Tue May 20 – OMG Tea!

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This afternoon we returned to Two Rivers Four Lakes for a walking tour and to participate in some tea sampling at a nearby Taoist teahouse. This time I had my camera with me and started taking some photos to document a little bit of Guilin. It was pretty around the lake and we spend an hour or so walking around the park area.



Arriving at the teahouse later it was empty besides the party of 18 or so of us U.S. students and our péngyou. Together we sampled three teas green, red, and black. Each brewed individually with the natural ingredients before us by the teahouse manager. With each one we got a little information about how it’s grown, farmed and brewed. We also got a performance with each brew as the manager was using traditional tools and added flair and elegance to the process mainly using high swooping pours. She had everything arranged on a carved wooden table before her and used it to prepare all the cups by pouring copious amount of hot water over them all which would drain through groves in the table top. Along with that one of the CLI instructors was leading the conversation on the culture of tea in China and shared a spiritual awakening experience he had while enjoying some tea. His story was pretty heavy, but damn it if his enthusiasm didn’t get me rallied up to drink some tea. However I experienced no such opening of the heavens moment during our sampling, for me it was simple teas



That evening the last two members of our study abroad trip arrived and joined us for dinner at a Buddhist temple vegetarian restaurant. Maybe the tea wasn’t going to do it for me but this vegetarian food was working its best to part some clouds. In total ten plus dishes all of them just off the charts, easily the best vegetarian spread I’ve ever had. I’ve never been a fan of tofu (dofu in Chinese) but man can they transform the taste and texture over here into something I’m ready to grab seconds of. The protein devotees knocked the dinner for including imitation meat. Sure it’s not the same and I’m no convert yet, but it you just take as is opposed to putting it all on a set on weights and balances you might really enjoy the difference.

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Photos

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Sun and Moon temple