昆明 Kunming: City of Eternal Spring
7 November 2009
For two weeks in November, I was part of a Global Volunteers team in Kunming, working with a group of Chinese primary and secondary school English teachers to help them improve their conversational English skills. This was my second visit to the capital of Yunnan Province, but a much longer stay than the 2006 CCSF Study Abroad program (which included travel throughout Guizhou and Yunnan provinces). Although located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau at an altitude of 6200 feet, Kunming’s unique mild climate earns it the nickname “City of Eternal Spring” (春城). (That’s why I signed up for a November trip: I’ve lived in enough winter climates to avoid visiting them whenever possible!)
Our group of eight volunteers and our wonderful team leader Baoli were housed in the Golden Spring Hotel in central Kunming, walking distance to a variety of parks, shops and restaurants, all of which were very active both day and evening. We soon learned how to successfully navigate the busy traffic, dodging bicycles, electric motorbikes, cars, and buses. The hotel hosted an unending parade of weddings, and became crowded with attendees of a large tourism convention during the second week, but there were few Westerners besides ourselves. The staff were friendly and helpful, and seemed to really appreciate the work we were doing (and for some, like the quiet young man who made us “omelets” every morning, the chance to practice their English).
In addition to its weather (which was, in fact, warmer than normal the first week, in the high 70s, but during our second week felt the effects of a cold front from Mongolia that brought snow as far south as Nanjing), Yunnan is a focal point of minority culture, with 25 of China’s official 55 ethnic minorities represented. Both factors—climate and culture—influence the local cuisine, and we were able to sample many of the local specialities such as hot pot, a huge variety of mushroom dishes, fried goat cheese, etc.
My two favorite eating experiences were:
- » Shi Ping Hui Guan, where we were feted by the Kunming University officials to a welcome feast. Formerly the residence of a Qing Dynasty academic, this is a beautiful, deceptively vast complex tucked into an alley off Green Lake Park, dotted with lovely courtyards and private rooms. Featuring authentic Yunnanese dishes, the menu is vast and varied, and I think our hosts ordered just about everything available for us to try. We also had a very nice local red wine, excellent for multiple toasts!
- » On a very different scale, we had a lovely outdoor lunch with our guide Jasmine during our Saturday excursion to the Stone Forest at a small restaurant outside the park, where we chose our dishes from a pantry overflowing with fresh greens, meats, cheese and several species of insect delicacies (which we weren’t quite brave enough to try). Piping hot and flavorful dishes arrived quickly to our table, and were consumed even more quickly. Fried goat cheese is incredibly delicious; that and a dish of tree bark with cilantro, mushrooms, and some spicy seasonings were my favorite dishes.
Probably the most famous Yunnan dish is “Across the Bridge Rice Noodles” (过桥米线), which has a traditional story attached to it. A young scholar was studying for the official exams, isolating himself on an island. His wife cooked and brought his meals every day, crossing a bridge to her husband’s “study.” However, she found that because of the the long distance, the food grew cold by the time it reached him. So she devised a way to keep food warm by putting a layer of hot oil over the soup. We had dinner at a restaurant specializing in this dish, which was more of an anticlimax after the tons of other (sometimes weird) courses that started the meal, plus a floor show of ethnic songs, dance and amazing feats such as scantily clad young men climbing a sword ladder barefoot. These acts were interspersed with unsuccessful attempts to auction off pieces of jewelry.
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