HsiaoBanQiao, little wooden bridge

It's the mother of all farmers' markets. There were so many people, so much food, it went on for miles. To think I went to 2 of such farmers' markets that Sunday. It was such a treat and so tiring. I took so many pictures that my fingers hurt. This is a village 12 miles South of Kunming. I found it mentioned in the Bradt guide to Yunnan and in no other guide book. I usually consult a few guide books before I go any where, I don't want to miss anything. I showed the Mandarin name to my taxi driver and he knew where to take me. He would take me to a second one nearby when he realised he could make more money if he took me to more places. My regret during this trip was I didn't bring enough cash. They don't use credit cards in China, not where I was, anyway. I brought some cash which was enough. If I had more, I could have gone further. The next trip I'll be bringing bags of cash. So anytime you need Chinese Yuan, you just go into a bank of China to change your US dollars. I made the mistake of changing money in Hong Kong and got much less. Do it in China, have just enough for taxis and meals and the first hotel. The funny thing about hotels is they require a deposit before they let you have the room. So you need some cash for the first hotel depending on how expensive it is.

There is so much of everything, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and other sundries. It is an amazing area of China. They have a long growing season and the hills are all terraced and planted with something. You wonder how they can consume all this food but when you see the hordes of people in Kunming, you know why. The one child per family doesn't apply to the minorities.

It is early for grapes but there were grapes everywhere.

Apricots.

Walnuts and lychees.

It's a slow day for books. Who has time to read. Education is not a priority here. Everyone needs to work, education is more a luxury.

They have some of the best ham in the world, haotui, they call it.

They have similar cuisine to Sichuan, they use a lot of chillies.

Shallots.

Some bamboo crates.

There's a lot of meat also.

And river fish.

This area is also famous for their mushrooms. There's all kinds of mushrooms, all wild, which they foraged from the wild.

I was going to buy some red rice but forgot.

Wild honey.

Rice noodles. Most noodles here are made from rice flour. To know that the Chinese are not starving is important to me. They have never received any aid from the West. They have always managed their own natural disasters and that's one amazing fact. One can criticize China all they want. Yunnan is home to some of the most beautiful lakes and mountains in the world.