JINGHONG , China Xishuangbanna's small and easy-going "Dawn Capital", first became a seat of power under the Dai warlord Bazhen , who drove the Bulang and Hani tribes off these fertile central flatlands and founded the independent kingdom of Cheli in 1180. It has been maintained as an administrative centre ever since. There was a moment of excitement in the late nineteenth century when a battalion of British soldiers marched in during a foray from Burma, but they soon decided that Jinghong was too remote to be worth the effort of defending. An attempt to forge a highway through Xishuangbanna during the 1950s (only recently completed) saw Jinghong built up in the grey edifices of the contemporary Han style. Now being slowly modernized, these make a suitably colonial backdrop for Dai women in bright sarongs and straw hats meandering along the gently simmering, palm-lined streets.

 

For the most part, the city is simply an undemanding place to spend a couple of days adjusting to Xishuangbanna's climate and investigating Dai culture. Aside from energetic excesses during the water-splashing festivities, you'll find the pace of life is set by the tropical heat - though the centre is often full of people, nobody bothers rushing anywhere. Once you've tried the local food and poked around the temples and villages which encroach on the suburbs, there's plenty of transport into the rest of the region