Liu Hua
When the Lancang River flows through Jinghong, the capital of Xishuangbanna, it shows its gentle side. The river has a wide surface and a gentle flow rate, which often reflects the reflection of the city like a mirror.
the Lancang river divides Jinghong into two parts, namely, the Gaozhuang West Shuangjing Resort, which is being built with huge investment for tourists, and the quaint old city. I didn't choose to live in Gaozhuang, which exudes online celebrity style, but settled in an old town that is simple and rustic. It is not far from the places where I want to go, such as Tropical Flower Botanical Garden and Manning Park, and it is also close to the riverside night market, with a rich flavor of life.
All the articles on the banks of Lancang River are Liu Huatu
When night falls, the most lively place in the old city is the riverside night market. I put on shorts and flip-flops like locals at the hotel and walked for ten minutes to the riverside night market above the towering breakwater on the Lancang River.
Delicious and fragrant, and the night is gentle
Compared with the "largest night market in Southeast Asia" in Gaozhuang, the riverside night market is somewhat outdated, but in a sense, this is its attraction. You can always find a nostalgic atmosphere here, and even some magical unreality.
As the night falls, booths are quickly set up, and most of them sell the same cheap clothes, handicrafts, small department stores and mobile phone accessories. However, there are some other kinds of them: here, a man under the guise of "the first divination in Qian Shan, Liaoning Province" is spitting lotus flowers and telling a passerby the fate of his life with a strong northern accent. Over there, God knows how a scrapped old car was brought up, with a second-hand antique beside it. Next to them, three Pakistanis in white robes are singing and dancing, one playing drums, one singing and one dancing, and their roles often change. All three of them can speak fluent English. When they see anyone who is curious, they will pull you to chat and promote the tambourine, their band's CD and the ongoing live performance.
In addition to selling goods, some stalls also provide on-site services, such as ear plucking, fingernail painting, eyelash cell phone mask and tattoos which are very popular among Dai people. However, the most popular thing in any night market must be catering, and here is no exception.
the most popular place in the night market: food
the food area is located at both ends of the night market, which is where most customers pass when they arrive and leave. The stalls are mainly barbecue or drinks and desserts. The stall is usually a husband-and-wife stall. One person picks up customers in front to collect money, and the other person cooks food in front of the stove facing the seat. I chose a restaurant that looked popular and sat down. When in Rome, I watched the ingredients order without a menu: roasted tilapia, steamed pork skin, pineapple, mango and glutinous rice. When Laos beer was just filled, a cool breeze blew from the river, and the mild beer seemed to be slightly smoother in an instant.
soon, the food was served. Suddenly the fragrance filled the air. Tropical barbecue spices add a lot of color to the food: on the upward side of tilapia, Chili powder completely penetrates into the flesh, and when it is eaten with the crispy and oily skin below, citronella adds a lot of flavor. Bao Shao is a special cooking technique in Xishuangbanna-the ingredients are wrapped in banana leaves and roasted on the fire. Pigskin with plant fragrance is full of sauce mixed with its own oil and seasoning, which is delicious and rich in layers. After eating a bunch of skewers of grilled shrimp, shellfish and snails, pineapple mango glutinous rice appeared at the right time. The sticky and plump glutinous rice combined with the sweetness of pineapple, the fragrance of mango and the smoothness of coconut milk was the most suitable staple food. The rice filled with a pineapple was quickly eaten by me.
tilapia
Dessert stalls don't need naked fire, but rely on blending. I saw the signboard of Paoluda many times along the way, and this time I ordered one directly: two pieces of toast floated on the top of the iced coconut milk bottom, because the baked bread was still crispy just after it was put in, sago and tapioca jelly tasted strange, and the various tropical fruit pieces below made the coconut milk taste particularly refreshing. I walked and drank with it, and there was a fast-paced and high-volume rock and roll in the disco next to me. In the distance, the tall buildings with twin towers in Gaozhuang West are reflected on the quiet Lancang River. In the water, someone started a power station and groped in the shallows. The faint light reflected their outline.
The vegetable market is like a botanical garden.
