Tea Picking

Finally, there is a faint hint of Spring in the air...hopefully, to stay. After paying the last two month's electric bill, I understand now why the locals heat their bodies with layer upon layer of clothing and not electric heat. Flowers are blooming, trees are budding and the layers are coming off. It's also tea picking season. I signed the girls and I up to partake in some honest to goodness chinese tea picking. Again, I went on the assumption that it was the thing to do. Every expat should experience it. I mean, it is the national drink and the Lake Tai region tea is supposedly quite renowed. We boarded a bus and headed out to DongShan, which is about 60 km southwest. We passed rice patties and fish farms that date back thousands of years. It's hard to comprehend at times, these places with SO much history. All along the hillside were acres and acres of tea bushes. The main road, which follows along the lake shore, is single lane and is currently under construction. Our bus crossed over what can only be described as makeshift bridges, and I held my breath crossing each one. The narrow streets through the little villages were crowded with bricks and cement trucks and debris. Evidently, the island is going through an economic boom due to the new road, tripling the housing value.

Mr Ye, the tea farmer, led us through his village up the hillside to our plot. His workers showed us the proper technique for pinching the tea leaves off and which part of the bush to be picked. We diligently picked for close to an hour and each of us was given a large basket to fill. After the hour, all of our baskets (about 20) were combined to produce less than a quarter full one. Free labor as we didn't get to keep any. I did hide a jasmine blossom (there were a few bushes mixed throughout the hill) in my bag, but the gods must have been watching because it was crushed beyond recognition by the time we got home. What a painstakingly tedious yet meticulous task. Next stop was the production area, which consisted of two extremely small rooms. The first room was where the pickers brought their baskets to be weighed, and the leaves were separated. Two older women sat at a table and went through each leaf by hand, pulling out damaged or older leaves. The other room had two large wok-like pans set in stone, heated underneath by tea bush branches. The worker would turn the leaves over and over for forty five minutes in the wok, drying them out. And that's it. The leaves are placed in foil bags and sold for more per gram than gold.

We ate lunch on boat, a large restaurant that resembled a steamboat. I worried the girls wouldn't eat anything, but they surprised me by trying some dishes. Katie and Sydney even tried jellyfish. I had to as well. I must say the flavor was good, but we all agreed we couldn't get beyond the crunchy yet slimy texture. Sarah held out for the rice. I also must mention the restroom. We've been to a few hold-your-breath ones, but this particular one, I think, surpassed the rest. If there hadn't been a main door I would have mistaken it for a trough. So, still suffering from a bit of my inner ear troubles, on a rocking boat, trying to maintain my balance over said trough should win me some kind of award. Had I known I wouldn't have had so much tea.

After lunch, we stopped at Luxiang, an ancient village dating back to the Ming Dynasty. I'm reading up so to not get my facts incorrect and will continue this in another post.