Tea Tasting is the new Wine Tasting

As promised: here are some more details on the two girls that I met and subsequently went to a tea tasting ceremony with.

I was walking along the Bund (ahem, the river) taking everything in, from the stores selling candied fruits and vegetables (yummy, candy tomatoes!),

to the construction I previously mentioned. As I was walking a gal asked me if I could take a picture of her and her friend in front of the skyline. I obliged, and then they took one of me (you can see that picture in the previous post). After the pictures they asked where I was from (both of them spoke amazing English, but they did teach me the word for "doll" in Chinese cause that's what they called me), I asked where they were from (Shenzen, outside of Hong Kong), and we talked a bit about what we're doing in Shanghai (they were here on vacation), they said they were headed to a tea tasting ceremony behind the Peace Hotel (also mentioned in the last post) and invited me to come along. I said, "oh-yea!"

We all walked to a building that I would not have picked out as a place for tea tasting ceremony, no way, no how (again, what's hiding behind door #1 here in shanghai!?). We were taken upstairs to a small room with one table, four chairs, and lots of tea. The woman who was our tea tasting guide, gave us a description of lucky numbers (6, 8, 9, 10, and 11) and why they're lucky...right now I remember that 11 is lucky in love and 8 is for prosperity. She asked each of us to pick which lucky number we liked the best, and that was the number of teas to try (we ended up tasting 6...any more than 6 teas is just a lot of tea). But before we drank any tea, we poured the first pot of tea over a Buddha statue, passed the statue around, and rubbed his belly with our left hand (you take with your left, give away with your right) for good luck.

Each of the teas we tried was traditionally drank at a different time of year, for a certain gender, or for a different reason (medicinal, beauty, etc). The first tea was a ginseng tea that started out looking like rocks; at first it was bitter, but it left a nice sweet taste in the back of my throat. The second tea was called a jasmine pearl tea, because the jasmine leaves were rolled up to the size of pearls. The third and fourth teas were both flower teas, one of which made a bright red sweet tea. The fifth tea was also a flower tea, known as the four flowers. It's called that because the tea starts out as a ball, a little bit smaller than a ping pong ball, but once it's in the tea water it opens up and there are four flowers. It was beautiful. This is a picture of that fifth tea:

The sixth tea was my least favorite, a very, very medicinal tea. And with that, the tea tasting was over. Just like when I tried tea in the tea shop, there was an elaborate tasting process, involving two tea pots for each tea. Also, each thimble of tea needs to be drunk in 3 sips...sadly, I can't remember why. After we finished, we were each presented with a Chinese knot for good luck. And this is a picture of the three of us after our tastings, full of tea, health, beauty, and everything else the tea provided.

Undressed

As Shanghai readies itself for the 201o world expo (there's a daily countdown at the hotel nearby...we're around 370 days right now), the entire city is starting to put its best foot forward. And by starting to put its best foot forward, I mean that it feels like I'm watching the process of a photo shoot. A regular gal walks through the door of the photo studio and after all is said and done, there's a heavily made up regal lady standing in her place.

Right now we're somewhere in the middle of the process. Make-up's on, lighting is being tested, but maybe she's not in the dress yet, or her hair's not done. The preparation became all the more apparent during my recent visit to the Bund (on what was probably the best day for it -- clear blue skies and sunny not-too-warm weather). The Expo is taking place on the Pudong side of the river. This is a picture of me with the Pudong side of the river behind me; it was taken from the Puxi side (quick FYI: I live on the Puxi side):

About 30-40 years ago the Pudong side of the river didn't have a building over 6-8 stories tall. Pudong is the side of the river that's growing exponentially, so it seems fitting that the Expo be held there. In addition to all of the development of the past few decades, tall buildings are being erected in front of some of the more "unsightly" neighborhoods.

