Daluo River

Chinese name: 打洛河 (Da luo He)
Location: in Daluo Town, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province.
Tickets: CNY 10 for One Tree Forest.
How to get there: take a bus from Jinghong to Daluo Town.
Travel tips:
-The road leading to Daluo town is twisted, which easily causes carsickness.

Brief introduction to Daluo River and Daluo Town

Daluo River, a branch of Lancang River with a width of more than 30 meters, divides the Daluo Town into two parts, and then gently flows into Mekong River which eventually empties into Pacific Ocean. It nourishes people along it. There are five big villages in Daluo Town. Five villages are: Mengbang, Manchan, Manzhang, Longli and Daluo. Buddhist Temples can be found in every village.

Daluo Town, a frontier town and an open port along Daluo River, is located in the south tip of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and borders Burma. It is 133 kilometers from Jinghong City and 70 kilometers from Menghai County. It is small, though, lives a number of people of minority nationalities such as Dai, Blang, Hani, offering a strong sense of ethnic atmosphere. Tropical plants flourishingly grow in and near the villages, to see nothing of the One Tree Forest.

History of Daluo Town

Daluo in Dai language means a port of the public. Daluo town as a port has a long history of border trade. It has been an important passageway since Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties. At the turn of 20 century, the widely known Pu’er tea was exported via Daluo. Today, Daluo is a frontier scenic spot at the end of Kunming-Daluo Road, and also a window for foreign trade. The national gates of China and Burma can be seen here.

Sightseeing along the Daluo River

One Tree Forest

One Tree Forest can be seen in some other places of Xishuangbanna, but the one in Daluo Town is the most amazing. The One Tree Forest is a landmark scenic spot of Daluo town. It is located in the developing area of Daluo Town, 4 kilometers from town government and one kilometer from 218-219 boundary marker between China and Burma. It looks like a green forest from a distance, but it is actually a giant banyan. With an age of more than 900 years old, the banyan tree itself makes a green forest with a tangle of branches and prop roots, looking gorgeous. It measures over 70 meters tall, with the main trunk sending off countless aerial roots, which vertically plunge deep into ground and grow into thick trunks, some even are distinguishable from the main trunk. The towering banyan tree breaks up the idiom ''one tree does not make a forest''. Walking in the park, you can enjoy the sights of the tree, taking photos, riding on an elephant and so forth.

Cruise the Daluo River, the boundary river between China and Burma

Daluo River has another name ''Lanlan River''. Only 36-kilometer-reach of it is located in Daluo Town. By cruising the Daluo River, you actually can enjoy the sights of two countries. Along the Daluo river, villages, countryside scenery, blue sky, white clouds make up a picturesque landscape.

Visit Beautiful Villages along the Daluo River

There are several beautiful villages distributed along the Daluo River, such as the Meng Jinglai Village. Near the village gate stands a cluster of splendid pagodas. They look like bamboo shoots. When wind blows, the bells on the spires jingle melodiously. Rambling in the village, bamboo houses are visible in bamboo grove. Towering banyan trees, coconut trees and other plants make you feel like going into a tropical botanical garden. Besides, traditional handcrafts of Dai people can be seen in the village, such as dyeing, pottery, wine-making, papermaking, etc.