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!

There are two places to get whole roast goat that I'm aware of... both are off of the road heading from Huangtupo up to the Bamboo Temple. The first one on your way uphill also has whole roast chickens, rabbits, and even dog, I believe.

@thatguyted: Interesting.... where did you buy that dictionary and are there any more left? Thanks!

When texting or typing the Kunming dialect, which is the better character to use for the particle 'ga'? 噶 or 嘎?

I used 嘎 for years and now use 噶, but have seen people using 嘎 recently so am not so sure.

Is there an 'official' ga in Kunming hua?

There was a Catholic church across from the PSB on Beijing Lu, but I believe it was demolished, not sure what will happen to the land.