Xishuangbanna’s lady

China

Smoke from the fire was everywhere, the rooms were dark, two black pigs lay on the ground and everything, including the television, was covered in soot. But she welcomed us into her home.

I had arrived in Xishuangbanna during winter - when the tea plantations are frozen and life in the remote mountain villages is hard. As a traveller, I found it amazing - tasting some great Pu Er teas and meeting the Dai people, who are such warm, generous hosts even though they don´t have many of the luxuries of life that we have grown to call necessities.