The tropical botanical garden at Menglun (勐仑) is quite nice, I went there for the first time in November and was very impressed. One can easily spend a day or two there and still not see everything there is to see.
I really enjoyed the afternoon I spent there and only saw a fraction of what there was to see. My favorite part was a less-visited section of pristine rainforest in the back.
There's a hotel located within the garden compound where you can stay overnight, allowing you to essentially have the entire facility to yourselves.
If you choose to stay a day or so, you may want to stock up on food. There's plenty of tasty tropical fruit to be picked up in Jinghong or Menglun. If you want to have a picnic there it may be worth stopping by Wangtianshu Deli (www.gokunming.com/en/listings/item/wan_31347/) in Jinghong before heading out:
It takes about 60-90 minutes to get to Menglun from Jinghong by car. I'd recommend showing up around one or two pm, as during mornings the park has a lot of tour groups passing through. That gives you an afternoon with the gardens basically to yourselves.
If you don't mind taking a little extra time to get to Menglun, I'd suggest rafting from Jinghong downstream to Ganlanba (橄榄坝) and taking a car east from there. It is possible in Jinghong to arrange a driver to meet you at Ganlanba.
Enjoy your trip!
Giveaway: Hand treatments at Canaan Day Spa
发布者Congratulations to Michelle He and Zhong Yue, who were the first two readers to correctly answer that Ashima (阿诗玛) was the Yunnanese heroine who legend says became one of the pillars at Stone Forest.
Thanks to Canaan Day Spa for providing the hand treatments and to all the women who responded. Look out for more giveaways on GoKunming in the future!
Rugby: Kunming Tigers vs Chengdu Pandas
发布者We have just been notified by the Kunming Tigers that the match has been moved from Kunming Stadium to Tuodong Stadium at 99 Dongfeng Dong Lu. The match will still start at 2:15pm. Spectators should go to the stadium's second floor and enter through gate 14.
Interview: Jiang Li
发布者Thanks beckyld. As you may already know, GoKunming interviewed Clare Ye Sheng from PSI's Kunming office in 2008:
www.gokunming.com/[...]
Keep up the good work!
Snapshot: Shaxi
发布者@voltaire: You're right, Shibao Mountain is deserving of a mention in any Shaxi travel piece. We mentioned Shibao Mountain in our earlier Shaxi travel feature:
www.gokunming.com/en/blog/item/1937/getting_away_shaxi
I'd have included photos of the grottoes in that post, but as you know, taking photos there is not allowed.
As the "Snapshot" in the title of this post suggests, this piece is more of a short photo essay than it is a comprehensive travel feature.
Starbucks' thirst for Yunnan coffee growing
发布者@JLG: If coffee plantations do significantly reduce the amount of tea grown in Pu'er, it is likely to only lead to higher tea prices followed by increased tea planting and another tea bubble.