July 7 in China

 Well, here we are back in Guilin ... It's been a full 2 days!

We started Monday by visiting a tea plantation... The Tea Research Center. I was looking forward to it, but I had no idea how much I'd love it...and how much I would learn. I think all the delegates were fascinated!

This research center is the largest in South China. Did you know (I didn't ) that you can make all different kinds of tea from the same bush? It depends on which part of the bush you pick and how it is processed.

If you only pick the tips... You make white teas.
If you pick one tip and one leave (joined together), you make green tea.
If you pick only the leaf, you make oolong tea..
And if you only pick the larger leaves, you make black tea.

The leaves are picked here in every month except for winter...which is when they're trimmed. All the tea is organic. Guilin is one of the best areas in the world for growing tea!

We also learned that white tea is only picked in the spring. It is not fermented at all. They said it was good for memory. Green tea is also I fermented. Yellow tea ( I can't remember what you pick for yellow), but it's not fermented. It grows in the high mountains of Guilin.

 After picking the leaves and learning all this...and more...we went in with a tea master to a tea ceremony. We tried 4 different teas. With each, he told us Not to drink the first pouring...you pour the water over the leaves ...then pour it out! He said this washes the leaves. The 2nd pouring is when you drink. Most teas, you can reuse the same leaves 4-5 times!

There's a certain way you hold the little cups, too. You hold it with your thumb and forefinger, and support the bottom with the middle finger. Then the women hold their other 2 fingers out.."it is elegant"... Men wrap the other 2 fingers around under it.

He also showed us the "lazy cup"... That's for those who want a large cup (like me!) or to take to 'your business'. This is made of pottery...Terra cotta?... And it has a lid, a basket inside to hold the tea leaves, and a little tray to set the inside part on after steeping. I'm lazy!

The last tea we tried was compressed tea. OH MY GOSH!!! Talk about good....it was so incredibly good! It is made of white, black, green, yellow, and ....?..teas compressed together. Compressed tea is fermented...and is called "long life tea". It's suppose to be good for high blood pressure and high cholesterol ... This needs to be stored in a dry area. Other tea leaves should be stored in a pot (ceramic) with a metallic lid. The compresses can be kept 20-25 YEARS! He said it was like wine...the older, the better!

Speaking of wine, we saw some SNAKE WINE...yep, the snake was still in the bottle! (We didn't allow Anthony to try any...actually, no one tried any! Billie, I just heard your snake & wine story! Oh my!)  This was at the restaurant for lunch.

 We then went rafting ... Bamboo rafting... On the Yulong River. I don't know when I've ever done anything so beautiful! The rafts are probably 6 large poles of bamboo tied together...there are 2 chairs on the raft. A man stands on the back guiding it with a pole. All around are the steep, pointed mountains...it is breathtaking.

Our next stop was our home stay! When we drove up to the village, there were probably 30+ people gathered together with drums and cymbals ... and 2 pairs of guys had dragon suits draped over them moving around like a dragon.

 Before we could cross the bridge, the greeters would pull your ear, and then basically throw a bit of tea down your throat!  That is a typical welcome of this group of people.  I think they are the Yao Tribe.

 After the ear pull/tea down throat, you walked through these poles as they were moving them in a rhythm.

 The dragons followed us to the town square...

 A typical home from this village.  The family lived downstairs and guests were all upstairs...with airconditioning.  The downstairs was not air conditioned!

 This is the side of the home where we (leaders) stayed.  There were chickens running around...and you can see the water spigot next to the door?  Well, that's where all the dishes were rinsed off.  I'm not sure where they washed them (I didn't see her wash), but they had a big sterilizer where the dishes were then put.

 In the home where the leaders stayed...their lazy susan had a hot burner on it (see on the right hand side...it's a black round spot) and it was automated....they just pressed a button and the lazy susan slowly turned.  These families for our home stay are all tea farmers...successful tea farmers.

  We all walked to the town square where the delegates were introduced to their host families. The least number of students in a house was 5...which was probably good since most knew NO English. We went to our homes about 4:30... Had dinner with them about 6-6:30...Then most of the community met back at the town square at 8 pm. They gave us an incredible party...performing for us as we also performed for them. Each family brought chairs and most also brought a table with some snacks. This all ended 9:30...and off we went to our families for the night!

 We all walked to the town square where the delegates were introduced to their host families. The least number of students in a house was 5...which was probably good since most knew NO English. We went to our homes about 4:30... Had dinner with them about 6-6:30...Then most of the community met back at the town square at 8 pm. They gave us an incredible party...performing for us as we also performed for them. Each family brought chairs and most also brought a table with some snacks. This all ended 9:30...and off we went to our families for the night!