I am currently spending a few days in Yunnan, Xishuangbanna for my Christmas vacation with Gui. It’s less polluted and less cold than in Beijing or Datong.

I was riding a bicycle in Jinghong along the Mekong River when I spotted an abandoned place… It seems my eyes are trained for this anywhere now.

It was actually a touristic scenic area with a visitor center, I had to go check it out. It turned out to be really interesting: an abandoned ropeway crossing the Mekong river!

There was all the equipement still present at the scene, although overgrown by wild grass and spiderwebs… What I liked the most was the little nacelles with the « dai » writing on them.

Next to the ropeway’s back entrance, there was a beauty spot, how strange…

I also found an overgrown restaurant. I did not go in because of the dangerous dog guarding the place…

According to the only person living in the area, this ropeway was abandoned six years ago, when bigger resorts were planned in the same area. The person did not know if it was going to be demolished or not. I could not find that information online either.

Looking for more clues, I found out that this place was built in 1998 (see the sign below) and it closed in 2009.

It used to be very lively, with tourists present from 7 in the morning to 7 in the night.

A full fare round-trip ticket costed 220 yuans.

This ropeway was in fact the main entrance of the Mengle Culture Garden (猛泐文化园), located on the other side of the Mekong River in the Monkey Montain (猴山)¹. As these next pictures of the former park entrance show, tourists used to park their cars on this side and take the ropeway to enter on the other side.

It seems there was a ferry too.

I’ll go back to check all the other abandoned equipments on the other side of the river when I have the chance. For now, I can already state that this abandoned ropeway shows, from its architecture and size, how fast China’s policies in the field of tourism evolve. The ropeway used to look quite beautiful.

It is being replaced by two gigantic resorts just nearby… Very scary!

If you liked this place, the second part of this crazy urbex in the jungle is here. If you like abandoned entertainment sites, you can also read about an abandoned amusement park in Beijing.