The Tallest Canopy Walkway in the world!!

Hi friends,
first of all: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!
Now, I leave for Kunming tomorrow, and then it’s a whole week spent in the city of shanghai! I plan to sleep in (no cockroaches to wake me up), drink coffee (coffee is so hard to come by here!) and just have a good time away from this tropical part of China.
However, today –I spent a wonderful day out exploring the areas of Mengla! Here is a quick map to let you know where exactly I’m talking about!
just a refresher – this is a map of Xishuangbanna (the southern most region in Yunnan). The major city here is Jinghong (where the airport) is and I have it circled in green. Where my botanical garden is near a town called Menglun (where I’ve circled it in red). Now, Mengla is the town circled in blue – and it’s the last big town before Laos!

(courtesy of http://www.bannacits.com)

Joeri (a postdoc at the garden from Holland) and I ventured onto the public bus in Menglun town and rode for about an hour before reaching Mengla. There, we went to the only English speaking café – called Forest Café. We decided to hire a guide for the day (Peter drove us around and showed us some pretty amazing things – and he spoke fluent English!)
Our goal for the day was to go to the Bupan Aerial Skyway where its advertised as the tallest canopy walkway in the world! The surrounding forests are protected – so we got some amazing views of the primary rainforests that exists here!
So – here’s a look at the canopy walkway from the ground! This is the highest point – about 40m off the ground!

and here’s how narrow the walkway is! It sways a lot – and I have to hold on to stabilize myself!
Joeri and I took turns – so we’re not on one section of the walkway at the same time!

Look – proof! Do I look nervous? This wasn’t even the highest part!

If you look down – you see the tops of some pretty amazing plants! It makes for a lovely understory!

The walkway stretches from tree to tree!

Now, here’s the highest part of the walkway! Its 40m straight down! You can see how far the road is below us on the bottom left!

and look how TINY the people are below us!!

Here is a shot of Joeri at such a lovely spot! From here there is an amazing view of the rainforests around us!

Now, after our feet are safely back on the ground. We met our guide Peter again, and he took us for a lovely stroll around the rainforests!

There’s even a lovely water spot!

and we even managed to get a photo of this little guy!

It was such a nice walk in the forests! It was nice to see that some of these forests are being protected and not turned into rubber plantations!
The day didn’t end here! Peter took us to an amazing minority village nestled in the mountains – but I will blog about that another day!
Now off to bed and sleep! Take care friends,
Jess