| Zhongdian's in-town market had nowhere near the scale or charm of the moutain top Shaping market in Dali, but at least we had a spectacular view of the surrounding ranges. We followed a couple of local ladies with shopping baskets to find the action. |  |
| Strings of hot peppers reminded us that we were on the border of Sichuan, home of China's spiciest food. Huang noted that most of the stores in the new part of Zhongdian town are run by recently-arrived Sichuanese who seek to take advantage of the "Shangri-la" tourist boom. Many local ethnic minorities are not benefiting as much as Chinese immigrants to the region. |  |
| These two ladies spent about ten minutes ogling the jewelry, tea sets and other housewares here before moving on. |  |
| Dried yak meat and fluffy yak's tails....nothing goes to waste! |  |
| Yunnan ham is a prized delicacy, but these specimens looked a little, well, raw compared to the slickly-packaged selections in the Kunming airport! |  |
| It didn't take long to find yak butter and cheese on sale. Up close, these mounds looked pretty gritty. I had a hunch the outward grime and mold was not carefully nurtured in homage to French crottins and chevres, but occurred much more, uh, naturally. |  |
I got close enough to smell the cheese - which was not actually all that close, as they are really pungent! - but chose not to purchase. Only because there were no baguettes on hand, of course... |
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| Huang asked a saleswoman about cheese-making, but found out that we were about a month too early, as the yaks weren't yet producing enough milk. I'll have to come back to learn how it's done! |  |
| Our quick tour yielded no purchases but gave a good look into daily local living. |  |
Next: The Old City