In the early morning, I was temporarily trapped under a certain roof by a sudden thunderstorm, so I had a chance to enjoy the city scenery: the leaves at the top of the towering coconut trees on both sides of the road were almost connected, which brought the whole street the shade needed by the tropical area. There were more motorcycles coming and going in the street than cars, and the roadside food stalls had not been closed yet. Last night, the wine bureau for two tables of guests continued.
After the rain, I came to Jinghong Farmers' Market, the most popular market in Xishuangbanna. Most of the indoor wholesale halls, which opened at two o'clock in the morning, have closed their stalls at this time, and the retail part behind them has just been put on, welcoming the first guests including me.
The fruit area beside the aisle and at the entrance first makes people feel the beauty of the morning. As a dominant species in the tropics, banana appears with a domineering appearance: it is not separated one by one, but hung in whole strings with thick poles in the middle, as if it still grows on trees in the tropical rain forest. Several strings of different varieties, sizes and colors are like a plant background wall, behind the owner. The stall owner often picks up a sharp knife and cuts it off according to the customer's requirements. In addition to the banana, there is also a jackfruit with a pillow that has been cut in half, revealing golden and full flesh. There are more varieties in the next family: snakeskin, lotus fog, guava, coconut, guava and pitaya ... Most tropical fruits are not affected by the season, and people can enjoy the sweet taste at any time of the year.
Cut jackfruit
Banana is full of treasures. Besides fruits, there are flowers and leaves that can be eaten and used. Banana leaves are relatively common. They are baked in various foods, and their aroma can remove fishy smell. When it is used as a food container for glutinous rice, the wax on its surface can overcome the stickiness of glutinous rice. Banana flowers can only be seen in tropical areas. The shape of water droplets in pale pinkish purple is a bit like an unopened lotus bud, but it is much larger.
pumpkin flowers
Flowers are edible, which is nothing new to Yunnan people. In Jinghong, it is said that there are more than 111 kinds of flowers that can be eaten. When I glanced around, I saw the Chihuahua, pumpkin flowers, Jasmine and Bitter Thorn Flower that I had eaten before, and the cauliflower and taro flower that I had never seen before. I used the software on my mobile phone to know their names. The application program "All kinds of flowers", which can only be used in jungles and botanical gardens, can actually show its talents in the vegetable market in Xishuangbanna.
after some inquiries, I found out how to eat. The flower of cauliflower and pumpkin are boiled together to clear away heat and summer heat, and the flower stem is cut into small pieces and fried with pickled peppers, which is the next meal artifact. Stewed fried taro flowers and oiled eggplant are very popular home-cooked dishes. Listening to the practice, I seem to see these three dishes being served on the table in the courtyard of the Dai family in the evening.
Banana flowers
Rich colors are everywhere in the market. All kinds of peppers just picked are piled up in a stall, from dark red, bright red, orange to orange, green and dark green, which are as rich as chromatography. Although they are all the same spicy in my opinion, for local people, their uses are just like wearing different clothes on different occasions, with strict rules and no carelessness.
next to it is another popular seasonal food-mushroom, which is not as bright as pepper, but it is also fascinating. Although Tricholoma matsutake has been fired up for its reputation, it is recognized as a high-grade food in the country, but it is not the most popular in front of Yunnan people who know the goods. I am afraid that the protagonists here are all kinds of termites, which are called "after the bacteria". Green chicken fir, yellow chicken fir and white chicken fir are not only in different colors, but also in different ways. In addition, boletus, dry fungus, tiger palm fungus, and the legendary green hand who can "see little people" if he doesn't eat well ... At this time, at the busiest time of the vegetable market, neither customers nor stall owners have time to answer my questions, so I have to turn to the mobile phone software again, but the flower-reading software is not very smart in the face of fungi ...
The market is rich
Wang Zengqi, who lived in Yunnan for a long time, visited here a lot. In Jinghong's farmers' market, I also felt what Wang Lao called "the joy of life". Not only that, I also walked into a tropical botanical garden and had an eye-opening natural history class.
Going out for food
Out of the market, I looked around for glutinous rice, a traditional Dai food, which is suitable for breakfast.
