I hope Igor is eating that one himself, cause I worry about the hygiene.

Located at very top in editor's note, this article is clearly described as a "sponsored post" which is a win win win for expat community in Kunming, Igor, and GoKunming.

My only critique is the name "pain campagnard"... such a added-value fancy way of saying country bread to mark up the price of bread.

But like tasting omelets, gauging the skill of a chef sometimes requires tasting their simplest goods, such as the French bread tucked between the owner's arm.

Good sponsored post.

Looks like we found a place for chess players to meet over coffee and pastries. A chess master awaits your next move.

Igor's may be a sight for sore eyes. I'm tired of the gastronomic staleness of mainstream bakery chains in JustHot, Breadworks, BreadTalk, Holiland (though their warm fresh-out-of-oven almond danish isn't bad), and particularly Jiahua Bakeries.

Like exotic flowers in a garden. Thank you Vera.

Some landmark attractions such as Pudacuo National Park, has already become your dreaded "tourist theme park." Unless you trek off the beaten track by not getting on the park shuttles.

A bit of devil's advocacy...

So what if Shangri-La's popularity was based on a novel? At face value it's not. The bulk of tourists are Chinese who've probably never heard of Lost Horizon.

And if you think about it from another perspective, the majority of human race base their faiths/lifestyles on books such as the Bible, Quran, or the Pali Canon. Entire nations have become theme parks of a different variety.

Books dubbed holy are culminations of hearsay folklore verbally passed down for centuries, subject to distortions, before being written down and revised in various editions to reflect the social norms of their times. They are texts which elicit the hope of a glorious, eternal paradise in the afterlife, despite no actual proof of existence let alone vulnerabilities to scientific debunking.

Nevertheless, billions of souls on this planet await their interpreted versions of Shangri-La-ish Garden of Eden, which would put James Hilton's "mythical" one to shame. We'll never actually know if the deceased will reach that promise land. At least readers of James Hilton's novel won't be totally disappointed when arriving at actual geological wonders bordering Tibet, Sichuan, and Yunnan.