Kunming

Most people pass through Kunming on the way somewhere else, which keeps it relaxed. The centre around Green Lake is the part to know: the old university quarter, Wenlin Street's cafés, the Yuantong Temple under its cliff, and the lake itself, which fills with red-billed gulls from Siberia every winter.

The altitude keeps summers cool and winters bright. Yunnan's wild mushroom season runs from June to September and the city's restaurants build their menus around it. Flowers are the other trade: the Dounan market south of the city ships most of the cut flowers in Asia.

The Stone Forest is the standard day trip. The Western Hills, with the Dragon Gate carved into the cliff above Dianchi Lake, are closer and quieter.

Changshui (KMG) is 25 kilometres north-east, with flights from every big city and most of South-East Asia; metro line 6 and a change reaches the centre in about an hour. High-speed trains to Dali take about two hours and Lijiang about three, from Kunming station in the city or Kunming South, far to the south on metro line 1. Guiyang is two and a half hours, Guangzhou about seven.

Crossing-the-bridge noodles: a bowl of scalding broth, then raw slivers and rice noodles added at the table. Wild mushrooms in summer, in hotpot or fried with chillies. Steam-pot chicken, er kuai rice cakes off the griddle, and Yunnan coffee, which the city now roasts and pours properly. The lanes around Wenlin Street and Wenhua Alley have the small places.