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The name Xishuangbanna is a Chinese approximation of the original Thai name, Sip Sawng Panna, meaning 'Twelve Rice Growing Districts" and is home to the Dai, the Hani or Akha, the Miao, Zhuang, Yao, Ainu, Jinuo, Bulang, Lahu and Wa. Because I have an aversion to hordes of tourists, I am less than alarmed that I am 2 weeks late for the big Water Splashing Festival which washes away the dirt, sorrow and demons of the old year and brings in the happiness of the new. From the number of men in sarongs and women in brightly colored skirts and tops, the Theravada Buddhist temples and pagodas, the elephant and peacock decorations everywhere and the subtropical heat it is easy to think that I am in Thailand. Here many tropical features can also be found: bananas, mangoes, coconuts, tamarind, rainforest, hibiscus and bougainvillea.

Compared to the relatively drab and serious Han Chinese, the Dai are colourful and relaxed which appeals to my Trinidadian sensibilities. The women are casually elegant in brightly coloured short tops and long clinging skirts with a belt of silver metal links. The men look comfortable in vests, sarongs and thong slippers - in the afternoon heat I would often see them behind the sales counters, in the kitchens or strolling the streets bare back with just a sarong.

Along with all the other tourists, I go to the markets to gape at the minorities in their tribal best and realise that I have reduced these people to the level of bird watching. That they are a people suffering on the lowest rung of Chinese society matters less than getting a photo of a rare Lahu, the Tiger Roasting People.

The fearless Lahu live along the Lancang River and are now mostly farmers though hunting still remains a way of life. Like many of the minorities, their traditional costume is colorful with intricately patterned embroidery and beads and coins for adornment.

It is difficult to imagine that only 60 years ago this pleasantly lazy area where nothing seems to happen was the focus for resistance to the Japanese invasion when they occupied Nanning in 1939. Xishuangbanna was part of the famous 1154 km long Burma Road when the Americans moved medicine, weapons and supplies from Rangoon to northern Burma, across the border to Xishuangbanna and finally to Kunming, a major US airbase.

The Dai hut which I share with a Japanese student is made of woven bamboo and is raised off the damp earth on stilts, much like a Manzanilla or Mayaro hut. In the hot tropical afternoon heat it remains cool and is pleasant to lie in bed in the mornings with chinks of sunlight coming through the bamboo walls. In the adjacent huts are a group of American missionaries of varying ages, singing gospel songs and strumming guitars. I watch them warily and they nod but do not preach, so we slowly become nodding neighbours. Not long before, I had struck up a polite conversation with a table neighbour who turned out to be an American missionary who had been in China for over ten years and was trying to teach the Chinese not to spit.

"You are a monk, how long?" I ask.
"Two months."
"Do you like it?"
He nods. "Yes."
"And later, you will still be a monk?"
"No, next month I will go back to school. This is Tanpa Festival."

Tanpa is the time when all Dai boys go to the temples to be initiated as novice monks.
"What are these silk scarves for?" There were a number of them in white and yellow hanging from the ceiling.
"For prayers. People buy them and leave them here after praying for favours."
"And the mirrors on the roof, what are they for?"
"I don’t know."

I e-mail my Thai friend, Suebsak, who replies: "The mirrors are to reflect and prevent the evil spirits from entering the temple. The wind chimes on the eaves of the temples make a spiritual music that goes all the way to Heaven. Elephants bring luck and fortune and perhaps the peacock is significant to the Dai but not to us in Thailand."

In the markets the small, tough, old Miao women in their heavily embroidered caps, jackets, short skirts and leggings look like warriors from the hills. Many of them are barefooted, some wear green army plimsolls, some thin sandals of leather. Other subgroups of Miao are classified according to their dress: Black, Red, White, Blue, Long-Horned and Flowery Miao. I had seen them travelling in Fujian wearing, making and selling their ornate silver jewellery which has become their trademark. They used to melt coins to make their jewellery but recently the Chinese Government has begun to give them an annual silver stipend. Nowadays though, much of their jewellery for sale is made from an alloy. Originally from north of the Yellow River they have migrated south into Laos, Thailand and Vietnam where they are known as the Hmong.

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