Trip to Shaxi, Yunnan | You are cuter than summer

The noisy boys' dormitory had gone home a week ago.

The original plan was to fly from Dali to Huangshan to meet my parents. Affected by the spread of the epidemic, all air tickets and hotels have been cancelled. I don’t know when I’ll go next time.

Of all the destinations I’ve been to, I always divide the destinations into two categories.

The first type is those that have been there before and want to go again , such as Tuscany in Italy, Ubud and Canggu in Bali, Nara and Hakuba in Japan, Lisbon in Portugal and Granada in southern Spain, and of course There is a cabin in the Swiss Alps that my whole family will never forget.

The second type is to go to a place once and never remember to go there again. For example, last summer’s Great Northwest Loop (excluding Dunhuang), Phuket and Bangkok in Thailand, and several low-lying countries in Europe…

It’s not that these places are not good or beautiful, but the magnetic field of those places prevents me from having the idea of ​​living here. Although the journey is interesting, it does not give me any fantastic ideas.

For me, Yunnanis a healing place. So I’ve been there so many times and I still like it. Especially Shaxi, a small village that is not yet popular . This summer vacation is my fourth time to go there within a year, and I still like it very much.

The Shaxi trip included four families and eight children, which was equivalent to half a kindergarten class. It stands to reason that traveling with noisy children is not a pleasant experience, but my friends and I still felt comfortable and gained a lot from this trip.

When I returned to Shenzhen, I had the rare feeling that everything was not going well. Floods are rampant, the epidemic is spreading, portraits are being used without authorization, investment income has fluctuated greatly (not new energy), and relationship status is not going well...

Of course, these relatively unsatisfactory times are also my sage moments.

Back home I spent more time reading, watching movies, and having quality conversations with friends and kids. I am trying to fill in the gaps in my life. This is a process of self-healing.

This Yunnan travel note can be regarded as part of self-healing. I hope it can also give you some energy when reading it.

Picking matsutake mushrooms with kindergarten

Yunnan is in the best time to pick mushrooms, and my friends living in Yunnan are checking in one after another. Shaxi is located in a relatively high altitude area and is also rich in matsutake mushrooms.

The first time I went to Shaxi was just to have a meal at Shiyeshan Table. And the first time I missed picking matsutake mushrooms in person because I couldn’t get up early.

I still have the contact information of a big matsutake owner on my phone. Before I set off, I contacted him and asked him to take all the teachers and students of the kindergarten to pick matsutake together.

half a kindergarten class

Only local villagers can take people to pick matsutake in the mountains, and my contact person has contracted a mountain, and only he can take people to pick on the mountain he contracted.

He looks a lot like Huang Bo, is a very nice person, and can be considered a Shaxi matsutake giant.

You need to get up early to pick matsutake mushrooms, and the best time is when the morning dew recedes.

Fresh matsutake has a crisp taste and overflowing aroma. And picking is not an easy task.

Under the leadership of Huang Bo, 14 of us, large and small, toiled on the mountain for two hours using our hands and legs, and we were half exhausted.

And because there are so many children, a bowl of water must be leveled. Each of the eight children must gain something, so they will never go down the mountain until they pick eight.

The mountain road is difficult to walk, and the youngest child is only three years old, so his mother, aunt and Huang Bo need to take action when necessary to carry him on the mountain road.

The mother nearly collapsed after the matsutake trip and said she couldn't go anywhere the next day and needed to lie down all day.

Our group picked a total of eight matsutake. It is indeed delicious and reasonably expensive.

For lunch that day, I ate the freshest matsutake mushrooms with cooked chicken soup in Huang Bo’s kitchen. Endless aftertaste.

Wufenfen sings every day: "Eat umbrellas, sleep on boards." I don't know where I learned it.

But Yunnan people are really enthusiastic about eating mushrooms. According to friends, they once took their children to eat hot pot in Tengchong. The boss smiled and emphasized that this one is poisonous and that one is also poisonous, but it will be fine once cooked.

friend:…

As someone who is allergic to UV rays, I am not very interested in any outdoor activities. This time picking matsutake mushrooms exhausted all the enthusiasm for hiking.

Compared with hiking in Ranhuwu Lake in Tibet, I think picking matsutake is much more tiring.

Fortunately, Wu Wufen, Yan Zai and Auntie were all given many outdoor hiking trainings by their grandpa and grandpa. They are agile and use their hands and feet together effortlessly.

On the other hand, I was wrapped up tightly. Under the mask, I had a lifeless face.

This masked man is me.

Huotang people

This is a restaurant in Shaxi Ancient Town. Every time I go there, I eat barbecue and drink mushroom chicken soup at his house.

This time I took my friends there, and everyone was impressed by his roasted pork belly, flowery potatoes and old turkey soup. I stayed for five days and had four meals at his house.

