Bindu's Repose

From China with Love

Let's see, where did I leave off? Raoping... Well, from a purely tea perspective it was a dud. I did see some tea growing along the road on the bus trips there and back, and I'm pretty sure that after an hour walk to get out of town I was able to look at some tea bushes, they looked like tea, but did not taste like it... Go figure...

On the other hand I had a couple of really cool experiences, I got there at about 2pm and had not eaten lunch so I found a road stall and had a lovely time phrase-chatting with the folks their... After about an hour of fried vegies, very basic tea and really good humored company, they refused to let me pay even though I begged them several times... So that was a really nice intro to the town.

From lunch I made my way to a nearby hill... it was a strange piece of city geography a very steep quite high hill in the middle of town. It seemed like a great vantage point to scope which direction I should head for my tea adventure... At the top were several large (10 meters in diameter) concrete domes... they were only about 3 meters high. On these were painted disney characters donald duck was really good! There were also three young guys who were lounging in a bamboo hut (they looked a little like friendly thugs)... I tried to figre out if the area was a bar, tea house (there were a bunch of tea pots and heaters laying around) or a dance scene... They were more interested in their game of cards, but they did offer me some really nice tea (the best I had had in China so far.)

After not very long, I got bored with watching these guys and their card game and headed down the mountain and in the direction that looked to provide the closes vegitation. After an hour I managed to get to the fields and had a bit of a stomp (carefully) around, and possible even saw some tea. Seemed like it was mostly salad greens though. On the way I had my first moon cake, which to my delight did not have an egg yolk in the middle and was really delicious!

That's the high points for Raoping, the next day I headed to Xiamen. I stayed on an island on the west edge of the city, called Gulang Yu. This island, is was where many of the foreign consulates were for this part of china. Lots of european architecture and they have recently done quite a lot of really nice landscaping on the northern edge of the island.

I spent about 5 days here and in Xiamen proper. The island was lovely, I'm not sure about the dimensions, but it took about 2 1/2 hours to walk around. The north is mostly landscaped and the south is mostly beaches. I finally found tea (which Fujian, the province where Xiamen is located, is famous for). Lots and lots of tea. Every 3rd or 4th shop seemed to be a tea shop and I had some very nice Tiguanyin (Iron Godess of Mercy Oolong).

I also visited the local aquarium and did a day trip to the TenFu Tea Museum in Zhan'Pu (sp?). I had an amazing time at the museum. Since it was in the middle of the week, I pretty much had the place to myself. According to them, it's the largest tea museum in the world. We (myself and 5 chinese business men who were the only other guests there) watched a presentation on traditional Chinese tea ceremony and one on Japanese tea ceremony. The Chinese one was simple and very nice. The Chinese one was put on by about 8 girls with very new looking period costumes who did the whole thing coriographed (sp?) to a rather nice classical Chinese folk sound track. They served us 3 types of tea, all of wich were delicious (well at least two out of three were delicous and one was really interesting, if not quite delicious - it was bitter tea.) My guide who spent the whole time with me at no extra cost was very helpfull and informative. She showed me the cave where they age their Pu Ehr teas and we walked around their lovely lake that is fed by a local mountain spring.

Unfortunately I missed the last bus back to Xiamen (mostly because I was too obstinate to accept a taxi-motorcycle ride to the bus station and just had to walk.) I got there and watched the last bus leaving :( So I paid $25 for the 2 hour ride back to Xiamen in a Taxi... My credit card went into fraud mode, which it seems to do with each new country I reach, and I had an unbeleivable horendous time trying to call the credit card company to get the card re-enabled.... I don't want to remember what else, but there were a few other things, that evening and the following morning. Definately got me in the mood to leave dodge.

From Xiamen, I headed up to WuYi Shan, which is where I am now. It is a very famous area for Chinese tourists, because of the lovely scenery, local Buddhist sites, and some really good tea. I had a guide (who had excellent English skills) show me around today. We went to see the King of Tea plants (as far as I can tell this is a little like King Arthurs grave or Billy the Kids final resting place... i.e. there are quite a few of them;). And walked about 6 or 7 kilometers through really lovely craggy mountains and tea fields. Then ended up at a Tea Factory where I enjoyed some very fine Rock Tea! So named because it grows out of rocks :)

That about brings me up to-date. Internet connections are hard to come by here, although they seem to be fast and cheap when I find them (if not completely reliable.) Also a quick note about my hotel. I'm staying in a really great hotel for $10 a night. It's a little funky, and definately looks like it has seen better days, but for some reason it has a large amount of charm! I love it, cold water and all ;) The view of the tea garden and the lovely sound of frogs and crickets out the window don't hurt either :)

All the best to all of you wherever you are!

Posted by binduwavell at September 20, 2003 02:49 AM