But Pudong isn't the only part of the city readying itself for a world showcase. Puxi is getting its hair and make-up done as well. There are two new subway lines under construction, and many buildings are getting face-lifts of their own. Here we have some underground construction going on right next to the river in the highly popular Bund area of town. The river is to the right, and to the left you can see some of the historical buildings in the area (also, the Chinese flags on the buildings rooves).

And this is the famous Peace Hotel:
Quite a looker, huh? Although I think the scaffolding and green mesh have been added since Bill Clinton and Sir Sassoon stayed there.

I met two girls from Shenzen who were on vacation in Shanghai (there's more to this story, but I'll keep y'all on your toes a little while longer). They commented that Shanghai's not so beautiful now, but in a year it should be looking good. Personally, I think it's looking alright now, but it's sure to look a bit more complete in a year or so.

Snap!

After just a few weeks hiatus, I finally made my way back to the tea shop where I sampled tea. The same woman was there working, and when I walked through the door, she immediately recognized me...and began speaking in Chinese. Ahh, just like last time. The only difference was that now I could count from 1 to 999 with her, but I decided against that activity.

Instead, I brought my camera along, took a few pictures, and sampled another type of black tea (same elaborate process). Here are some pictures of the shop:

This is a picture of the tea, and tea related paraphernalia..I'm not positive what dried orange slices, flower buds, etc on the top shelf are for, but I suppose they're tea embellishments...like ordering your drink with a dash of lime. "I'd like my tea with a dried orange slice."

This is the tea sampling process. Each and every piece of pottery on that table is used in the process of making one small pot of tea.

And this is the tea shop. I don't mean a part of the tea shop, I mean the whole shop. The shelves where the tea embellishments are to the right, the tasting table to the left, and that's the whole shebang.

In the end I bought, oh yes, this time I paid, for some shredded black tea as opposed to last time's unshredded black tea.

My current ongoing quest is to try every new kind of snack food there is. I'm in love with the corner store markets and convenience stores found on every block, and I'm in love with the new snack foods. Thus far, my favorites are the rice products -- crackers, gelatinous balls, all of them are delish. I also love the completely kinds of noodles that can be found that are made with rice. Actually, they're not so much noodles as sticky gooey shapes full of deliciousness. Lots and lots of deliciousness. And I'm really hoping I'll find some animal shaped noodles somewhere.

heaven vs hanzhou

Last weekend I took a little trip to a place called Hanzhou. Apparently a famous Chinese saying goes something like this: in the afterlife we have heaven, here on earth we have hanzhou. That's a pretty hefty legacy for a place to live up to. Let's see how it fares...

The trip started with a 1.5 hour train ride from Shanghai which gave me an opportunity to see the "country-side," or at least some non-metropolitan areas. There really wasn't much in the way of country-side. It was more like the trip from LA to San Diego, or San Francisco Pleasanton, not much down time between towns. But it was interesting, getting out just a little bit and there are fields behind a lot of homes. Not huge farms, just a small plot of cultivated land.

Now for Hanzhou. Hanzhou is famous for it's green tea. The most expensive type of green tea is supposed to come from the hills surrounding it, and touring a tea farm is a popular activity while visiting. So, we got in a taxi and went out to a tea plantation. The tea cultivation actually makes for beautiful scenery because the hills are all stepped with tea plants. I'm not enough of a conousier to be able to tell the difference between the good, the bad, and the ugly green teas (my taste leans more towards black, with cream and sugar), but I tried some while I was there just to make sure.

Here we have some people picking green tea leaves...

And this shot shows the fruits of that labor.