"You have to go to the stockade to get authentic glutinous rice." The local people in Lu Yu gave such advice, and he told me that there was a glutinous rice restaurant outside the ancient village of Manhena, which was very authentic.
It is said that the ancient village of Manhena has a history of 1,111 years. It is said by local people that the magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda once stood here, but now the scenery is long gone, and it is impossible to imagine the past. There is a row of stalls on the roadside outside the gate building of Guzhai, which has a strong cottage flavor. I saw the glutinous rice I was looking for at a glance. Although it is a humble roadside stall that can only be taken out, there are many people lined up in front of the stall owner wearing the fiery red Dai traditional clothes embroidered with embroidery.
the process is to buy glutinous rice first, and then choose your favorite side dishes in stainless steel pots. I ordered about two and a half portions of rice, two pieces of bacon, pickled bamboo shoots, some kind of pickled seaweed, sour cowpea and spicy bean skin. White rice is spread out in transparent plastic bags, and various ingredients are covered on the rice. Next to the glutinous rice stall is a small restaurant, where I ordered a bowl of bait and found a seat. The bait soup is fresh and smooth, the glutinous rice is soft and glutinous, and all kinds of side dishes are strong and exciting. Such a simple meal makes people full of energy, which is better than the advanced buffet in a five-star hotel not far away.
ingredients of glutinous rice
I drove south and soon passed a busy area, which is the market in Jinuo Township. The Jino people who live here were recognized as the 56th ethnic group in China in 1979. In a shop, the man wearing a white linen embroidered hat is concentrating on knitting. Instead of silk and needles, he holds rattan and bamboo blanks, surrounded by all kinds of finished products he has made: baskets, lunch boxes, plates and small tables ... almost all of which are related to diet. Outside the door, the bright red tomatoes on the grill were roasted to a black skin and sizzled.
The peeled soft baked tomatoes are smashed with millet pepper, lime and other ingredients in a bamboo mortar, which is the ubiquitous "Nanmi" on the dining table in Xishuangbanna. I sat down to have a rest, and ordered Nanmi with roasted bamboo shoots. The roasted bamboo shoots removed the astringency but left a sweet taste. One second ago, I was still admiring it and Nanmi's unique combination, but I was immediately defeated in front of Nanmi's spicy stamina. Fortunately, I ordered an iced coconut and took a few mouthfuls with a straw, which finally drowned out some spicy taste.
Baked tomatoes
At the roadside stall in Menghan Town, next to the Olive Dam, the sign of "Lao Cold Mix" makes people feel more peaceful than the smoky oven. After the shopkeeper translated between me and the Lao-speaking chef, I ordered bean jelly and cold mango. Cold mango is green mango with chopped peanuts and many fresh tropical spices, and bean jelly is rich juice from tree tomatoes. The similarity between them is that they both add a lot of ice cubes to make food cool. To be honest, this afternoon tea is not delicious to me. The food is too sour and the passion fruit juice is too sweet-maybe this is just the taste that food needs in the hot sun.
In the evening when the summer heat faded slightly, I drove all the way to Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden and got into the lush plant kingdom. I've seen all kinds of ferns in the rainforest, and I've seen plantains covered with flowers and fruits in the plantain garden, and I've figured out how plantain flowers and fruits grow. After sunset, I crossed the suspension bridge connecting the exit of the botanical garden and got into the Dai building by the river to enjoy the scenery. At this time, the Luosuo River shows the most beautiful moment of the day. The sunset reddened the sky, and a small boat became a silhouette on the water from near to far, which was particularly small under the spectacular scene.
Botanical Garden makes people feel peaceful
A plate of oily plantain flowers was swallowed up in front of me at the last ray of daylight to "open my heart". Its internal texture and layers are not available in the market and botanical gardens: the colors and tastes of layers are slightly different, from the toughness on the outside to the crispness on the inside. The next stir-fried fern bud, I don't know which of the dozens of ferns I have seen before, only feels tender and smooth, which is not available in other green leafy vegetables. It is easy to eat with rice. From the market, to the botanical garden, and then to the dining table in front of us, the distance between plants and food seems to have never been so close as in Xishuangbanna.
Proofreading: zhangyan