Ganlanba Off The Beaten Path

In Ganlanba, bicycle rental is a must because there is so much lurking outside of the town.

I only know of one place to rent a bicycle, that is the Dai family restaurant. The town is so small you will find it. Here one of the girls in this Dai family speaks English.

I met some travellers from Canada and they found bicycles at the market. So there are a few places to get bicycles. If you cannot speak Chinese, you best choice is to go to the Dai Family Restaurant. Otherwise if you speak Chinese, go to the market and ask around.

Once you have the bicycle, you are ready to explore. There are so many maps in backpacker restaurants and guesthouses but they are pointless in my opinion. They are drawnings of previous travellers' trying to explain where to go. I was suggested by a friend in Jinghong to disregard the maps and just go in a direction. This proved to be wise as I came across some great stuff, and I know it would have been the same in any direction away from the city.

So my advice is to disregard the maps of the surrounding area and just go blindly.

One suggestion: Ganlanba lies directly on the Mekong River. You can cross the river and explore that side. Although I did not do this, it seems promising. So from the center of town ride down to the river, there will be a docking area of some sort. It should cost about 1 or 2 yuan for a boat ride across the river (don't pay more than 2 yuan, as that seems high enough in my opinion). Once on the other side you can explore. This side is less developed as I believe there is no road or actual town infrastructure, so more authentic and traditional.