Yunnan culinary delights

So far we have been experiencing some really nice and tasty food on our ride up through Yunnan province. People have been absolutely friendly and welcoming everywhere: In the small villages where we stopped for lunch along the highway, and also in the cities at dinner time.

It seems that our motor cycle gang is a winner for every small restaurant along the road. When Boris and I pull in to the parking of what looks like a restaurant (often they are quite hard to spot), people are not quite sure of how to react. But as soon as Boris hops off the bike people are instantly attrackted by his vertical dimension. They start to giggle and want to stand next to him and compair sizes. Then, when when Horst gets off the bike and pulls out his Chinese we are instantly waved in. Next thing happening is we all follow Horst right into the kitchen of the small restaurant, and together with the chef we inspect the inside of the fridge.

We choose around 5 different items from the fridge and the friendly lady will prepare some tasty dishes from them. Our favourites are always scrambled eggs with tomato and herbs, corn, fried ham hih tasts like prosciutto crudo, broccoli, mushrooms and for Horst and Simon some sort of tofu. So far every such meal has been a winner for us.

Only with the breakfasts in the hotels we have problems. Our stomachs are just not made for noodle soup and rice in early hours to be consumed in big cold dining rooms with swarms of Chinese people attacking the buffet and leaving behind a big mess. So we prefer to buy some fruits on the market after dinner and then have them in the hotel room. At the same time we can discuss to route of the day.

Now in Shangri-La Boris has taken us to a very cosy restaurant run by Marco, and Italian gentleman who is spoiling us with cherries and tea while we enjoy the warm stove. After a week of Chinese food we very much enjoy some home made pizza and pasta and of course a good cappuccino. Let's see if the food is till so tasty once we enter Tibet.