Yunnan Province, China: Kunming

China. If I had to choose three words to describe our experience in Yunnan Province, China, they'd be: raw, bustling, and crowded. Though these words give the most general idea of our experience, they remained true throughout our two weeks in the country's most diverse province.

Andrew and I left Gyeseong for Gimhae Airport on Saturday, August 15th. We could hardly contain our excitement for this trip, especially because we'd be meeting the original Rachel Lauber in Kunming. Our flights were uneventful, unlike Rachel's. After many delays, missed connections, unhelpful airline staff members, and sleepless nights, Rach greeted us in Kunming two and a half days after her intended arrival. So, that's where I'll begin this post, because that's truly when the fun began.

Yunnan, which means "the place south of the clouds", is a province located in the far southwest of the country and has a population of over 46 million people. Yunnan is the most diverse province in China, both ethnically and geographically. Yunnan has the most ethnic minorities in China. Of China's 55 recognized ethnic minority groups, Yunnan is home to 51, and 25 of them exceed populations of 5,000. The topography and altitude change rapidly throughout the province. The mountains of the west are distinct with tall, sharp peaks. Thirteen mountain peeks in this area exceed 6,000 meters (19,685 ft). Conversely, near Yunnan's border with Myanmar and Laos lies a tropical rain forest. One reason Yunnan stood out to us was because of the cool climate. We were happy to leave Korea's hot and humid temperatures for a bit of respite from the heat. We began our time in Kunming (1,900m/6,234ft above sea level) and traveled northwest.

Here is a map of the province for future reference:

Finally, two and a half days after Andrew and I arrived, we reunited with Rachel! This picture was taken at 2:30 a.m., and as you can probably tell, things were a little emotional. We even got a slow clap from the taxi vultures hoping to whisk away dreary customers.

We returned to our hotel at the wee hours of the morning to this scene: tables lining the street full of customers eating the local street fare. The literal meaning of the way many Asian languages say "hello" is "Have you eaten today?" Gathering around a table to share a meal is of high importance in many of the cultures we've been fortunate enough to meet.

After many hours of much needed rest, we spent one full day sightseeing and eating in Kunming. We began with spicy noodles at an open-front noodle shop on the street of our hotel. We chose our meals by pointing to bowls that other patrons had, which I'm sure they appreciated. 

Whenever we request something spicy from a menu in Asia, there is a 100% chance that the server will double check with us to make sure our western stomachs and mouths can handle it. Luckily, we haven't met our match yet, but when the menu says spicy, it isn't joking around. 

Beijing Road, Kunming:

Our first stop after lunch was Yuantong Temple. This temple has a history of more than 1,200 years and is known as the grandest and most important Buddhist temple in Kunming. One interesting fact pointed out to us by a fellow traveler is that, unlike most other temples that were built with an ascending entrance, visitors enter the Yuantong Temple from above and descend to the temple's great hall at the lowest point. 

We really didn't want to let Rachel out of our sight for fear that United Airlines might swoop in and put her on a plane to who knows where.

The Grand Hall. We had the pleasure of witnessing the end of a worship service in which hundreds of monks were chanting together. 

In many of our pictures, you'll notice Tibetan Prayer flags, unknown in other branches of Buddhism. They're often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas. Traditionally, they are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. A common misconception is that the flags carry prayers to gods; rather, the Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the goodwill and compassion into all pervading space. Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all.

This is Mae, who we met at the temple. Originally from Kunming, Mae was visiting from her current home in Eastern China. She shared her knowledge of the temple and Yunnan province. 

A short walk from the temple stood Cui Hu Park, also known as Green Lake Park. This was a beautiful place to stroll and people watch.

The park was very crowded with Chinese tourists and locals and consists of a group of 4 small sub-lakes linked by traditional style bridges.

We witnessed lots of traditional dancing and singing.

From our very first day in China, we were asked by tourists and locals for our picture with them. This has happened in Korea, too, but not to the extent that it did during our two weeks in Yunnan. I guess when you have three very fair skinned people over 5'8, you stand out among others. We met some very kind people and have a lot of cute pictures with peace signs. 

We took a stroll through the Yunnan University Campus. YU was founded in 1922, and is one of the largest and most prestigious universities in Yunnan province.

Basketball is very popular in China, and these students were enjoying a friendly pick-up game. 

This volleyball game was pretty intense.

The women's basketball team posing for a team photo. One of my favorites.

"Bell tower Basking in sunshine" is an emblematic sight of Yunnan University. It was built in 1955 as a tower supplying water for the Science Laboratory Building as well as bell tower.

