July 2nd, 2008
Okay...NO, I'm home, not in China although a little piece of my heart is still there! I've been jet-lagging, yard working, friend and family visiting, and now I sick with something...allergy? So, I want to catch up on my journey from where I left off. I last brought you to the Mu Mansion (June 21st) that is now a museum since they wee all killed during the cultural revolution, and the Naxi music and dance extravaganza...fabuloso! I failed to mention our walking mission to find Jo's fabulous silk find. Yesterday, (June 20th) she found a married couple who make 100% silk comforters and pilows in a lttle hole in the wall storefront. Of course, all of the stores are like that. Well, she got a King sized one that you just put inside a duvet cover. It's made of the silk from 16,000 silkworms, that's a lot! We all headed out along the winding, smooth stoned foot streets (smooth from hundreds of years of foot traffic) and when we finally found it, we were amazed and facinated...so much so that 2 of us also placed an order. My order had to be delivered to our hotel later that night since we were leaving in the morning. We watched how they make it and learned that it takes a week to complete a king sized one. Wow!! Come to find out that is what we have been sleeping under at our hotel, no wonder it's so soft!! Then, Jo and Catherine and I found the same restaurant as last night and between Jo's proprietor friend and Catherine's flawless Chinese we had an amazing dinner ( spicey black beans, soy paste beans and veggies, greens with garlic (my favorite), special seasoned jelly noodles, soup with fresh exotic mushrooms (a must with every meal), and with refreshing Chinese red wine. Jo gave her (Ha) one of her glass bluebids and after she admired my glass heart necklace made by Laurie Ament (my glass earring friend), I gave it to her and after refusuing 3 times which is customery she was entrusted with a special glass pendant from Little Rock. Thanks Laurie, I'll need a new one!!
Sunday morning, we were up bright and 'squirrely' for a LONG day of travel and touring. We may be winding down on our trip but not on our activity level!! We flew out of Lijuang airport to reach Kunming airport where we caught another to Shanghai...arrived around 2:30pm. With a bus awaiting and our new, precious tourguide, Vicky and our driver Mr. Fu, we were off and headed for Hangzhou to visit what is known as one of the 7 ancient cities of China. Traveling south you may wonder how hot and humid it miht be so close to the equator??? HOT and very HUMID!! But, all of that must be awfully good for the growth and harvesting of tea because there was tea growing EVERYWHERE!! Up the mountains and down, in front yards, back yards in boxes, pots......We visited the Dragon Well Tea plantation and were delighted to learn all about the healing (for body and face) qualities of green tea, what to look for in quality tea (color, aroma, and flavor) and they showed us examples of 3 levels of green tea quality, Dragon Well tea the world famous tea. This tea contains 6x more vitamins than blck tea and is good for diets and your face and skin. 1gram of the highest level of this tea is $10,000. Guess what, I passed up on that bargain and settled for the next best, the Emperor tea...fresh, green, aromatic and lucious. And, reasonable. Come by and share a cup with me here at our home in Little Rock...YUM!! There's an old Chinese quote, " Up in heaven, there is Paradise. On earth there is Suzhou and Hangzhou." It's rich and fertile land and plentiful waters have brought them abundant tea, rice, and fish. Did you know...the life span of a tea bush is 27 years and it can only be chopped 2x and each time it will poduce for 5 years???! Anyway......
The production of tea shows the wealth of the people involved by touring back toward Shanghai and viewing the unusual, new, and lavish housing along the freeway. I will try to send some photos soon. We stayed in Hanzhou overnight and left for Shanghai (population 18 million not counting the 6 million that communte from the suburbs each day) after a touring a few sites. YIKES, that's a lot of people...but, it doesn't seem so bad because many people do not have cars, they commute, ride bikes, walk, ride scooters, etc. We went to West Lake, a gorgeous and expansive lake, coveing over 3 miles. The plan was to take a lake cruise but, the weather reminded us of Akansas when the dark clouds descended and lightening shot across the sky. We chose the tour by motorized land cart instead and then hung-out with the locals beneath a gazebo during the torrents of rain. The lake was lined with romantic foot bridges, pavillions where locals gathered to play cards, chinese chess, and indigenous instruments with passionate singing. One older gentleman could have competed with Pavarotti!! The crowds listening and watching were fascinating, young and old locals. The lake was covered along the edges and in the coves with bright pink, fragrant lotus flowers. We then went to Lingyin Temple, "peak flying fom afar" and the #1 Buddhist temple in the province, showing off 9th-14th century grotto carvings. There were huge Buddhas, made of camphor wood and the pathway to them was lined with Buddhas carved into the side of the mountain, amazing!! Also, we visited Yue Fei tomb, a popular hero who was framed and executed by the emperor who was jealous of his popularity with the common people. Noteworthy were the fenced in statues of 4 figures who were those who were kneeling to represent his betrayors and tormentors. It is said they are to be spat upon fo their jealousy but...we refrained.
Just when we thought we had no more to purchase, we visited a silk museum, I refrained...NOT! A few ties for Spencer, coupla scarves, and I was outa there! I did learn how to detect real from fake...real smokes while fake flames. Don't try that in the department store but, it does work! Well, I must temporarily depart...it's 10:30 pm. More tomorrow!! Actually, we're off to Hot Springs tomorrow so it may be Monday before I return ....Nihao and sweet dreams, Liz