Now, something that's not written in the guide books (as far as I can tell) is that Hanzhou is also one of the most popular places to have some wedding pictures taken. At first I thought it was odd that so many people were getting married in the same place on the same day. At one time there was a line of 3 brides/grooms waiting to have their pictures taken in the same spot. Can you imagine waiting in full wedding relgaia for your picture to be taken? And then, as the first bride/groom duo left the perfect picture place, the bride hoisted up her dress only to reveal sneakers and jeans underneath...hmmm, maybe not FULL wedding regalia. I'm thinking that couple put on their gowns/tuxes, head over to the infamously beautiful Hanzhou and it's equally famous West Lake to take their wedding pictures on a day that is, in fact, not the wedding day. Maybe you just have your photographer on call, and whenever it's a beautiful day, you run for the scenic areas. It sounds like a reality TV show to me, so maybe that's not right. Who knows, but here are some shots that I took:

Here's our first bride/groom set, posing by an accommodating lotus tree in blossom.

Here are a some of the happy couples off to the next great photo opportunity. You can almost see one of the bride's jeans under her dress.

And now we have the chronicles of one bride and grooms search for that perfect picture:

First, the groom helps the bride into place while assistants dutifully pull out her skirt and veil.

The groom looks on as the bride holds her pose, the photographer readies himself, and the veil attendant gets ready to release the veil into the wind.

And finally, the perfect picture to capture your almost-wedding day.

Sigh, word on the street is that heaven's nice, but I think there are more glowing grooms and brides Hanzhou.

Dodge This!

Well, this past Thursday night I decided to try something new. Actually, it was a series of new things for me. The first new things I tried has to do with craigslist. Since coming to Shanghai I've browsed the craigslist listings for apartments, potential roommates, the "rants and raves" section (very, very slim pickings), and checked out the personal ads (lots of creepy). But then I saw a posting for a coed dodgeball team looking for new female members. I thought to myself, well, why not? When I couldn't think of a good reason why not, I replied.



The team captain (known as Patches on the court), replied and said I was more than welcome to join in the fun on Thrusday night around 9pm. I decided to give it a whirl. The game was held at the Jian Tong School of Medicine (first med school I've visited abroad), in a gym on the third floor of a brick building. There were about 11 people there for the team (and I hear that on some nights there are quite a few more), probably 6 teams in all. I got a refresher course in the rules of dodgeball, and stepped up to the line for my first game since grade school (first game of dodgeball in another country).



The games themselves were rockin. Some of the teams looked darn good, to my inexperienced eye, and some of the balls were thrown hard enough to take paint off the walls (literally, paint plus a little bit of plaster). We played two games and won both of them -- go team! After the games the majority of the team headed over to a local dive bar (first dive bar in China, first live music in China), for beer, french fries and live music -- all of which were quite good. The band played a mixture of chinese songs and classic american rock. It was an interesting combination, but it worked out pretty well.



All in all, it was a great evening. And it seems like it could have happened anywhere. An evening of sport, followed by drinks at a bar, some music. However, it's the little touches that make it distinct: the people on the teams came from all over the world, the US, France, Nigeria, the UK, China, and more; the beer was Tsingtao; the graffiti on the walls was in Chinese characters. But fun is fun, no matter where you are.

What to do on a Holiday Weekend

This past weekend was lovely. It was a three day weekend (Monday, April 6th was Tomb Sweeping Day, a national holiday). I spent Saturday out and about visiting some very interesting shops.

The first place we went was the warehouse for an antique store. It was located outside of downtown Shanghai, and the shear volume of Chinese antiques was overwhelming. It was a warehouse for goodness sakes.

The second place was a store that makes custom furniture. You pick the fabric/materials and the style for anything from beds to tables to couches and they make it for you. Now, I'm sure there are places where you can have custom furniture made in the US as well, but can you get a full living room set (full couch, love seat, two arm chairs, cushions, pillows) made from silk for under $3000? Not that I'm aware of. There was a show room and a design center and from there you looked through windows into the place where all the furniture is made.

The third place was a jewelery store. It had some very upscale jewelery (huge, massive pearls, intricate jade necklaces) and some pretty funky stuff (purses with carved handles, porcelain necklaces). The people were very nice and very knowledgeable. And off the main showroom was a workroom where the jewelery could be altered to your liking (would you like that piece restrung? no problem). Very cool place.

