Suggestions on Kunming and Yunnan

[Guest realmayo]

The only problem is that I had a proper buzz on after drinking so much tea

 

Definitely agree with this, although on the upside I've found being 'teadrunk' has the same helpful affect on my readiness to chatter as alcohol, but with fewer of the negative consequences.

[abcdefg]

Glad you had a good time there, Somethingfunny, and that you found some decent tea. Appreciate your coming back to report. There's no substitute for being able to personally sample lots of different tea in the span of a few hours. Especially when the activity is enjoyable and pretty much free. I've been spoiled, and don't think I will ever be content just buying a closed tin of tea from an internet catalog or off a store shelf again.

 

I definitely know what you mean about having to urgently find a toilet after drinking lots of those small cups of strong tea. It's a great workout for the kidneys! Realmayo is right on about the "tea buzz" that sometimes occurs. Can make people somewhat loquacious and jolly. Tea is one of England's three famous "temperance beverages" that facilitate social interaction without alcohol. (The other two are coffee and cocoa.)

 

Hope you enjoy the Pu'er tea that you bought. Sounds like you might live in Chengdu. (I had forgotten that.) It's a good place for tea too, though mostly famous for fine Sichuan green teas. (It's still Yunnan for Pu'er and Dian Hong.) When the spring harvest comes in, April or May, perhaps you can sample some of those as well, now that you have a better idea of the general approach and technique.

 

I have a Chinese friend who is a professional tea buyer there in Chengdu. (Moved from Kunming.) She purchases wholesale amounts for a couple of restaurant chains. I visited her once when she had a large cardboard box of tea in her living room. Told me her client had told her to try those 30 or 40 teas and advise which 8 or 10 it would be smart for them to stock and serve. Had to finish the project by Monday morning. She had an amazing "taste memory." I've never seen anything like it. 

 

Foreign tourists often talk about being scammed at "tea ceremonies" in Beijing and Shanghai. The travel forums are full of horror stories and dire warnings; there's even a thread here about that sorry business. It's enough to make any reasonable person reluctant and a bit wary. I was glad to discover that the same situation is rare in Kunming. (I cannot swear it has never happened; but I've never personally heard of a case.) Tasting tea here is a pretty safe thing to do.

 

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/8181-the-beijing-tea-scam-and-a-few-others/

[xuexiansheng]

@abcdefg- As our resident forum expert on all things Yunnan, what would you recommend doing in the town of Kunming? I was there about 11 years ago and saw some temples up on a hill that were nice (can't remember the name, but they had an impressive carving of the story of Sun Wukong...I think)  and an 'old' part of town that was super touristy. I'll probably have two or three days and my fiancee will be with me. I tend to favor the more cultural attractions, art museums, performances, the like...  And I will be using some of your tea tips to find some tasty Pu'er to bring back to the States. 

[somethingfunny]

I think I can speak on behalf of abcdefg when I say 文林街 and the surrounding area has some really great foreigner bars where you'll be able to have some truly unforgettable conversations about the quality of pizza on offer in China.

[gato]

I liked the old 西南联大 site. This was the temporary campus for Beida and Tsinghua during the Japanese invasion. The campus is now that of 云南师范大学. The old campus gate has been preserved, along with a few old classrooms and memorial sites.

http://baike.baidu.com/view/24006.htm?fromtitle=%E8%A5%BF%E5%8D%97%E8%81%94%E5%A4%A7&fromid=1437297&type=syn

国立西南联合大学

[abcdefg]

I think I can speak on behalf of abcdefg when I say 文林街 and the surrounding area has some really great foreigner bars where you'll be able to have some truly unforgettable conversations about the quality of pizza on offer in China.

 

Haha, Somethingfunny! Right you are! Now I see where your username originated; it's well deserved. I am indeed always grousing about that, most recently here, post # 153. http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/8574-keats-school-kunming-a-query/page-8

 

Xuexiangsheng, I'll be glad to help. If you only have 2 or 3 days, we will need to be pretty selective. Let me say off the bat that if I'm available when you are here, and it's something you want to do, I will gladly take you and your fiancee tea shopping. (I'm not on commission, it's just something I enjoy doing.)

 

I wonder if the temple you remember might be Bamboo Temple? 筇竹寺。 It's one of those small gems that's skipped by most tourists because it's difficult to reach and it's not set up for the bus tour crowd. To the best of my recollection, it cost 15 Yuan.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiongzhu_Temple

 

If I had to suggest one museum, it would be the top notch Yunnan Nationalities Museum 云南民族博物馆。It's out west, across from Minority Nationality Village 民族村。(By the way, definitely give the latter a miss.) Free entry, closed Mondays.

