In February, I went to Yunnan province with some colleagues for a week. One of the highlights was our stay in Dali Old Town and a boat trip on Erhai Lake.
When a boat trip was mentioned, I foolishly imagined something small, for maybe 10 or 20 people, where you have to wear life jackets and listen to the outboard motor juddering along. No. This was a massive cruise ship with 5 levels that could hold I don't know how many hundred people. It had it's own cafe, shop, massage room, dining hall, several decks and dozens of tour groups on board.
We three foreigners braved the brisk morning air on the outside deck and had it mostly to ourselves for an hour or so. It was heavenly to watch the sunlight on the water and breathe the fresh air off the lake. As we approached our first stop, a small temple island, more and more of our fellow tourists came out on deck to look at the approaching island, stare at the foreigners and eat their varied snacks.
The island was tiny. It's sole building was a small temple on a hill. However the entire population of the boat had an opportunity to get onto this island and be greeted by the 50+ food vendors crowded onto the flat place below the temple. Everywhere you turned, vendors were selling fish, big fish, small fish, fried fish, roast fish, as well as tiny lake shrimp, quickly fried in a hot wok, and local salty pears. We clambered over the hill and glanced at the temple, trying to get out of the way of the stumbling hordes behind us, then found a slightly quieter vendor and ordered some shrimp.
Back on the boat, I had a seat to myself outside in the sunshine where I could eat my delicious shrimp in peace. They were hot and crunchy and salty and rather oily and extremely delicious! The salty pear was more interesting than delicious. It tasted like a regular Chinese pear (nashi pear) that has been soaked in salt water, so was slightly salty and slightly soggy, but cool and refreshing after the shrimp. I imagine it would be just the thing on a hot summer's day, after a long walk!
