How to relax, even when things are at boiling point

Hot spring alongside a river. [Photo by He Na/China Daily]

A few hundred meters from that is another hot spring whose rocks, if you look closely, resemble the head of a lion, presumably transformed from a dragon, because steam belches from its mouth.

Another thing worth seeing is the Great Boiling Pot, a spring three meters wide and 1.5 meters deep in which temperatures range from about 96 C on the surface to 102 C at the bottom. Consequently, come summer, winter, rain or shine, the water in it never ceases to boil.

The received wisdom in these parts is that if you go to Tengchong, you really must go to Rehai, and you need to spend at least a day there.

A typical visit to the area would include enjoying the hot springs as you progress along the road, getting a feel for the differences between them, doing some hiking up the mountains and enjoying the scenery, having meals cooked in hot spring water or with steam, luxuriating in a hot spring bath and spending the night in one of the mountain's hotels, which come in a range of prices.

You can buy eggs and peanuts at the foot of the mountain－if you buy food at the Great Boiling Pot you will pay more－and cook them in the hot water or steam ovens provided free of charge. Hot spring steamed eggs are tender and tasty.

If your time is limited and you cannot stay the night, spending a while soaking your feet in a hot water spring, costing just 30 yuan ($4.70) is well worth it. There is nothing quite like lying on a bamboo couch, your feet soaking in hot spring water as you devour delicious eggs and peanuts, accompanied with spring water tea, a mountain breeze blowing gently by.

When I was there I overheard a tourist guide earnestly telling a group that long ago two oxen were fighting near the Great Boiling Pot, and one unfortunately fell in, creating a new Guinness World Record as the world's biggest pot of oxtail soup. It sounds rather apocryphal, but it does serve as a lesson that in this area you could easily find yourself in hot water, so you need to exercise care.

Not far from the Great Big Pot are two springs called Pregnancy Wells said to have the powers of inducing pregnancy. One, of course, will give you a boy and the other ...

A middle-aged wag from Guangdong joked that he had drunk from both wells and that he looked forward to bringing twins into the world, which brought a hearty laugh from all around.