61039 My little adventure trip to the Mekong took me from the Lao border to Yunnan Province in China.
61040 The mountains in northern Laos are extensive and it had been impossible for foreigners to cross the border here.
61041 I was still worried as I headed out by air to Luang Phabang.
61042 From here I went by motor boat on the Mekong River and a tributary, the Han River for about three hours.
61043 Donning a helmet and a lifejacket, we suddenly ascended a rocky mountain stream and arrived at a mountain village situated on the so-called "China Bridge".
61044 Then it was ten hours of bouncing in a truck.
61045 I spent one night at a village on the border.
61046 With trepidation I took out my passport the next morning at the checkpoint, only to have the officials of both countries shake their heads and let me pass through.
61047 Jinghong, about 170 kilometers from the border, is the provincial capital of China's Yunnan Province/Xishuangbanna Dai Minority Autonomous State, where the ancestors of the Thais, the Dai ethnic group live, so in other words, Thais' homeland.
61048 At a remote town on the Chinese side I visited a year ago, foreign-affiliated hotels and restaurants were springing up.
61049 People migrating within China have also increased, and the town has bathed in the limelight as one of the biggest tourist destinations.
61050 Yunnan Province, with the goal, "From the Indochina Peninsula to the World's Market," has been successful in marketing Chinese products to Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar via border trade.
61051 The numbers of Chinese tourists from Shanghai and Guangdong have shot up as well.
61052 There are 55 minority ethnic groups in China besides the Han, and at typical Dai, Hani and Akha villages in the region, one can infer the rapid loss of traditional culture due to economic development.
61053 Up until one year ago, markets in Jinghong were filled with Dai ethnic foods such as "narezushi" (vinegared fish and rice), thought to be a source of Japanese culture.