I visited SHANGRI-LA! The food is like nothing I’ve seen before…
Coming up in today's food adventure I'm in Shangrila home to towering mountains crisp Alpine air, lots of yaks and of course it's a wonderful place to get a taste of Tibetan culture and I've got quite the menu coming up today first up cordyceps aka caterpillar fungus as well as the most incredible 15 layer traditional Tibetan hot pot accompanied by some seriously cool cultural exchange So get comfy grab snacks and as always don't forget to subscribe hello hello and welcome to another Chinese food adventure and welcome to the last stop of my Yunan travel so I've been following the very popular travel route that goes from Kunming to Dali to Lijiang to Shangrila so yes I am in Shangrila place that conjures these images of beautiful mountains and tranquil temples and mystical hidden valleys and everyone that I've told that I'm coming to Shangrila today they've just been immediately intrigued I think it's just a name that makes you intrigued like what is Shangrila actually like but something that might interests you is that this region wasn't originally called Shangrila the name Shangrila actually comes from a fictional place described in the 1933 novel by James Hilton called Lost Horizons and he described a place that was like a Utopia a tranquil place a mystical place and in 2001 this region actually formally changed its name to Shangrila So yeah, join me today as we explore Shangrila together first stop is of course gonna be breakfast so we're gonna have that in the old town here this is Dukezong ancient town it's an ancient town with about 1,300 years of history and while it is yes very old it's also very new as well and the reason I say that is in 2014 there was a very unfortunate fire that ravaged most of the city most of the old town so a lot of it has been rebuilt they have done their best to retain this old architectural Tibetan style but it is in fact a brand new old town and yeah that's something else that's very interesting about Shangrila it's populated by a majority Tibetan population so walking around this old town you're gonna see all the Tibetan style architecture a lot of stores selling Tibetan handcrafts Tibetan costume and dress up stores you'll see a lot of those a lot of people coming here to take photos and also of course a lot of Tibetan food so without further ado let's go get breakfast so for our breakfast spot is actually one street outside of the old city I feel like yesterday when I was scouting locations for breakfast the places I was finding inside the old city were definitely more touristy and even just one street outside felt a little bit more down to earth so that's what we're doing today for breakfast this morning of course I'm gonna be trying the classic Tibetan combination of suyoucha and tsampa. Suyoucha is yak butter and yak milk tea a lot of yak butter going in there then tea is added, some salt then it's blended all together with fresh yak milk. This is how it looks, traditionally it's paired with this here, zanba, it's a powder ground from qingke, which is highland Tibetan barley it's a grain that grows at really high altitudes and I've been told it's used a lot in this region for different kinds of carbs in different kinds of ways. This method is particularly interesting.
Basically she adds some of that barley powder to my bowl， and then some suyoucha is added, then she mixes it up with chopsticks then you just use your hands to make it nice and compact and then you just eat it. I think it reminds me of, like a healthy cereal like a All-Bran kind of cereal good for the digestive system. Those kind of cereals it's like a grainy taste not sweet if anything it's on the slightly salty side I've been told I should have it paired with some suyoucha. So let's try it my first time trying suyoucha If you have any idea of what you think it's gonna taste like by looking at it you have to revise your expectations, because it's it's salty it's very buttery. I can't taste so much the tea inside. I think I'm gonna try a bite of this and then directly have some suyoucha.
This gives it the butteriness, the milkiness, this gives it the graininess. I don't wanna like make a comparison, but it does remind me a little bit of a cereal breakfast experience that I know from my childhood and talking of breakfast of my childhood but very different. We have some yogurt. This is yogurt from Yak and you should see how it actually looks when she brought it out it was in this cone shape and I guess she just slices it if you can see here it's it's quite crumbly it's giving like a crumbly cheese kind of texture it's, it's it's different. the first thing that hits me is it's quite sour and then when it gets to the back of my throat that aftertaste is very milky, not not creamy, I don't know how to describe this milkiness Well, it's like milk but even milkier taste than milk.
