Last weekend I finally made it to the hometown of one of my students in order to taste the famous Yi Liang duck. And well worth the trip it was too...
So, the story goes that someone from Yi Liang travelled to Beijing (can't remember why!) and took some food for the journey, namely duck. The people of Beijing liked the duck so much, that they decided to cook their own version of it, which became the famous 'Peking Duck'. Don't know if this is true, but it's a good story...
We set off late Sunday morning - myself and three students. We had a 40 minute bus ride and then were picked up by Yoyo's father and driven out into the countryside. It was nice to feel the fresher air and smell the greeness. Kunming is less polluted than some cities in China, but you still notice the difference when you go to the countryside.
Yoyo's father took us to a restaurant in a village. There was a kind of square in the middle of the village and around it were small structures used for cooking the ducks, plus lots of ducks, plucked and hanging on racks. The restaurant itself was a bit dirty, especially the floor - debris from various meals scattered around the tables - but the food was delicious! The ducks came with two different accompaniments: there was the traditional Peking plum sauce, or the local salt/pepper mix to dip it in. Sooooo good!
We each left the restaurant with a full cooked duck (complete with head and beak) to take home.
After lunch we took a short drive up a red-earth track to a small lake. There were lots of people enjoying the warm Sunday sunshine - fishing, playing cards and just generally chilling out.
Back at the bus station we met Yoyo's mother, who gave us drinks for the journey home.
We arrived back in Kunming at about 5pm, a little tired, but full of delicious duck (well, I was, anyway. My friend, Thao, was hungry again, but that's what she's like!!)
Yet another example of extreme kindness and generosity from Chinese people. Something I will definitely miss when I go home...
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