In Yunnan, Food and Drink Offer a Glimpse of Real Life

It was 7 p.m. on Wednesday. People in Shanghai were just starting to wrap up work: getting to the subway, zoning out on their phones, or stuck in traffic beside a ribbon of EVs that now seems to define the city. I didn’t know how they felt, whether they were relaxed, anxious, or simply bored. I wasn’t there. Instead, I was standing in the bed of a pickup truck in Yunnan, cruising down a mountain road, wind cutting through my jacket, fingertips going numb as I gripped the safety bars as tightly as I could. Busy ducking for branches, I was trying to put a name to this new feeling.