uh and that's also what I'm getting from this suyoucha as well one of the more interesting breakfast I've had but also one of the most representative breakfast to the local culture I mean we're at a high altitude. So we are currently eating this qingke this Highland Tibetan Barley and we're eating a lot of products with yak yak milk Yak butter there's a lot of yaks in this region I'm sure we'll see a few today oh my gosh look does this count as my first yak of the day that's so cute. But before we go out looking for some real yaks, let's explore this dukezong ancient town a bit more. Fun fact it's one of the highest altitude ancient towns in the world. Right now we are at around 3,200 meters above sea level and my friend she's actually very worried for me she told me don't speak too fast otherwise you're gonna get altitude sickness I've seen uh quite some people in town like with their oxygen tanks such as you just buy in a supermarket some oxygen and just breathe it in but although I'm doing my best to take it easy there's also something really cool at the top of this hill so I guess let's get climbing so this here is what I've been told is the world's largest prayer wheel it's 21 meters high，I thought I'd stand here to give you an idea of its scale and it's said if you're able to spin it three times you're protected from sickness or misfortune for the rest of your life but here's the catch it weighs 16 tons but let's see wait，I have to do it clockwise I also learnt that...which is clockwise
clockwise clockwise this way, okay, nope nope I think I gotta wait for some more people to come that's really heavy I found some friends and we're gonna try three people can three people move this prayer wheel? nope nope we tried again with six people but again absolutely zero movement it was only once we collected over 20 people to help move this prayer wheel that we were actually finally able to move it I don't know if it was the immense weight or the altitude but wow this was so exhausting but yeah we eventually did complete our three rounds that's it oh my God but there's a lot more to Shangrila than just Dukezong ancient town so let's get out there and explore a bit quite honestly this Shangrila area is massive and it's definitely a place that warrants at least three or four days kind of exploring there's a lot of walking routes that you can take that I'm definitely interested to do when I come back next time but there are a few things that you can see within like an hour's drive and I'm gonna try and see as much as possible to give you guys an idea of like what you could actually feasibly do in a day trip in Shangrila the first stop which is about a 30 minute drive from the old town is that's Potatso National Park and it is absolutely massive I've just read online that it's actually 1,300 square kilometers it covers uh and we've just been driving through already for about 10 minutes and it just keeps going and going the scenery is absolutely gorgeous we have mountains, we have snow-capped mountains we have a lot of little Alpine lakes I've also been told that every month has a different kind of scenery here so at the moment you can see it's a bit more in the brown earthy color side but if you come in summer it's apparently just completely green so it really depends what season you come as to what kind of scenery you're gonna see and actually I've learned that in this national park in general it's a huge biodiversity hotspot you can actually find more than 20% of China's whole plant species and also over one third of its mammal life and bird life and on the subject of wildlife you'll spot so many yaks in the national park here just hanging out but you won't find them just inside the park you'll see yaks everywhere in this region most commonly you'll see them just chilling by the side of the highway at this point we've seen so many yaks I thought may as well try some so I found a local Tibetan restaurant where I noticed they have a lot of yak on the menu Yak-steamed buns, yes, please this here is the owner he was so incredibly welcoming and even asked if I'd like to taste some of his homemade spirit mix guys look what I've just noticed is inside it's a caterpillar fungus oh this is my first time being up close and personal with this caterpillar fungus or cordyceps if you've seen the television show The Last of us, it's based on this cordyceps except in that world it invades humans instead of caterpillars basically what happens is this parasitic cordyceps fungus will enter the body of the host in this case it's a caterpillar as it grows it eventually kills the host and sprouts from the body emerging as a long finger like stalk ready to release spores and start the cycle again it's super expensive because a, it only grows at over 4,000 meters altitude b, it only occurs naturally and can't be cultivated and c, it has many medicinal properties this one had me very nervous to try on one hand I couldn't believe the generosity of this kind man and definitely didn't wanna waste this delicacy but at the same time I definitely wanted to do some research of my own first what a cocktail！ Cordyceps mushrooms are generally thought to be safe to eat and consume possible negative side effects can include upset stomach nausea and loose stools okay I don't know maybe I'll just leave this for later we have a 2-in-1 special here not only are we trying the Barley noodles like a local specialty I mean this morning we had the the Barley Zanba this is another way that is used in noodle form and on top we have yak some yak Barley noodles cannot get more local than that I mean in the flavour department is definitely more subtle which gives me room to appreciate the taste of those noodles they actually have their own taste slightly cinnamony nutmeggy I don't know why but they taste a little bit like that as for the yak meat I have to say it for me for my palate I wouldn't if you put like some yak made in front of me and some beef in front of me I don't think I'd be able to distinguish between the two it's almost like a even beefier beef also got myself a small serve of the yak meat baozi or as they're known also momo so I dipped it in this Lajiao this chili sauce and inside is yak meat hmm oh they're good really fluffy bun inside the meat is very tasty very meaty but what really brings it together is this sauce which is not very spicy but it has in this inmistakable taste of Sichuan pepper corn I feel like in this area they use a lot of Sichuan pepper corn I'm loving it and for dessert we have our cordyceps okay so inside it's kind of just like it's pretty crunchy wow I did it guys but anyway let's get back to our video and our next stop of the day here in Shangrila just around the corner from the restaurant is one of the must-see destinations here in Shangrila which is of course the Songzanlin Monastery is the biggest Tibetan monastery in Yunnan and it is a site to behold is so beautiful especially on a day like today we've really lucked out with the weather with that blue blue sky and that yellow gold and the birds flying over the top it's just absolutely stunning looks like we've also got quite some steps to the top but I mean if we haven't already gotten the altitude sickness should be fine should should be able to make it built in the 17th century Songzanlin Monastery is home to 594 monks and it's often called Little Potala Palace for its stunning Tibetan architecture inside you'll find golden statues and colourful murals which tell the stories of Tibetan Buddhism but you'll have to come and see that for yourself because I didn't film anything inside I just wanted to take it in slowly and respectfully without my camera by the time I left the monastery the weather had completely turned and it actually started to snow basically perfect timing for our next indoor activity this is a Hada and it's the way the Tibetan people will welcome their guests Guys I'm so excited to be able to introduce you to Jiang Can He's a fifth generation inheritor of an intangible cultural heritage which is incense making I'm a huge fan of incense Derk and I pretty much every night are putting on some incense It's so relaxing I never thought I'd actually have the opportunity to learn about it from a literal master the process starts by scooping out some of this incense powder onto this surface which will soon add water to and shape into sticks but just to backtrack the incense powder itself is basically just made by grinding together the ingredients you see here basically we have this tool and you put in the incense here and then it squeeze through like you would I don't know icing or something and it becomes a very long thin stick so that's how you actually form the sticks of incense I got to give it a go for myself and it's definitely not as easy as it looks you need some serious thumb strength to push that incense smoothly out so it doesn't break apart wow that's so cool it smells so good I know it sounds strange but it smells a bit like gingerbread or something edible at least but don't worry I won't be eating it myself look at him go so something I've Learned about handmade incense making is you don't need to be too worried about making sure your sticks are absolutely straight at this stage so that means he's able to pipe these out pretty quickly and this is what the resulting incense sticks look like all natural all handmade I'll put the name of his brand here and if you're based in China you can check him out on taobao but my experience here with Jiang Can is not over he's invited me to experience a traditional Tibetan dinner with him and his family and there is a whole Tibetan food spread in front of me here most notably this hot pot I arrived a little bit earlier to actually see how it's made and it's unlike any hot pot I've had before so goes without saying this is a huge honor so this Tibetan hot pot is prepared a little bit different to other hot pots I've had before in the sense that it contains a lot of ingredients and they're all piled up layer after layer after layer so so far we've already put the ribs on the bottom then we've got our yancai that's gone on top that's very very special and then we're basically gonna pile up the rest of the ingredients until the hot pot is full we've got mushrooms potatoes and yams more mushrooms noodles both thin and thick deep fried pork greens and pork that's been stewing for hours and hours and there we have it a hot pot is now filled to the brim with ingredients now it's time for the soup base to be added the soup is scooped carefully on top where it then seeps through the cracks and slowly fills the vessel higher and higher with liquid now it's time to heat it up and you won't believe how this hot pot is cooked basically he places some burning coals from the furnace here into the hole of the hot pot about half an hour later when we went to check on it I couldn't believe how steamy it had gotten this is so cool but our hot pot isn't the only dish on tonight's menu not even close we've got a whole heap of other Tibetan home cooked classics that were placed on this furnace top here to keep them warm while we waited for the hot pot to cook I tell you this furnace is so awesome it keeps you and your food and your tea warm it's so multifunctional I mean this is my first Tibetan dinner I've ever eaten and I have to say I'm surprised it looks really like bright and colorful and full of herbs I don't know what I was expecting but I have to say it wasn't this and an important part of dinner here in Shangrila is drinking some qingke jiu it's an alcoholic spirit made from the Highland Barley that we've been eating iterations of all day wow！ okay okay okay okay now it's officially time to get stuck into this amazing meal here they've got this amazing looking chili sauce here but I wanted to try the original flavor of the tofu first okay now time for chili sauce can't keep me away for long oh wow it's amazing it's a bit garlicky a little bit smoky I'm very interested to try this fried meat because it was kind of like deep fried and since it's been in the hot pot it's kind of I mean lost its crunchiness but let's see how it tastes the meat is really soft really soft and really flavorful I mean all those flavors are just combining and as soon as you dip it in that sauce wow it's such a amazing flavor I wasn't expecting the food to be so full of like zesty flavors I need to learn how to make this dish this is the special vegetable that only grows above 4,000 m altitude it's been so cool seeing today how the altitude has really impacted the local cuisine as well as the availability of ingredients it's so good I didn't know that Tibetan food was this good also an update on the hot pot as we ate more and more ingredients we started to see more and more of that soup base which is so flavorful from having all of those different ingredients boiling away inside this really is a hot pot like no other so guys on that note gonna finish out this food adventure this has been such an incredible experience this is also gonna bring me to the end of my Yunnan adventures and travel so thank you so much for watching so as always don't forget to like comment and subscribe and goodbye from here in Shangrila bye bye see you bye bye So you can eat this section here And eat layer after layer within this one section As for me, this is my section here You can't just go digging anywhere If we did that in our childhood, an elder would tell us off Here, you can try this first I haven't used my chopsticks yet Thank you! wow that tofu is delicious! I think the great thing about this style of hotpot is all the ingredients flavours really mix together So when you eat this it's even more flavourful This is homemade none of this food you see here is bought Everything is home grown Even the meat is from our own farms Here, have a try of this fried meat ok! I really wanna try this dish What is this? It's stir fried meat That flavour is absolutely incredible! Here's the most important ingredient, the 'ye cai' Is it delicious? This kind of food you can't find in the main town This really is a rare opportunity because I noticed this morning in the old town a lot of the eateries are super commercialised yeah there's not the opportunity to eat this kind of flavour that's right I'm so happy right now Thank you so much for having me today Fate has brought us together, you know? I agree Yes, it's fate I'm really looking forward to next time I'd love to bring my parents here Yes! When your parents come I can teach them how to eat Tsampa The breakfast made from barley Yes! And we can drink yak butter tea too Wow, thank you so incredibly much. Thank you how about an Australian song? An Australian song?? You wanna hear an Australian song? We would love to, we've never heard an Australian song before This has been stewing for 6 hours today You can put the lid on top wow There's so much stuff inside As it steams it will get smaller and smaller wow now we'll take this outside why is that? Because when the wind blows, it will heat up faster The wind enters from here And then the hotpot will heat up Jia Xi De Le What does Jia Xi De Le mean? It's an auspicious kind of phrase for us You can use it to mean hello, goodbye We would all now like to make a toast to you, our foreign visitor We will now sing a toasting song this is very precious becasuse this plant only grows at above 4000m altitude Then at the very end, we add the tofu you put it right at the top? Yes - why? - Because this tofu, we have a saying... After eating this hotpot, all year our hearts can be white (AKA kind hearted) White like your pants, see they're so white We wish to be as kind as your pants are white will you often eat this hotpot? This is eaten during the first day of the lunar year New Year's Eve and Chinese New Year.
Usually we don't eat it so often After it's half dreid we can roll them and they'll straighten out Welcome to the Songlin Tibetan Incense factory Just like how some people like to gift flowers, us Tibetan people like to gift a Hada It symbolises luck - Thank you! - You're welcome Our incense is made with pure plant matter and traditional Chinese Medicine And the main benefit of using our incense is help with sleeping to refresh the mind, and calm the heart It's so pure, I'm not afraid to eat it Did you actually just eat that?? I wouldn't recommend others try to eat it Does it taste good? it's a wonderful fragrance So you don't use machines here or anything? No machines, it's all handmade So I guess this takes a lot of time No not really We do this a lot, so we're very fast You're quite slow yeah that's very true How many sticks can you make in one hour? In one minute I can do about 50 sticks in one MINUTE?! In the local language we say 'momo' momo Nothing's gonna happen to me if I eat this, right? Nope, this is medicine Inside it's different, see, it's white yeah it is That shows that this is 100% cordyceps But it's not easy to find these A farmer may only find 4-5 in one whole day of work And on the tops of mountains there is snow And when it's snowing we need to lie down and look for it like this you can just eat it like that and then drink some of the yak butter tea Us Tibetans will eat it like this it tastes nice thank you Wow, interesting. Okay, we have to complete three rounds. oh wow! So this is what it looks like! Ohhh! My barley noodles are here! Thank you! Nothing's gonna happen to me if I eat this, right? Nope! This is medicine Suyoucha is made from Yak butter So after you wash your hands, you can use your hands to shape this About this much? yep that's right
2025-04-09 07:14
