See the movie first - GREAT shots of BIG cats, also of Nastassia Kinsky - there is a veterinarian with a special problem - good theme music by David Bowie - made about 1979 - after seeing the flick you may want to get a small dog.

There's a Chinese consulate in Chiangmai, Thailand - they handle Chinese visas and are friendlier than the visa office in Hong Kong, if that's what you're looking for.

The 'Water-Splashing Festival' is celebrated everywhere there are Tai Buddhists (the word Tai is the usual spelling in English for people of a broad ethno-linguistic category of peoples which includes the Thai (of Thailand)), the lowland Lao, the Dai of Xishuangbanna and Dehong in China, and the Tai of the Shan state in Myanmar. I'm pretty sure it is also celebrated among Tai-speaking people in Northeast India, and among the Zhuang (also ethno-linguistically Tai) in China's Guangxi Province. In Thailand the festival is called Songkran; in Laos it is called Piimai Lao (Lao New Year). The festival has Theravada Buddhist significance, and much of this religious significance is lacking in the public displays of water-splashing conducted, with an eye on the tourist dollar, in China.

People go to the wats (Theravada Buddhist monastery-temples) to pay respects to the monks, and this is a means for making Buddhist merit for Buddhist laymen. This religious element, the basis of the festival itself, is downplayed in China, but you can see it virtually anywhere in Laos or Thailand. I think the Burmans (majority population of Myanmar) also celebrate it, in addition to the Tai of the Shan states. People respectfully splash the monks a little in the street as the walk past, but everywhere I know that it is celebrated there is also a great deal of fun water-splashing, etc., among laymen, and it can get a bit rough - don't expect to stay dry.

Accomodation in Jinghong likely to involve inflated prices right now. Anyway, for the 'Water Splashing Festival', which in fact has Theravada Buddhist religious meaning and is not just playtime for tourists (and it has strong playtime elements, which can get a little rough), I'd strongly advise Laos or Thailand, not Jinghong. However, I don't think fly-down/fly back in 2 days is worth it.

Police here & everywhere might be criticized & probably should be, and are, but they are not useless. I got a cellphone back thanks to somebody who found it, gave it to the cops, who called the last number on it that had been used, which was a friend of mine. I went to police post, picked up phone, etc.