Hangzhou

It was only a 6 hour train ride from Nanjing to Hangzhou, where we visited the famous nine creeks and eighteen gullies tea plantation of the famous Longjing tea. We visited the tea museum and found out some fascinating things about tea, and the art of tea brewing. For instance to bring out the best flavour of Green tea the temperature of the water should be between 80 and 85 degrees and the tea should be steeped for 2 to 4 minutes; but for black tea the water temperature should be at 100 degrees. In China, a pot of tea should be drank up to five servings. Each serving will bring out different flavours and each will have a different meaning. For instance, the first cup of tea is usually somewhat bitter and this represents the harshness of life, but subsequent cups of the tea become sweeter representing the good things in life. The Chinese character for tea is composed of the characters eight and ten, suggesting eighty which represents long life. The Chinese believe that tea has a medicinal value. Legend has it that the god of agriculture fell ill and the only thing that helped him to recoup his health was by drinking tea. Tea is not only a major part of daily life but also a major part of their gross domestic product.

The tea plantation must be very lucrative as the small village just outside of Hangzhou is full of new houses that looked more like mansions. We were told that the Longjing tea can be as much as $500 per kilogram. Needless to say we did not buy any, but did have a taste at the start of our walk through the tea plantation. It was a very nice walk meandering through the tea fields, as the weather was warmer than what we had become accustomed to thus far in China. The smell of the tea was extremely fragrant and the path had some streams running through it, making the walk very picturesque.

Typical tea plants throughout the region

Farmer picking the tea leaves

Adam, Joanne, Chris, Naomi, Rav acting silly

The group ended up at the lake, but Darren, Rav and I decided to visit the Feilai Feng temple on top of the mountain. The temple is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in China with a great deal of statues carved into the caves and mountains. On top of the mountain was the main temple which was every impressive. Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to go into the temple as there was an additional fee for this portion. Darren however did go through and the images that he brought back were amazing.

Buddha statues carved into the side of a mountain (Feilai Feng temple)

We did not spend too much time in Hangzhou as the main reason for visiting this city was to get to the tea plantations. It was well worth the 6 hour train ride, as some of the group members said that it was one of their favorite days on the tour.

Us at the lake in the middle of Hangzhou

Rav,Adam and Naomi

Who's that guy?

A cool building in Hangzhou

Another great piece of architecture

Picturesque Hangzhou