None of our universities had a gate like this. 

Kunming is known as the "city of eternal spring" which is evident by the abundance of flowers and fresh fruits and vegetables year round. During our time in Kunming, we enjoyed temperatures of about 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit. 

After a couple of happy hour cocktails, we found Heavenly Manna. As the name suggests, it was a meal that we wouldn't forget. The restaurant serves home-style Yunnan cuisine in a cozy environment. 

Spicy beef over fried spinach:

From left to right, top to bottom: mixed vegetables, fried goat's cheese with broccoli and tomato, Kung Pao Chicken, and rice. General Tso's Chicken was not an option, and we didn't leave with fortune cookies.

The next day, we began our day with noodles and took a 30 RMB ($5.00) taxi ride across town to the bus station, where we'd catch a ride to Dali. The photo below shows the crowded station on a Wednesday afternoon. 

One thing that we were immediately surprised by was how little English was spoken in Yunnan. We'd heard that tourists flock to Yunnan, but we didn't take into account that they were mostly Chinese tourists. I was (naively) under the impression that our time in China might be like Southeast Asia, in that many businesses would have English speaking employees due to many English speaking tourists. We learned quickly that it would not be so easy, so we relied heavily on our phrasebook and the translation apps that many people have on their phones. Thankfully, all of those that we attempted conversing with were very patient and understanding of our lack of Mandarin. And who doesn't like a game of charades every now and then?

We'll continue our posts on China city by city until we come full circle and meet again in Kunming. As always, we hope you're all well and look forward to seeing you in a couple of months. 

GBO, Rachel

Yunnan Province, China: Dali

From Kunming, we headed west to the city of Dali. This bus journey took only five hours by bus -- far less than what it presumably took when Marco Polo purportedly made the trip in the late 13th or early 14th century. Dali has a new city (known locally as Xiaguan), which serves as a transit hub and holds no further interest for tourists. Our destination was the very well-preserved (and authentically rebuilt) Ancient Town.

Dali is the historic center of the Bai and Yi minority groups that have lived in this region of what is now Yunnan for untold centuries, far before Han Chinese began coming to the area from the east. Many locals still trace their identity to these ethnic groups and work hard to preserve as much of their traditional culture as possible. We stayed at The Moonshine Inn of Dali, which is owned by a Bai woman who now lives in Berlin, but happened to be visiting while we were there. She explained that she views running this inn as not merely a business venture, but as a way of preserving aspects of traditional Bai architecture.

The inn was centered around this interior courtyard.

Our first night in Dali, I ate what I'm quite sure was the first yak steak of my life. Yaks, to this day, are an essential part of life in northwest Yunnan and into Tibet. In life, they are used for transportation and their milk (yak butter is prized both for its taste and it use in candles). In death, their meat is lean and delicious, and their skins provide warmth against the chill of life above 2,000m.

The morning of our first full day in Dali, we attended a cooking class, which turned out to be very much a highlight of our time in China. This was really the only pre-planned activity we had for the entire trip, as Rachel and I had had a great experience with a similar class we took in central Vietnam in January. As in the previous class, this one began with a trip to the local market to purchase fresh produce to cook.

Our very capable teacher was Luxi (below in pink), who founded and runs Rice & Friends cooking school out of her home. Luxi is a native of Sichuan Province (just north of Yunnan), and the dishes we made under her tutelage were all traditional to these regions.

You did not want to find yourself on the business end of this woman's cleaver.

Rice & Friends is located down a quiet alleyway. Every aspect of our experience here was delightful and we wholly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Dali.

Cooking classes are really ideal in that you have to search for no ingredients, measure very few, and -- best of all -- wash zero dishes.

The Rachels got started on making the filling for our pork spring rolls.

After making the filling, we sat down at the table to fill and roll our spring rolls. Then we returned to the kitchen to fry them in oil.

Our first course completed.

There were seven others besides the three of us in attendance. We were delighted to meet the Woods Killams, an American family pictured below (with Luxi providing some assistance). The mother and father are a public health researcher and physician, respectively, who have lived around the world and most recently finished a stint of many years in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; they were traveling in Yunnan with their three daughters prior to moving to Kazakhstan.

Our second dish was called Grandma's Potatoes, although I suppose your grandma needs to be a from a particular place for this to be true.

Our third dish was a spicy cucumber salad with a peanut sauce.

Our other cooking and table companions were a couple hailing from Turkey (him) and Russia (her), who were far more interested in canoodling than talking with the rest of us. But they were pleasant nonetheless.

