It can take more than two hours to drive a couple of miles along the Marginal, the city's palm-lined coastal road.

Home to southern China's dai tribe, Xishuangbanna's lush tropical forests, palm-lined streets and clean air have long made it the exotic domestic sanctuary from frigid northern winters.

I've been told it was golden in color, something so beautiful that I imagine the vehicle as a golden carriage tearing through the wide palm-tree-lined boulevards of Jeddah, Saudia Arabia.