After breaking free of the market we went to a General’s house and a merchants house. They were supposed to be typical of Bai homes. Bai is one of the 56 different nationalities in China. Yunnan Province is famous for having a wide variety of nationalities. The Hun people being the majority in China. If you would like to learn more about the different minorities go to this web site. It provides a very short explanation and picture of each. http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Minorities/China-Nationalities.html
Ok, back to the homes. Both reminded me a little of the Hutong we saw in Beijing. Both were large walled-in squares with 3 houses around a courtyard. No windows were on any of the outside walls just windows on the walls facing the courtyard. The 4th side is just a white wall to reflect the heat. The houses shared an courtyard, a communal kitchen and well. The merchant’s house was bigger and fancier with lots of old paintings on the ceilings and walls.
After our 'tour of homes' I bought something called a Ba Ba from a street venders – they came in two varieties sweet and salty. I of course opted for the sweet one. It was sort of like a hot cinnamon calzone without the cheese of course. Yummy, I tried to buy one in another town but it was cold and not near as good.