We love Luxi!

And Perry (dad), Joan (mom), Ellie, Sarah, and Jessie (daughters left to right)!

After finishing lunch, we took a walk outside of the ancient town. While not all of the original fortress wall of Dali remains, much of it is still standing, including a large gate at each of the four cardinal directions. Pictured below is the north gate.

Of course we couldn't go far before encountering someone else wanting a photo op. This young lady was a bit more into it than her brother.

Cool shirt, bro.

  
Rachel and Rachel, looking floral.

Our walk took us past the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple, which we declined to enter due to the hefty admission fee and the fact that we could get quite a good view from the outside. Dali sits on a plateau nestled between the Cangshan Mountains to the west (the beginning of which are behind the temple in the picture below) and Erhai Lake to the east (more on that in a moment).

Not sure what was going on with this guy, but I want an exact replica for our future home.

Looking northeast, towards Erhai Lake.

Back in the old city, it was time for happy hour! Rachel and Rachel were happy to get their pinot grigio fix.

Also not present when Marco Polo visited: the Dali McDonald's.

We opted for some more local fare, however.

This was probably the only day in my life where I consumed multiple cucumber salads. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The next day started rainy and dreary, but we'd already planned to bike along Erhai Lake and we stuck to it. Stretching approximately 42 km north to south and 4 km east to west, Erhai Lake is the seventh biggest in China in terms of water storage. At its southern end, it flows into the Lancang River -- which is more widely known by its Southeast Asian name, the Mekong.

Our route, along the western edge of the lake, took us through many small villages that retained a very traditional feel. However, people with money to invest seem to be recognizing the tourism potential of the area, and there is a great deal of new construction along the lake.

Later in the afternoon, the rain cleared off nicely and we were finally able to see across to the hills on the eastern side.

After hours of biking, I was more than ready for a Xizhou Pancake, which quickly became my favorite local snack, because carbs.

This was my view for the majority of the trip. Always just a bit too slow.

This pretty statue shows a traditional Bai family at work and play.

Some more Dali cityscapes.

There comes a point in any trip when the siren song of the golden arches proves too strong for any weary backpacker to resist. The ladies gave rave reviews of the soft serve.

Another of the gates, viewed from the inside.

The next morning, we made some new playmates! 

The aforementioned Bai/German woman who owned the inn where we stayed was in town for a particular reason. Her father had died 30 days prior, and there was a traditional Bai Buddhist ceremony in commemoration of that, held in the courtyard of the inn.

This involved hours of chanting and burning incense, as well as the presentation of food and flowers at the altar. It was a fascinating event to get to witness.

Dali has many small canals channeling water from the mountains down towards Erhai Lake.

The western gate.

Sister Rachel was in need of a bit of relaxation, so wife Rachel and I decided to head up into the mountains a short ways on a hike. One of the first things we encountered was a lovely temple.

We were welcomed by this motley crew.

He looks scary but he's more afraid of you than you are of him.

Looking back over the temple from above, we could see Erhai Lake in the background.

Whoever built this path has a harder job than I do.

She probably wanted to push me over the edge for stopping every ten seconds for a picture, but she was a good sport about it.

No Sonmking.

There was a cable car to the top of the mountain, too, but we have more energy than money.

The Cangshan Range has 18 peaks over 3,500 m (11,400 ft). There is a multiple day hike along the spine of the range that we'd love to return for one day.

Almost any hike in East Asia is bound to have a random, beautiful pagoda surprise you at some point.

As well as a random, slightly creepy shrine.

Higher up and on a clearer day, we could easily see across Erhai Lake to the city on the other side.

Back down on the main road into town, lots of fruit vendors line up during the evening rush hour. We bought this fresh, expertly carved pineapple from one enterprising young man.

We were happy that Rachel felt rested enough to join us for happy hour.

Asceticism sure, but everyone needs to make a call now and then.

Being our father's children, we didn't pass up on the mint chocolate chip.

Our last morning in Dali, we said goodbye to our friend Vanessa, whose flawless English was a God-sent.

And her cute son, Momo, who was uninterested in posing for a picture but seemed genuinely sad to see us go.

But we couldn't get away from without being made to feel like celebrities one last time. We must be viral on the Chinese internet by now.

After four nights and parts of five days in Dali we were ready to move on, but there would have been plenty more to do if time allowed. Dali seems to have struck a good balance between opening up to tourists as a source of income, while still preserving many aspects of its traditional culture in an unironic way. We found it to be a terrifically welcoming place and I think all three of us would eagerly return if given the chance.