saw a snake on a tree top which was very cool! We were hoping to see some of the wild elephants (about 40 live in the park) unfortunately we didn't see any. Once again the Chinese tourists were so loud! They were screaming, singing and making goofy noises as we rode the cable car. I am sure they scared the elephants away!

From the base we visited the butterfly sanctuary. There were some really beautifully colored butterflies and two were having sex... very educational. We also went to the bird area. There was a ridiculous bird act. The trainers put roller skates on one, had one shoot hoops and other silly acts. We grabbed a bite to eat while watching a dance performance. Teenagers danced in minority clothing (not sure which minority). But the dancing was not very good- they completely lacked enthusiasm. They also danced to Chinese music which is completely insulting to the minority they were supposed to represent (hmmm, kind of like me insulting them by not remembering which minority culture). After that we went to an elephant show which was equally ridiculous.

There were however some incredible monkey's roaming freely. I am not sure what kind they were, but I have never seen any swing so swiftly and at great distances. A ranger was holding hands with one. We stayed quite a while watching them, but as I would get close to the monkey that the ranger had- he would start to make the craziest noises, he didn't like me.

We trekked around a bit more but it was not as nice. It was much better when we had the park to ourselves.

The parks bathroom was one of the most disgusting I have seen yet. Not only were there no stalls, just barriers between the holes, but there was massive amounts of poop in each and one had bloody toilet paper by it. I couldn't go there.

We took a bus back to Jinghong and checked into a really cheap but nice guest house.