Allegra McEvedy's food guide to China's Yunnan province(5)
The hotpot was sold all over town, we ate excellent examples at Da Ling Kezhan and in our hotel, the Banyan Tree. Being so high up, the hotel also provided free oxygen canisters in our room which aided our late-night attacks of high altitude giggles to a tirade of yak jokes:
"What do you call an abstract expressionist painter?"
"Yak-son Pollock!"
Well, it's funny when you're two miles above sea level and full of barley wine.
We also saw breathtaking Ganden Sumtseling gompa, the largest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan, set up by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1679. Photos of the current Dalai Lama covered the walls, which is highly discouraged if not illegal – another testament to their attitude to politics in this remote corner.
From there we flew back to Kunming. Everything I'd read about it, from its reputation as a laid-back and cosmopolitan city, to its nickname "City of Eternal Spring", led me to believe we were in for a special time, but we were stymied again by roadworks: we visited just days before the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic, so everything had ground to a standstill in order to get the new ring road finished. I don't think that I've ever been anywhere that is pushing so aggressively through its present to get to its future.
Our time here was rewarded by tasting tea, which can be done all over the city. This province is China's largest supplier of tea, including the world-famous, highly-prized pu'er tea, from the south west. I'm not quite sure that I understood the appeal of pu'er – especially at around $60 for a wheel about the size of a discus, which is how it's sold, but it is ranked as the number one tea in China. We also tried a tannic, rich black tea and a light and fragrant jasmine, but my personal favourite was the oolong, which was both deeply interesting and very drinkable.
Our final meal was at the Shiping Huiguan, on the edge of a lake in Cuihu park. Talk about going out with a bang! Here we ate the hottest meal so far: tofu dishes (a speciality of this restaurant), chicken (shredded with peanuts), fish (white and filleted, with peppers and corn) or pork (belly, with bok choy). And surprisingly, this far south, we were offered fried yak cheese, which looked a bit like halloumi, with a dried chilli dipper.
We also tried the most famous dish of the area – "crossing the bridge noodle". The story goes that a diligent wife would get upset because by the time she had taken lunch to her scholarly husband on the island in the middle of the lake where he studied, the soup was always cold. One day she discovered that if she kept a layer of chicken fat on top of the broth, and carried the bits to go in the soup across in little bowls on the side, it would stay hot.
As we walked back to the hotel, the streets smelled strongly of curry: this was the food of the southern part of the province, belying its borders with Burma and Laos, which sounded and smelled to me like a whole other taste trip.
Getting there
American tour operator China Road (001 206 818 9767, chinaroads@comcast.net) offers a 14-day tour, taking in Yunnan province, starting in Beijing and ending in Hong Kong, for US$4,300. The price includes all internal flights, ground transport, most meals, accommodation in five-star hotels, transfers and the service of a guide. Open-jaw tickets, flying from Beijing to London and returning from Hong Kong to London, start at around £450 inc taxes, with kayak.co.uk.
