Dr. Ho

Travels in Yunnan, SouthWest China.

A few miles north of Lijiang there's a charming little village called Baisha.



We entered as most tourists do, into a temple ground that lies at the front. There's not much to say about temples without getting all academic on yah, but this was worth a look for the tranquility it offered after spending a few days in the bustling alleys of Lijiang. Plus there's Naxi murals here, which are different from the usual Buddhist or Taoist ones we see all over China. Lots of animals. As you exit the back of the temple, there's an alley or two full of street vendors, mostly with tourists trinkets.



Push past the hustle to the next street that has a few homes-cum-cafes. You can't miss Dr. Ho's place, with the sign THE MOST ADMIRED MAN.



Dr. Ho, dressed in a white doctor coat and sporting a straggly white beard, came out to great us. Barely introducing himself, he launched right into a lecture about how he was THE MOST ADMIRED MAN, and proceeded to show us an endless stack of media clippings, letters, and official documents that proved his legendary status. He wouldn't stop. His wife brought us some "healthy tea" and I used this break in the action to ask "so, Dr. Ho, what are you so famous for?" He said "yes" and showed us more media -- articles in the New York Times, request letters from the BBC asking for permission to film -- and stacks of personal letters -- "see! this one from Washington DC! This one from Nigeria Africa!" Again we pleaded to get to the reason why he was so legendary. Clearly he wasn't done, and started chatting up how he was big on google, and if we search for "THE MOST ADMIRED MAN" we could find him on "goo-gu-lah" (We've just searched and it seems he's been bumped by George W Bush, which inspired us to pull out the dictionary and double check the meaning of the word "admired"...)



Finally I sort of just walked into the other room and found about 50 large bags full of herbal powders. I told Dr. Ho about how I was worried about my liver from drinking too much and what could he concoct for that. He thumbed through his stacks of hand-written notes. Mom suggested we get him organized with a notebook and filing cabinet, but that would kill the fun. Moms are like that. So Dr. Ho started running around like a mad scientist, scooping spoonfuls of herb powders into a bag, about 30 of them. He told me it was free but I could leave a donation if I could afford to.

Next we asked what would be good for asthma, and Dr. Ho got a little smile on his face and led us to his backyard garden, and pointed to a large marijuana plant. "Really? You smoke that for asthma relief?" No, of course not, you drink it as a tea. We'd like to, but we all agreed it would be unwise to bring it on the plane. Planes are like that.

We gave THE MOST ADMIRED MAN some cash, and took our leave. We were hungry after watching the energetic Dr. Ho run around and do his routine, so we walked around the village a bit and found a pig on a spit ready for lunch. We also enjoyed some pumpkin-corn cake and a "Baisha sandwich" which was like a pita stuff with vegetables and goat cheese.



We took a little walk off the main street, where the lane turns into a path into the gardens behind the homes, and the gardens turn into small fields, until we came to a clearing past the trees -- a large field with a postcard perfect view of YuLong Shan. With a setting like this and a view like that, and guys like Dr. Ho, you can understand where the legend of Shangri-La comes from.



And later we went to the top of that mountain ... you need oxygen tanks when you're up there or you get light-headed.

Yak in Yunnan

On location in Yunnan, Southwest China.

Mom and I recently had a little vacation in Yunnan Province, Southwest China. It was our first time to the region, and we had such a good time, we're already talking about going back. I'll publish a series of stories about Yunnan's weird meat choices over the next few weeks.



Yucky yak steak.

Yunnan borders Tibet, and there are lots of Tibetan people in the area, so naturally, you can find lots of yak meat and yak butter tea. The first we tried was in Dali's old city -- yak steak at a Tibetan theme guesthouse restaurant. It was sweeter than we expected -- sweeter than beef, and not musky like mutton (we expected it to, but were pleasantly surprised, not being big fans of lamb and mutton). This yak steak was tenderized to a flaccid pulp and we shared the leftovers with many of the cute puppies whimpering about. (What is it with Dali and Lijiang -- everyone seems to have a brand new puppy, and they're the most irresistibly cute doggies we've seen anywhere.) We didn't see any on the menu, so we can't tell you if they are as delicious as they are cute.



Little puppy wants some yak scraps.

Next day, before a gorgeous trip up the mountain overlooking Dali and Erhu lake, we had our first yak butter tea. I'm not sure how authentic this one was, but it was by far our favorite of all the yak butter teas we'd try over the next week. It was frothed up like a creamy cappuccino, with sweet-spicy tea (like Indian chai), and yak milk and butter blended into a expertly balanced flavor. Mmmm. One of the culinary highlights of our trip.



Fancy yuppie yak butter tea with frothy yak milk.

Lijiang is further into yak country, so we had the more authentic stuff here. We started with a fine little meal at the infamously named "Flourishing Sanck" [sic] near the village square, which features such chinglish menu doozies as "Potato The Crap". We ordered the stir-fried yak with celery, which was great, and so much better than that sad excuse for a yak steak in Dali. And we ordered the "small pot" of the yak butter tea. This turned out to be an enormous pot enough for 10 people. Completely different from that sophisticated concoction in Dali, this was the real stuff, with a strong yakky-butter smell, and no creaminess. We still liked it, and didn't find it as off-putting as many tourists complain about, but we admit liking the yuppie one better.



Welcome to Flourishing Sanck!

Exploring the charming cobbled-laned village of Lijiang, we found several shacks selling yak jerkies and various dried yak meats. We tasted a lot of these and found them scrumptious.



The spicy fatty one made a nice snack on top of the Jade Snow Mountain. The area around here -- you can see why they're claiming it as the mythical inspiration for Shangri-La. Naxi-Dongba culture is unique -- claims to be the world's only surviving matriarchal society, and the only pictographic language -- and there's an incredible range of herbs, edible plants and mushrooms and flowers.



Atop Jade Snow Mountain (YuLong Shan) north of Lijiang, near Tibet.




Mom, did you fart? Or is that the yak butter tea?