I apologize for not being able to journal the past two days here on the blog. We are now at a retreat center in Tai Hu and the internet service is very spotty. Also, we don’t have access to social media so I hope there isn’t another “Is the dress blue or gold?” epidemic I’ve missed on Facebook. That was be a catastrophe.
Because I’m a day behind, I’m going to talk about two days not just one. The first day being our trip here to Tai Hu. Before I explain this next picture, let me tell ya something. When I tell you that the driving here in China is nothing you have ever seen before, you will probably shake your head and say, “Sure, sure.” But it is like you are constantly that crazy roadrunner who has to worry about getting an anvil dropped on their head. It’s bat sh!t crazy.
On our ride here, our driver just stops right in the middle of the road and gets out of the bus and starts running. Where you ask? Damn if we know. He never said a word, just out he went. So I climbed into the driver’s seat and imagined what it must be like to be a driver in China. Here’s what it would look like:
You would also have to avoid all the motorcycles and motorbikes. Not just because they are driving like drunk race car drivers, but because they carry stuff like this around that is 50 times what the acceptable weight to carry should be.
However, once we did reach our destination, it was amazing. (And yes, the driver returned without a word or any mention of his random departure.) We are staying our last two nights at the Tai Hu Retreat Center. It’s a hidden gem in the countryside. A place to leave the bustle of the city and find your inner peace.
First stop to inner peace: The Tang Dynasty Royal Tea Factory. It’s about an hour from our retreat center and the trip is absolutely worth it. Lu Yu was the “father of tea” here in China. He was a man who when he found this field of tea, he then dedicated his life to manifesting it and mastering the art of tea-making. It’s kind of how I feel when I see a Little Debbie Snack Cake, I like to dedicate myself completely to it.
We had the absolute joy of seeing a traditional tea ceremony which mesmerizes you with its delicate and very deliberate movements. It’s a dance that is slow but powerful. You feel like you are transported back in time and when you sip the tea, it has that taste of homemade food cooked with love.
One of my favorite things about this day was when our group gathered for more tea after the ceremony and talked about Buddhism. It was one of those discussions where you learn and appreciate someone’s way of life. Their message is beautiful and truly made me admire the history even more.
Speaking of Buddhism, we had the opportunity to visit an active Buddist temple later that day. The Shousheng Temple with a tree that’s over 1,000 years old and bamboo sprinkled all along the pavement to dry out for eating. Of course, certain members of our team (Vera Sweeney, cough cough) didn’t realize the bamboo was drying and might have added a bit of New York pavement from her shoes to the flavor of the bamboo, but never mind about that.
Amazing day, right?
But then came day 2. The day that might just have been my favorite of them all.
It wasn’t spent seeing temples, or admiring gardens over 1,000 years old. And as much as I loved those experiences, what we did today was lessons I will take back to my home.
The day began with learning Tai Chi in an ancient courtyard on the retreat property. Magical doesn’t even begin to describe it. I can’t wait to share the video with you all when I return and am not cursing at the internet every 15 minutes. Our Tai Chi master showed us how to work on finding your Chi, to feel its strength flowing through you.
Now listen, I’m not one to be all for exercise or that kind of stuff, but this was different. This was like learning a dance of strength. Each movement very intentional and powerful. The slowness does not equal weakness. It’s quite the opposite. You actually find yourself sweating yet you have only done 10 minutes of poses. Or maybe I’m completely out of shape and still bouncing back from killing myself on the tea mountain.
Either way, I truly loved it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Following Tai Chi was where I found my peace.
Pottery making class.
I was an Art minor in college with a focus on sculpture. I love this stuff. I love Play Doh. I love that part in Cranium where you get to make something out of the miniature blue clay they give you. I love it. All of it. So this was totally up my aisle.
And it was awesome.
That’s not saying that I was awesome at it. Actually, our teacher from the Hu pottery family, at one point told me, “Oh no” when she saw what I was doing. She also handed me a mound of clay and told me to play with it while she made my tea cup look pretty. But hell, I didn’t care. I loved every minute of it. I was completely enthralled in her ability to take a mound of what is essentially the rock from a local mountain and turn it into something so beautiful.
I also admired her because she successfully wore an amazingly stylish white jacket and never got a piece of anything on it. I was there 5 minutes and I knocked over a coke can and had clay in my hair. But look, I did make this snail al by myself…
And to end my favorite day, the icing on the cake.
We had a dumpling making cooking class.
Those little suckers are damn hard to make, I tell ya. There’s dough to make, balls to roll out, shells to shape, filling to fill and then the hardest part – the funky little pinching design to seal it all.
And they do this EVERY day. Every single day they are making dumplings. Unreal. I now will also look at them and now that they take a crazy amount of work. I’ll also probably just buy them from Trader Joe’s and call it a day. But I’m quite sure that nothing will ever taste as good as when they were cooked and we popped about fourteen of them into our mouths.
And now we are here – the night before I leave. The last night in China.
I can’t believe it. So much we’ve seen. So much we’ve done. And I’m still in awe.
I can’t write a wrap-up post yet. I can’t say what this experience meant to me because I’m still processing all of that. I promise I will when I return. I have practical and funny things I’m going to share.
But what I can say right now is that China is a land like no other.
And I’m a better person for having come.
Thank you, Mandarin Journeys.
