An Early Morning Tea... and photos

I was invited, along with the rest of the Department of Foreign Language, to go to a Tea-Fest of some kind. It was apparently a bazaar for all the teas which had been picked so far... early-season teas, which are sweeter and softer in flavor.

Well, since the others were going, I decided to wake up and meet them at 9:30 today (Saturday)... not ridiculously early, but still...

The tea garden (think beer-garden) itself was interesting if a bit rainy. Fortunately, all of the distributors had the forethought to set up tents. Unfortunately, there was some sort of marionette play about tea being performed through amplifiers. And when the shrill, nasally, grating singing voices of the traditional styles - styles designed around being heard clearly from far away with amplification - are pumped through a set of concert-huge speakers cranked up to 11... well, winces of pain, covering of ears, melting flesh, et al were sure to follow.

I did get some free tea out of it though. Not bad stuff, either.

Part 2 of this post, as promised, are the few pictures I was able to get on the trip up to Shanghai. Unfortunately, my camera is on its last legs. Since it's on its death bed, I wasn't able to use it as much as I would've liked...

Let the music play on down the line tonight