Puer Green Triangle (Menglian, Lancang and Ximeng) Travel Guide

The Lancang Lahu Autonomous County, the Menglian Dai, Lahu and Wa Autonomous County, and the Ximeng Wa Autonomous County, being the “green triangle” of Pu’er, are of rich tourism resources. In recent years, more and more visitors are getting to know this piece of land. As the Lancang Jingmai Airport threatens to put into operation, we believe more visitors will come to this place to experience the original, ecological, slow-pace leisure life in this mysterious land and in the ancient tea woods as well as the colorful ethnic culture.

For days, I’ve had an opportunity to come to and had an in-depth experience in the Pu’er “green triangle”. Now I present you this super strategy guide and beautiful pictures to reveal the mystery of Pu’er “green triangle”. Also I am looking forward to your trip to this place, it will be a romantic encounter with Pu’er “green triangle”.

— Lancang —

Keywords: explore the land of tea origin

> > > Route: depart from Simao, drive along the Simao-Lancang highway for about 4 hours, then you will arrive at the  only Lahu autonomous county of the country- Lancang County. Drive out of Lancang county seat, then drive for about 47 km to the southeast direction, you will arrive at the beautiful small town – Huimin. Starting from here, you’ve entered the vast range of Jingmai Mountain.

> > > Reporter’s recommendation:

> 1000-year-old tea woods

The most attracting scenery on the Jingmai Mountain is the 1000-year-old and 10,000-mu tea woods, which is the largest and best preserved artificial cultivation ancient tea woods in the Lancang River basin with the most typical tea woods landscape, richest culture connotation and most harmonious human-land relationship. It is renowned as a “natural museum of tea trees” by domestic and foreign experts. Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Plantation Garden, covering an area of 28,000 mu and a picking-up area of 10,003 mu therein, is mainly located in the Mangjing Villager Committee and the Jingmai Villager Committee.

The best place to have a close view of the ancient tea plantation garden is Dapingzhang, where you will feel the light fragrance of tea spreading from the tea trees all over the mountains and plains.

> Traditional ancient village

Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Plantation Garden is mainly located in the Mangjing Villager Committee and the Jingmai Villager Committee, which both have jurisdiction over multiple natural villages. The former mainly consists of Bulang people and the latter mainly consists of Dai people. Here, traditional quiet ancient villages one by one are scattered and hidden in the mountain woods. The Wengji Bulang Ancient Village, the Nuogan Dai Water Village, both preserve their traditional local-style dwelling houses building. The village planning and architectural design are integrated with the belief system and traditional convention of the national minorities.

> Music town

Getting down from the Jingmai Mountain, we drove for the Haleja Country Music Town, i.e. the Laodabao Villager Group of Menggen Village, Jiujing Township, Lancang County. The feature of “people start to sing as soon as they can speak, and start to dance as soon as they can walk” for the ethnic minorities is fully inherited in this pure Lahu nationality village. People here in this fortress at any age are good at both singing and dancing, they are experts in Lusheng dance, swing dance, Acapella, and the performance of singing and playing guitar.

{Tips}

If you want to live on the Jingmai Mountain, here is the recommendation: Jingmai Family Inn, Paellen Ancient Tea Fazenda and Abaina Resort Mountain Villa. If it happens to be a Sunday, you will have the chance to go the Minzu Street at the Lancang county seat, there you can have some delicious food and buy some mountain goods.

— Menglian —

Keywords: The original ecological Dai people’s ethnic customs

> > > Route: Menglian Dai, Lahu and Wa Autonomous County is about 56 km away from Lancang County. Recently, a secondary road connecting Menglian and Lancang is under construction. A short section of the road will be bumpy on your drive way due to the construction of road.

> > > Experience:

> Nayun Ancient Town. It is currently the best-preserved ancient town of Dai people in China, with its history over 700 years, and is listed into the historical cities of Dai people. Strolling in the ancient town, you will see an eyeful of harmoniously concomitance of buildings in two different styles – Dai and Han.

> Menglian Xuanfu Department. Located in the Nayun Ancient Town, it was listed into the six batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council in 2006.

> Xuanfu ritual dances. The official orchestra of Dai c[FS:Page]hieftain, with most of its performances in instrumental ensemble, combines the instrumental playing forms with singing, accompanied by dances like Wax Trip Dance, Long Fingernail Dance and Peacock Dance.

> Menglian General Buddhist Temple. A reconstruction on the original site of Lower Town Buddha Temple in Nayun Ancient Town, it presents a complete and traditional appearance of “three towns and two stockades” of the Nayun Ancient Town.

> Menglian Pagoda. It is a Theravada Buddhist pagoda of southern Buddhism influenced by the typical south Asian culture, which gives people a different feeling from Buddhism.

{Tips}

There are several restaurants in the local-style dwelling houses in Nayun Ancient Town, you can taste the delicious Dai style food, and have a look at the traditional dwelling houses of Dai people. As of recommendation for accommodation, the Menglian Changyun Hotel is good, with an enchanting rooftop garden.

— Ximeng —

Keywords: Carnival of the Wa people

> > > Route: The drive distance from Menglian County to Ximeng County is about 58 km, and the road condition is generally good, but with road twists and turns, so please drive slowly.

> “Carnival of the Wa people”. The entire Ximeng county seat is based on the prototype of the traditional two-story wooden dwelling houses, whose “gene” is extracted and transplanted into the modern buildings, making the Ximeng county seat a tourism town with featured ethnic culture and unique architectural style. The entire county seat becomes a scenic spot, which is called the “carnival of the Wa people”.

> Mengsuo Longtan Lake. Mengsuo Longtan Lake, located in the south Ximeng county, is a tropical rain forest natural lake. Visitors can walk along the wooden trestle on the edge of the Longtan Lake, surrounded by mountain range, and the lake water is sparkling. The green peak and clear water reflect each other, the lake and the mountains constitute an extremely attractive scenery. The Longmoye Scenic Spot is the place where the Wa people worship the god, present sacrificial offerings to their ancestors, and pray for safety and blessings.

> Mysterious rock paintings. Wa people do not have their own writings, thus its past was submerged in the long course of history. To probe the history of Ximeng’s Wa people, we walked into the mysterious Muyiji Holy Valley. The major spots in the scenic area is the “encounter with five gods”, “rock painting”, “Muyiji god statue”, “human head stakes”, “evil turning cliff”, “legend of sacrificial altar”, “legend of two banyan trees grown into one”, and etc., the rock painting – no one knows when it was painted – is a mute story teller of the Wa people’s history.

> Likan Waterfall and Yongkeluo in the beautiful A’wa Mountain. Likan Waterfall Scenic Spot has the spectacular Likan Waterfall and the Wa people’s rattan rope bridge which is regarded as the earliest ancestor of modern bridges. Yongkeluo Scenic Spot is a theme park demonstrating the Wa people’s wooden drum culture, you can have a look at the wooden drum cluster and the “World Top One Wooden Drum”

{Tips}

If you wish to experience the Wa people’s ethnic customs, you can choose the Wa Mountain Mysterious Land Resort Hotel. As of three-star hotels, you can choose the Longtan Grand Hotel, the Sigangli Grand hotel. For tasting Wa people’s food, you can choose the Wa Mountain Kitchen, the Wa People Mountain Villa, and the Wa Mountain Food Gallery. In addition, the rice and honey in Ximeng are very famous, you can take some back as a present to your family and friends.