Real Life Mandarin: My First Taste of Yunnan — Living in Tengchong
About this video
In this personal vlog, the creator shares their first taste of life in Tengchong, a small city in Yunnan province known for its volcanic landscapes and diverse ethnic culture. The video is filmed in a relaxed, diary-like style, with the narrator speaking in Mandarin and occasionally switching to English to explain cultural nuances. The focus is on food, from a simple breakfast of rice noodles at a street stall to a home-cooked dinner with local ingredients. The camera also captures the town's quiet streets, traditional architecture, and the surrounding green hills. The atmosphere is intimate and genuine, as the creator openly shares their impressions, challenges, and small joys of adapting to a new place. What makes this video special is the language learning aspect, as viewers can pick up useful Mandarin phrases while seeing how they are used in real contexts. It is a heartfelt glimpse into the slower pace of life in Yunnan, perfect for language learners and cultural explorers alike.
Video transcript
Hi everyone! I am Lala. Welcome to join me to learn authentic Chinese in daily life. Recently, I moved to Tengchong, Yunnan. It's a place with fresh air and warm weather. Tengchong's spring is especially beautiful. There are flowers everywhere. The air is filled with the fragrance of flowers. This is rapeseed flower. Rapeseed is used to make oil. Rapeseed flowers can be stir-fried or served as a cold dish. But I can't steal vegetables here. I need to go to the market to take a look. In Yunnan, people not only like to grow flowers but also like to use
various flowers to make food. Especially in spring. Excuse me, is this magnolia flower? Magnolia. How do you cook this after buying it? Stew it with eggs. Stir-fry it. Or steep it in water to drink. This can also be stir-fried! Yes, it helps with sinusitis. How much is this? 10 yuan for a bag. 10 yuan for a bag? It's a bit expensive. Can it be cheaper? 8 yuan for a bag. Chop it up and mix it with eggs. Oh, chop it. Then stir-fry it with eggs. It's quite fresh. It was just picked this morning. Hmm, yes. It is quite fresh. It's grown in your own home,
right? Yes, grown at home. What is that yellow flower? Cymbidium. Cymbidium. How much is that pot? 60 yuan per pot. 60 yuan. It will bloom for another two months. Oh, it can bloom for two more months. Yes, yes. That one can't be eaten, right? This one can't be eaten. Is this rapeseed shoots? Yes. This is rapeseed shoots. How much is this? 1 yuan per bunch. 1 yuan per bunch. What is this? Is this also rapeseed? This is green vegetable stems. Oh, This is green vegetable stems. Then I'll take these two bunches. Okay. After I got home, I realized that what I
bought wasn't rapeseed flowers but another kind of vegetable. Near the market, there is a beautiful ancient town. There are many shops selling flower cakes. Flower cakes are a specialty of Yunnan. Excuse me, are these rose petals inside? Yes. Petals, flour, and oil. They are fresh flower petals. Yes. Only roses? Do you use other flowers? (Also) There are jasmine ones. Oh, there are also jasmine ones. Yes. After pressing it into a cake, you just put it in the oven and bake it, right? Yes. Then what kind of oil is used? Lard. Lard. Hmm, yes. Lard makes it
flaky. Is this big barrel rose wine? Oh, rose vinegar. Drink it as a beverage. Drink it as a beverage. This is my lunch today. Magnolia flowers and Rapeseed shoots, and Flower cakes. Let's wash the magnolia flowers. The vegetable seller said to chop the petals then add ginger, garlic, and eggs. Then mix them together. Although I've never eaten magnolia flowers, rapeseed shoots are quite common in China. They are a common vegetable. For those who cook often or rarely, you can probably tell that I'm not very good at cooking. However, now I practice cooking
every day. The color still looks good, right? Do you remember what it looked like before? Now it doesn't look very good. Hmm, although it doesn't look good, it doesn't taste very good either. But I think it's because my cooking skills are not good, not because of the eggs or the flowers. It's too salty. I hope this one isn't too salty. Rapeseed, delicious. Rapeseed. It tastes very tender. It really has the taste of spring. Because I didn't cook rice today, let's use this flower cake as the main dish. You can really smell the rose fragrance. You can see
there are many rose petals inside. Actually, I didn't like flower cakes before, but this is really the best flower cake I've ever had. Maybe it's because my cooking was too bad. If you come to Yunnan, I really recommend you try this flower cake. It must be the handmade ones where you can see in the shop them using fresh petals to make the flower cakes. Because I've bought them in other places before, Yunnan flower cakes, but they are really different. The taste is different. This one is better. Let me try it again. That's it for today's video. Thank you
for watching. See you next time, bye-bye!
