It's the Weekend! Time to Be a Tourist!

The weekend was filled with a lot of excitement and activities. Firstly, on Saturday morning, it was raining.  This caused the temperature and the humidity to drop by about 18 degrees!  So, although it was pouring at times, we nevertheless were happy to be out and about.  My family traveled with our Dana Hall friends out to Longjing village just about 10 kilometers southwest of West Lake.  There, we were able to walk amongst the terraced gardens of a tea plantation, where they grow Hangzhou’s famous Dragonwell Tea. 

This green tea was once “granted the status of Gong Cha, or imperial tea’ during the Qing Dynasty by the Kangxi Emperor” (Wikipedia), and is still highly prized by the Chinese.  In fact, I read that the 20-ish original trees that the emperor bestowed this status to, are still alive and produce tea leaves that are auctioned off annually for prices that exceed that of gold! 

Nestled in the hills of the plantation, there was a small tea museum, which we visited.  Here, we learned literally everything one might need to know about tea—from origins to history, categories to production.  As we made our way out of the museum, we meandered lazily about the area, until we came upon a local tea house.  The proprietor invited us in and served us fresh watermelon, sunflower seeds and lots and LOTS of Longjing tea!  It was a truly wonderful morning activity. Were it not for the fact that we were soaking wet from the rain, I do believe that I could have remained there all day. 

 

Saturday evening, we were invited out to dinner at a rather fancy restaurant located in the Hefang Street district. We ate many delicious foods—dumplings, grilled prawns, fried fish, mushroom and bamboo shoot soup, pureed mango with bits of grapefruit, etc.  After we had eaten our fill we were escorted to a private theater, where we were treated to a performance of traditional Chinese Opera, featuring live musicians, beautiful and ornate costumes, and a charming tale of two lovers who meet in a dream and how they eventually find one another.  When it was all over, we were able to take photos with the two lead characters.  I’ll tell you, THAT was a night I shall never forget.  It was perfect. 

Sunday morning I arose early, as I would be a chaperone on the student field trip—a journey by bus out of town to a large, sprawling farm.  The heat was glaring, and the sun was bright, as we walked leisurely out to the vineyard, which was tended by a couple of farmers and their wives.  One of the farmers was a bit of a flirt and he had a smile and a face I could have stared into for hours!  We were each given a plastic bag and were invited to walk amongst the well-pruned vines to cut our own bunches of grapes.  These are large and green grapes, which you actually peel and eat.  If you’ve ever tasted a Muscadine grape…sometimes also called a ‘scuppernong’, that’s sort of what they taste like…sour at first, with a burst of sweetness in the middle. 

 

The heat got to me and that charming farmer I spoke about, offered me his seat and proceeded to chat me up in Mandarin, though I understood nothing. Still, we laughed a lot—probably at me—and had a grand time until the children were finished foraging. 

We said goodbye to our new friends and were escorted by Julia, our Wahaha Coordinator, to a building where we were served a ginormous meal of fish, rice, pork, chicken feet, eel, vegetables, tofu and scrambled eggs with hot peppers.  The children used this opportunity to check their cell phones, which reminded me a lot of my own students at home. It seems that being a kid is pretty much the same everywhere in some respects. 

Now I am sitting here in my room with the air conditioner blasting, watching birds circle lazily in the sky above the river.  It’s hard to believe that a week from now, this will all be over and I will be back at home in Wellesley.  There is still so much to see and so much to learn. I’m slowly falling in love with this city.  I think I could spend years here if given the opportunity. Of course, it would help if I knew Mandarin!