Sunday, December 9, 2012

Olympic Stadium at Beijing - China Tour VI

Jai Gurudev !!

Tea Making Demo at Tea Market

The One day trip was only a paid shopping visit , we can say. Because, they took us to the Tea Market after the Silk Market and Pearl Market before they showed us the first tourist spot,the Olympic Stadium .

The ambience of Tea Market

The ambience of the Tea Market was very impressive.They took our group into a cabin, wherein a lovely girl started demonstrating the tea making skills of 4 different types of tea . She was explaining in a good English with  sweet looks , no doubt it is  admirable and attractive enough for anyone to go for buying the tea powder , atleast it would  tempt us to buy.



The young lass started speaking , capturing our full attention , " There are many different types of tea available in China. Out of which, I shall take up selectively some 4 types of teas. First is the Jasmine Tea . Take up hot water and run through the tea powder and strain it." . She makes use of sepearte tea pot new to us . Then she poured in tiny cups and served us and asked us to slurp and drink .  The fragrance was that of the Jasmine flower and the taste was very strong that it stayed for long in our mouth .

The other tea she showed was Pu'er tea . She said that tea should be chewed and tasted unlike the Jasmine tea which should be slurped . The taste would be similar to that of Rice , she said. Indeed it tasted as she said.

Another tea was Chrsyanthum tea, made by running the hot water through the dried Chrysanthum flowers. But the tatse did not impress us.

The next tea was Fruit Tea. The fruit pieces are dehydrated and dried and used to make Tea.
She asked us to taste the Fruit tea just like that before making the tea. Was tasting sweet . Should be obviously good for health , as fruits are involved.

The Dragon changing color based on
the tempeartue of drink inside


Naughty Pee Pee Boy
The girl also showed a couple of interesting things in the midst of the demo. One is the "Pee Pee Boy !!" That's a toy of the small boy, made of clay , I suppose , which would pass Susu when hot water is poured on it's head. The kids would love to watch it , as we did , no doubt. Another one was the cup , in which the dragon picture inscribed on the cup would change its colour into red if hot tea is poured into it.


 



Not only that , she gave an attractive offer that  these two items would be given free , if we purchase all 4 types of tea , one package consisting of 4 packets  for 900 yuans , that is Rs .72000 INR . 
The Iran lady bargained and took 2 Pee Pee boys as free .



We were given a pamphlet , in which the medicinal values of each tea was listed out. Jasmine tea cools the body, relaxes and relieves us from  the headache . The Pu'er tea reduces Cholestral , reduces blood pressure itseems . None of the tea should be added with milk except for one specific type of tea.

Following this tea market visit, later we visited a Tea shop in the place where we stayed ,where we saw a hundred types of tea powders kept all over the shop with varying rates and qualities and types. We purchased few types of tea packets , but the price was cheaper when compared to that tea market price.

Olympic Stadium at Beijing
                                  


Next , we came to the Olympic stadium . The structure was unique . We need to walk about a KM to reach the stadium from the road. Some stalls were put up on sides selling toys and similar items.
Special Kites were being sold outside . Lots of chinese people from outside Beijing were part of the tourists , who were visiting along with their family. We were given only sufficient time to visit the entrance and return back . Hence , could not visit inside the stadium.


Exquisite Designs of cups


Crafted Porcelain Plates 
After the stadium, again the marketing spree continued. This time , it was the Porcelain Market. Though the prices were not affordable, it was really wonderful to watch the exquisite artistry showcased there in different forms as toys, bangles , Pots, Vases gigantic and tiny ones and various items , which are unique in nature. We could only capture the photographs there , as buying those things was not our cup of tea.


Giant Vases



Love & smiles...


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