Yunnan has long sunshine hours, high altitude, fresh air and no pollution, so any vegetables and fruits are delicious.

Eating well while traveling is a very important thing.

While having tea and chatting with the owner of Huotang Renjia, he said that he usually goes up the mountain to pick mushrooms at eight in the morning and doesn’t go down until five in the afternoon. “I picked two matsutake mushrooms that day.” He said with a little pride.

My friends and I listened to the whole thing:? ? ?

This also reflects that it is really difficult to pick wild matsutake mushrooms.

Later, we developed the boss of Huotang into a major purchasing agent in Shaxi. His green peppers, wild mushrooms, dipping sauces for the restaurant, vegetables from his garden, and handmade flower rolls were all purchased by us and shipped to Shenzhen by SF Express.

I used the freshest ingredients to host a banquet at home for my friends, and they all praised it as a very healing meal.

Then one day, the boss of Huotang Family led a team to pick fruits at a fruit farmer's house on the mountain. He brought two seven-person cars with him to barely fit the entire team. I was afraid of climbing mountains, so I left the team. It is said that my aunt climbed the entire mountain diligently before picking ten kilograms of fruit.

After picking the fruits, he took us for a walk around Bailongtan. My friend said that the boss of Huotang Family still remembers me, my parents, my brother, and the boys’ dormitory because we ate eight chickens at his house during the Chinese New Year…

This time, I finally got in touch through WeChat Moments. He bought the eight chickens from matsutake giant Huang Bo.

The Shaxi circle is so small.

Now I have the contact information of the matsutake giant, the boss of Huotang Renjia, and the boss of Chujian Shaxi on my phone. I even have the WeChat accounts of the owner of the caravan and Raven Coffee, except for the cosmic bread (the boss is too cold).

First time seeing Shaxi’s food

Chujian Shaxi is another home-cooked restaurant in the ancient city, and we had four other meals here.

First sight of the wooden horse at the gate of Shaxi

I set a goal in Shaxi: I want to add Universe Bread WeChat, and then I can barely be considered a local of Shaxi Ancient Town.

The result was still not added.

Shiranshanshe

When you go out, in addition to eating, you also have to live.

Shiranshanshe is a newly opened high-end B&B that I discovered during the Chinese New Year. My parents were full of praise for it, and this time they came back with four families. Friends who are used to the big world still like it very much.

It's more like providing you with a home than accommodation.

The sisters at the B&B will arrange for the kindergarten children to make dumplings together in their free time. They will also carefully arrange each day's itinerary for us and provide transportation and other assistance.

Every day breakfast is arranged according to our family's preferences and tastes. This alone is a detail that big hotels cannot match.

There are also two cats in the hotel, and many readers who have followed me there are very impressed by them. A Dou and Miss Nai Qiu.

On the right is Guaiguai Naiqiu

The silly Adou is my five-point favorite.

Adou was also the main reason why our family later adopted a Garfield cat.

I can play with Adou for more than an hour every day for five minutes. The cat seemed to know Wufenfen's love for him, and climbed onto Wufenfen's dining table without warning and asked to be fed. (useless)

I also love to sit in the living room with a book or my computer and start writing in the afternoon when the kids are resting.

This living room, during the Chinese New Year, is where my parents and I cook by the fire and watch TV at night. It is also a good place to spend your afternoon leisure time during the summer vacation.

children photography

Sometimes after meals, children share snacks, chocolate, yogurt, jelly...

When I, Yan Zai, was assigned, he waved his hand firmly:

"Forget it, I won't eat. I'll lose weight."

food activist

It is reported that there is also internal strife among the children. One day two bandit leaders among the children had a falling out, and one of the bandit leaders was a five-pointer.

Yan Zai decisively stood on his brother's opposing team: "Because her temper is slightly better than his brother's."

Children are so difficult.

Overall view of kindergarten

One afternoon, after all the mothers had rested, the kindergarten group watched a movie in my room.

I locked the door silently, picked up my phone and started playing the Green Tara mantra. (No)

As a mother of two children, I still advise everyone not to have three children if they don’t particularly love children.

Picture from Shiran Shanshe

The hotel can be booked on Ctrip. There is no discount for reporting my name, because I really pay for my stay every time, and there is no commercial behavior.

My favorite room is the Mountain and Water Suite. It is spacious and bright, and can comfortably accommodate an extra bed, suitable for a family of three or four.

Secondly, my favorite room is the Xingyue Suite, which has the best lighting and good air circulation. This is the room type that my parents stayed in during the Chinese New Year.

But maybe if I give my name, the lady at the B&B will know to arrange the same matsutake picking trip for you, because we all know the same big matsutake farmer: Huang Bo.

How long does it take to stay?

Except for me, everyone in the group came to Shaxi for the first time. I decisively arranged five days, and it turned out that the adults and children still wanted to come back after leaving.

On the first day after returning to Shenzhen, my friend's children clamored to go back to see Adou and Nai Qiu.