 

If I had to suggest one cultural performance, it would be the long-running and beautiful "Dynamic Yunnan" evening dance performance show. It was choreographed by (now retired) Yang Liping and plays every evening. I've seen it 2 or 3 times. A 50 Yuan ticket is adequate.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298558-d1438210-Reviews-Dynamic_Yunnan-Kunming_Yunnan.html

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRU82UDuPeM

 

If you are coming pretty soon, such as before the end of March, save a couple hours to see the cherry blossoms at the (old downtown) Kunming Zoo 昆明博物馆。(It's not the newer "wild" zoo, out in the country.) The animals are in a pretty sorry state, like most other Chinese zoos, but they do have a beautiful peacock enclosure, where they roam free. You can walk among them and see them close up. Admission 10 Yuan.

 

This old zoo is also next door to Yuantong Temple 圆通寺, which is easy to include on one outing. It's placid, and not over-visited. As a working temple, you can have lunch with the monks and nuns, linger a while, etc. Yuantong Temple admission is 6 Yuan unless it just went up.

 

So these are some thoughts to get you started.

[xuexiansheng]

@abcdefg- Thanks for the suggestions and generous offer to be our local guide for tea, I'll send you my contact info in PM.

 

That dynamic Kunming show looks interesting, is that something I would need to book ahead for tickets or can you easily get them day of the performance? 

 

I'll definitely put the Minorities Museum on the list!

 

That temple name sounds familiar...this was 12 years ago... (found an old photo of me at a Kunming temple. Wow, a trip down memory lane!) 

[abcdefg]

You can buy show tickets the day of the performance.

 

If you only have time for one temple, Bamboo Temple is the one to see. It's the best of the lot. Ten or fifteen kilometers NW of the main city. The big room with 500 carved Arhat statues 罗汉 is a special place. Each one is a work of art, with a personality and individual feel.

 

If you favor cultural attractions, it would be one not to miss.

[somethingfunny]

Earlier this year I spent some time in Yunnan and wrote up some of my experiences above.  I've now got round to putting up some pictures that I took for anyone that might be interested.

 

 

 

Here are some of the Confucian temple in Jianshui:

 

 

After Jianshui I went up to Yuanyang:

 

 

Where I looked at the rice terraces:

 

 

And some ducks:

 

 

Later I went to Dali and the surrounding mountains:

 

[abcdefg]

Beautiful photos, @Somethingfunny. Looks like you caught Yuanyang at just the right time of year. The flooded rice fields are mirror-like. Was it late December? Excellent lighting and composition.

 

And the mountains of Dali could not have possibly been depicted better, both close up and far away.

 

I spent several hours at the Confucius Temple in Jianshui on several different occasions. (Admission is free for old folks.) Vaguely remember the red wishing cards, but I don't think I paid them close attention. Good idea to make a closeup collage of them.

 

Well done! I would be game to see more, if you are so inclined. This thread now has two sets of fine illustrations: yours and those that @Eion_padraig posted last year.

[Alex_Hart]

Thank you for sharing your pictures! They're lovely. That temple looks beautiful, and your picture of the rice terraces is very well done - looks just like the TV shows!

 

Based on abcd's response, wondering what the rice fields look like at the "wrong" time of the year? Are they not flooded, thus not all that spectacular?

 

How was the crowd, somethingfunny? 

[somethingfunny]

I was at the rice fields in late January.  My understanding is that they flood them early now so that they can get the Spring Festival crowds in.  When I was there it wasn't too busy as the weather had been pretty terrible for the preceding few days and I think a lot of people had cancelled their plans.  There were still a lot of people at the designated photography locations, especially at sunrise or sunset.  Unfortunately, if I had arrived a day or two early - during the bad weather - I would have caught the terraces with snow on them.  There was a semi-professional guy there who had taken some really fantastic pictures the previous day.

 

Apart from the last one, which was taken on my phone, the rest were taken with my Canon 700D with a fixed focal length 60mm lens.  I'm not really that into photography and having a fixed length lens makes landscape pictures pretty difficult (I chose that lens as I prefer photographing people) so I had to take quite a lot of pictures to be able to get any that were halfway decent.  It's funny because there were a lot of people there who came with their 10,000+RMB cameras to that specific spot, to take that specific picture and they were just clicking away on the 'scenic' preset.  The semi-pro guy was pretty disgusted, although he might just have been in a bad mood from getting up at 5am everyday.

[abcdefg]

Based on abcd's response, wondering what the rice fields look like at the "wrong" time of the year? Are they not flooded, thus not all that spectacular?

 

After the harvest, but before the fields have been flooded to prepare for the next crop, they are just muddy. I agree with what @Somethingfunny said about them altering the farming schedule in order to attract and please the tourists. I've been told they are doing that more and more each year. Can't help but think that's not a good sign.

 

I went in mid or late January two or three years ago and rain poured down in sheets most of the time. Plus it was cold enough to freeze erguotou baijiu 二锅头白酒。Finally found a local driver who took me to some non-designated spots farther away from which I had a pretty good view of some smaller hills and fields that weren't completely shrouded in mist and fog during the breaks in the rain.

