Damenglong

From Jinghong to Damenlong, a village close to the Myanmar border, should take under 3 hours, but because the road is being reconstucted as a new highway into Myanmar, it is temporarily in ruins. The worst road in China, if you ask me. Over 4 hours of very bumpy road, leading to a insignificant place where there is nothing to do except eat and drink beer. There are two pagoda's in town, one on a hill top, with a very steep concrete path leading to it. But worth the visit, if only for the view across the valley. There is a 10m long sleeping Buddha too, nice surprise. I arrived quite late in the afternoon, and it started to rain soon after I had checked in into the only hotel. Two others which were listed in Lonely Planet had closed, probably due to lack of patronage. The hunt for food brought me to a small square, with a big open-sided roofed structure, probably the former market (I had noticed a larger one across the road). The old market was now the center of nightly entertainment. Pool tables, an internet cafe, several food stalls, and some bars competing for dominance in playing loud music. I pointed at some fresh looking (bloody) eel at one of the food stalls, but it was already reserved for the customer in front of me. Bad luck. I opted for a more common grilled fish instead, turned out to be quite tasty. A small corner store sold cold(!) beer for 3 Yuan, so I was content. It was entertaining to watch the young crowd. Here nobody speaks English, so it's hard to get some social contact. These villages are minority villages, the people speak their own language. Mandarin is second, and English is just not there.
The next morning, still raining, I figured I would go back to Jinghong, but then it cleared up, and I decided to stick it out and stay another day. Sunday was supposed to be market day, so I would at least have the opportunity to witness that. But it started raining hard again overnight, and the market didn't materialize. When I got back on the bus the next day, the road had worsened further due to the enormous amounts of mud and water. It coloured everything orange, including my shoes. Back in Jinghong I bought a ticket for an overnight sleeper bus to Kunming, my last stop in Yunnan. I had several hours to kill before heading out, and Jinghong was a pleasant place to do so. Sipping green tea in People's Park, looking out over the pond, watching people cleaning their bicycles, waiting for their dates, polishing shoes, and selling whatever there is to sell.