In Thai language Olive Dam (Ganlanba) means “Meng Han”, and Han has the meaning of roll something up. The legend holds it that once when the Shakyamuni Buddha came to Olive Dam to sermon, his followers spread cotton cloth on the ground to welcome him. After he walked away, they rolled up the cloth, and that is how the saying–Meng Han came into being. The height above sea level of Olive Dam is only 530 m which makes it the lowest location in Xishuangbanna. It is also the hottest place and this particular hot climate brings the people there abundant tropical fruits. Therefore, Olive Dam is not only a kingdom of fresh fruits but also a major producer of dried and candied fruit. People like to compare Olive Dam to the tail of a peacock in his pride because beautiful Dai villages scatter here and there on Olive Dam forming a pattern just like a peacock’s tail. The two largest villages are Mansongman (also known as Huayuan Village) and Manting (also known as Huaguo Village). No matter which village you visit, you will see typical Burmese temples and traditional Bamboo houses of Dai people. Cassia siamea trees with exuberant vitality are everywhere around the villages, if you cut them down, there will be more of them afterwards. Dai people are quite aware of the environment protecting issue, that’s why they choose to plant Cassia siamea trees, on one hand, they can get outpouring firewood, on the other hand, they can preserve the local forest resources.
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