In Shaxi, the best way is to give yourself enough time. Except for must-visit places like Shibaoshan and Pioneer Bookstore, try to stay as quiet as possible.

After visiting Pioneer Bookstore, don’t forget to sit in the cafe at the back. That coffee shop also sells alcohol.

The coffee products at Pioneer Bookstore are also good.

A group with a strong team spirit

Put on your most comfortable cotton clothes and take a stroll to eat every day at meal time. Buying a cup of coffee after a meal, or finding a teahouse, making a pot of tea and chatting with the boss is the best way to spend a vacation.

Raven coffee that I drink every day

The grandma next to the ancient stage still recognizes me. She is the grandma who is three years older than my mother.

That time my mother said in front of her: "You are only three years older than me, but my daughter calls you grandma."

I almost stopped my mother's mouth: "It's not polite."

This time when we were walking in the store, she gave me and my friends discounts, and she randomly picked up a handful of unknown wild fruits and gave them to the children.

There are people from my hometown everywhere in Shaxi Ancient Town, except for Universe Bread.

Always rejected

The cosmic bread is really delicious,

My favorite is fig bread.

The newly opened Banshan Coffee is also a good place to go. It may take half an hour to walk from the ancient city.

It's great to walk on the winding paths in the mountains or go horseback riding.

Shaxi in summer feels very Ubud-like. But the air here is cooler and the ultraviolet rays are more intense.

Auntie walks outside in the fields for half an hour every day before having breakfast. She is also the happiest among the various matsutake and fruit picking trips.

On the first day of her arrival, Yan Zai was pulled up by her aunt and took her for a walk. Later, it was said that she never got up again...

Auntie and Yanzi

I bought my aunt’s sun protection clothes and hats.

A friend said that you can come and stay here for a few days every year.

Well, I want to strive for an early breakthrough and eat sixteen chickens.

Friday market

There is a market every Friday outside the ancient town of Shaxi.

This is not a creative market in our city, a market full of small fresh elements such as hand-brewed coffee or porcelain jewelry, but a market for the exchange of pigs, cattle, sheep and horses.

From a distance, you can see the villagers' trucks gathering together, but as you get closer, you can increasingly feel the smell of live animals: excrement, feed, mixed with the smell of morning dew and hay.

This is the first time that Wufen Yanzai and I have seen so many vivid farm animals.

Cows, horses, pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese...

The kindergarten class that was traveling with us couldn't stand the smell of Animal Gate and got on the bus immediately after getting off the bus. Be ready to evacuate at any time.

Wu Wufen and Yan Zai were so happy that they even imitated the cow's braying on the spot.

Although I don’t really love the smell of animals, I still have the old saying: “For them, I can force myself to fall in love with nature.”

In the ancient town on the other side, there is a market for daily necessities and food.

Mainly selling daily necessities, fresh fruits and vegetables, dry goods, etc.

The villagers all carry bamboo baskets with toys or rolls of toilet paper in them.

I bought a bottle of alfalfa oil there. Handmade by farmers, it can be used for stir-fries or as a dipping sauce to leave a mouth-filling aroma.

The children bought marshmallows at the market. There are various colors, and after learning from Bali, I insist on only buying white ones.

That time at the Bali Zoo, the guy driving the car bought purple marshmallows for the children when I wasn't paying attention.

One was eaten whole by Yan Zai, and he came to me in panic the next day: "Mom, I pooped blue."

I panicked for three seconds, remembering the huge purple marshmallow yesterday...

Before the epidemic is over, I should still look for opportunities to go back, live there, and do nothing every day.

After doing the same thing during the New Year and doing it again during the summer vacation, I still don’t feel bored. I even feel refreshed and full of energy.

This is Shaxi.

Maybe next time I won’t write a travelogue. After all, I am also half-Local.

When walking in the ancient city, I will meet Huang Bo, my Shaxi groceries purchasing agent: Huotang Boss, and I will meet Shaxi Boss Chujian who is always wearing an Archaeopteryx. They will greet me with a smile: "Go. Eat?”

I might still wear cotton and linen clothes, get more rejections from Cosmic Bread, and buy more straw hats and backpacks.

I will sing in my heart: the brisk song of la la la.

After my trip to Shaxi, I took the boys’ dormitory to Dali. I also found a treasure place in Xizhou. Due to space reasons, I will write about it next time.

There is also a report. Last time I told you about the donation.

I accidentally took this picture one night:

At that moment, I felt that the number 1001 was so auspicious. Sorry, I have caught on to the habits of Cantonese people.

So I donated x10 of the donation to the Han Hong Foundation.

As for why Han Hong was chosen among many institutions, it is because this fund has been investigated many times and still produced very transparent reports. And, every quarter, we can see the quarterly report on the foundation’s homepage.

I wish good people an ordinary and peaceful life.