What do all these places have in common? Crazy locations. The antique warehouse was part of a huge non-descript commercial development with very little sign-age. If I hadn't been with someone who knew where to go, I never would have looked twice. The furniture store was in another large industrial looking complex, around the back of a building, on the third floor up a bare, cement stair case. Again, if you didn't know, you wouldn't guess. Third, the jewelery store. This place was more centrally located, but it was behind another building, down a hall and as far as I could tell, there were no signs for it. Maybe there were very clear directions laid out in Chinese, but the names on the business cards were all in English and there was definitely no sign in English on the outside of the building.

It makes me wonder what else is out there hiding just out of view. This weekend I'm off to check out Hangzhou, a town about 2 hours south of Shanghai. It's famous for it's green tea, great silk, and West Lake, all three of which should make for a great weekend!

I swear I'm in China

So, I've noticed that there are some very familiar things around Shanghai. Perhaps I've mentioned the high number of KFC's and Pizza Huts around (the later of which is much more upscale here than in the US). There are also lots of Starbucks; they're not quite as prolific as in the US (I haven't yet seen two across the street from each other), but I have run into them in many unexpected places. In fact, almost every day when I go out exploring I run into a new one.

Here are a few pictures of the nicest looking ones I've found:

I especially like the free samples being given out in front of this one.

Also, as I was walking around today I came across something that actually made me stop in my tracks. Here it is:If you look closely, "The Coffee Bean" has been translated into Chinese characters. And if you look extra close you'll also notice that the people sitting outside are all caucasian. I could have been in Washington DC's China Town (full of US chains like Ann Taylor and Fudruckers...but with signs in and English and Chinese). And I don't even see too many Coffee Beans in northern California, so to see one in Shanghai, whew.

However, I decided not to go into the Coffee Bean, and instead proceeded to a cafe called Mia's, which has a wonderful selection of both western food and chinese food and a rockin art-deco atmosphere. I also discovered that the chocolate cake at Mia's is de-li-cious. Mmmm, chocolate cake.

Oh, and just because, here's a video of some adolescent pandas playing:

Sorry, I can't figure out how to turn it 90 degrees to upright.

Paint by Number

Numbers are the only thing I can read here in China. And I can only read them provided "3" is not written, as in "three." Sometimes it's quite disconcerting to think that I can't even read a name tag. Name tags are supposed to be helpful, convenient things, and I can't tell the different between a Demetri and a Zelda. Numbers though, those I can read. And sometimes I can even decipher some meaning from them. For instance, if the sign on a businesses door has a whole bunch of characters, then a 9, then another character, then a 5, I deduce that the establishment is open from 9 to 5 (I may be completely wrong, but there's no easy way for me to know that, so I assume I'm right).



However, I cannot use my hands to convey numbers. When I go into a store and ask how much something costs (because this is a phrase I've now mastered) but I can't catch what the amount is, I would normally use my fingers. Thus, 59 becomes five fingers followed by nine fingers. It's somewhat tedious, but I've used it with success in the past. But oh no, that doesn't work here. Why? Because counting on your fingers is done in an entirely different manner here. I haven't mastered it yet, but from what I gather, pointer fingers are much more essential than I'm used to. The peace sign does not also represent the number two. So even my fail-safe written communication fails in visual expression. I can read numbers, but I can't sign them.



Given this, I've been working hard on learning my numbers in Mandarin. So far I've got 1 through 6, 10 and 100. Which may not seem like much, but it's actually quite a bit. Let me explain: in Mandarin (and perhaps in other languages, but not any I speak) 11 is actually 10 and 1. "Yi" is one, "shi" is ten, "shi yi" is eleven. It's a beautiful system. There's no, awkward teen section, no having to remember that two tens is actually twenty; in mandarin twenty is two tens. Same goes for everything in the hundreds. So really, I'm only missing 7 and 8 and 9 in my vocabulary to be able to count all the way to 999. Not too shabby.