Ganlan Sandbar

Known in the language of the Dai people as Menghan, the Ganlan Sandbar on the Lancang River is a world famous "peacock tail ", meaning the most beautiful part of xishuangbanna. "No trip to Xishuangbanna is complete without a visit to Ganlan Sandbar ", as the popular saying goes. Situatued at the end of a 37-kilometers trip down the Lancang River from Jinghong, and covering an area of 50 square kilometers at an altitude of 530 meters ( the lowest point of Xishuangbanna ), the Ganlan(Olive ) Sandbar derives its name from the fact that it is forever clothed in greenery and that it takes the shape of an olive. A total of 64 Dai-inhbited villages are found on the sandbar,and bamboo abodes gleam in the verdure of coconut trees, with water flowing past them all the year round, and flowers in full bloom in all four seasons, synonymous to the Dai people¡¯s dwellings. The Ganlan Sandbar, its tropical landscape looking sylvan in the ethnic Dai tradition, evinces an air of classic sanctity and natural repose.

Multitiple religions co-exist on Diqing Plateau and the majority of Tibetans believe in Tibetan Buddhism. Here is the cedain Sondtsanling Monastery in Zhongdian County, which is also called the Guihua Monastery. Being the largest monastery comples in Yunnan, it was built in 1659 on a mountain slope imitating the layout of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Surrounded by an elliptical outer wall, it has two main halls and 100 chambers either for the meditation of the living Buddhas or used as monk dorms. At its heyday, this magnificent fortress building comples accommodated over 1200 lamas.