 

But after trying Yuanyang a couple days, I eventually left in search of better weather and better views. First proceeded SW to Luchun 绿春。Then back up in a circuitous northerly direction to Shiping 石屏县。Both of those areas have their own terraced fields that are less known and less popular.

 

Shiping is also home to Yunnan's best stinky tofu. Photo above reminded me of how delicious it was roasted over coals. There, as well as in Jianshui, they made a big deal about where the tofu-making water came from since it greatly affected the finished product. Jianshui has some ancient deep Artesian wells which are famous locally. Some locals claimed that water drawn from the deep well near the west gate was sweeter than that from the deep well near the east gate. Tofu rivalries have existed in that part of Yunnan over long periods of time.

[Alex_Hart]

 

Tofu rivalries have existed in that part of Yunnan over long periods of time.

 

Isn't that the best kind of rivalry, though? Imagine if the fight over 南海 went from being about territory to which country cooks the best beach-side barbecue fish! 

 

Glad you were able to catch the scene at a good time, somethingfunny! 'fraid I'd be snapping amateur shots on a smart phone, prompting the disgust. 

[abcdefg]

Right, @Alex_Hart. At least BBQ fish wars and tofu wars don't lead to combatant fatalities and civilian collateral damage.

 

Jianshui has a dozen or so very deep and very old Artesian wells that are still in use today. Some are a thousand years old and have become minor tourist attractions since their stone lips are deeply worn from people drawing up water with rope and bucket by hand.

 

  

 

I sometimes stay in a small business hotel in Jianshui that has a mostly Chinese clientele. One of the luxury amenities you get with your 250 Yuan room is a pitcher of local water drawn from the West Gate wells. Maids deliver it to the room daily.

 

It looks strange at first if you are used to receiving nationally branded bottled water at the Holiday Inn and this arrives on your bedside table instead. But it actually does have a very pleasant taste, slightly sweet from its mineral content.

 

(Disclaimer: These are internet photos; not some I personally took.)

[onebir]

Jianshui was featured in an episode of CCTV-9's "Travelogue" - I recognise those wells! I not sure of the exact episode, but someone familiar with Yunnan's geography might be able to guess which one of these it was:

https://www.youtube.com/user/cctv9travelogue

[Alex_Hart]

Do you still need to boil the well water?

[abcdefg]

Do you still need to boil the well water?

 

No. At least I didn't boil it. They said it wasn't necessary. Must admit to being apprehensive about that the first couple times. The water allegedly originates from rain in the higher surrounding mountains and arrives via a very deep aquifer. An old man who lived nearby said the water is "naturally filtered" by porous rock before making its way to the surface where it can be scooped up in buckets and used for cooking or drunk.

 

He said at one time, years ago, the water just flowed out of some of the wells naturally, under its own pressure. None of these wells have pumps. At least none that I found; managed to locate six of them by walking around small back streets with a map, frequently asking people who lived there for help.

 

The man who explained it wasn't a scientist; he was just a friend of my Kunming Chinese teacher's grandmother. (The teacher was originally from Jianshui.) I don't really know much about the geoscience behind such things, but here's an explanation that I found online which seems to make sense.

 

Water Questions & Answers: My mom drinks "artesian well water". What is it?

Chemically and physically, artesian groundwater is not different than other groundwater, but it comes to the surface differently. Your mom is drinking water from a well that taps an aquifer that is "confined". This aquifer is water-bearing rock (the pores and cracks between rock particles are filled with water) that is surrounded by other rock or material that does not allow water to pass through. So, the water in this aquifer is squeezed by the other rocks, creating pressure in the water-bearing aquifer.

 

When an artesian aquifer is tapped by a well the pressure pushes the water up the well, sometimes all the way to the surface, creating a flowing well. Imagine it as a very wet sponge contained in a closed plastic bag. Put a straw through the bag into the sponge, hold the bag tightly around the straw, and SQUEEZE - that would be artesian water squirting you in the face.

 

http://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-artesian.html

 

 

 

All that aside, I would not have drunk it if all the locals had not been drinking it too. I realize that's clearly not a foolproof argument and I would never try to convince anyone else that it was 100% safe. Even wise locals can be wrong about what's safe and what's not.

[abcdefg]

Jianshui was featured in an episode of CCTV-9's "Travelogue"

 

Good show, @Onebir. I couldn't locate the Jianshui episode but remember watching this TV series regularly some years ago and usually enjoying it. I can no longer get it live on my current hook up 机顶盒。

[Alex_Hart]

@abcd: Awesome! Wonder if such wells are a hot commodity these days - such things are a big deal even here in the States because breweries and the like enjoy saying they have their very own unique source of water.