For my first attempt to explore Xishuangbanna, I chose to go west to Menghai. I arranged a driver through my hotel and was able to identify to him the areas on the map I wanted to go, I didn't have any precise plans so I just said in Chinese, "take me where looks nice".
The ride out of town leads into the mountains, peaking a bit before coming back down to Menghai, the view during this ride is excellent. I don't know what was being farmed on the mountainsides, but several areas had terraces or stripes of crop which helped add complexity to the view. After an hour driving we forked off onto a side road north of Menghai and arrived at the Menghai Tea Research Institute.
The ride out of town leads into the mountains, peaking a bit before coming back down to Menghai, the view during this ride is excellent. I don't know what was being farmed on the mountainsides, but several areas had terraces or stripes of crop which helped add complexity to the view. After an hour driving we forked off onto a side road north of Menghai and arrived at the Menghai Tea Research Institute.
