Rolling Karsts of Tea
JULY 13TH & 14th, 2018
The bus ride to Yanghshou got more and more beautiful as it drove along and we knew we were in for a treat in this town. We took a van upstream and took a bamboo raft down the Yulong River. We began at JiLong Bridge, which began on a quieter spot of the river and were so excited to see that we would be on a real bamboo raft after reading than many are not made from pvc pipe and use motors. Ours was real bamboo and our driver used a bamboo pole to guide us down. We passed the Dragon Bridge, definitely the most crowded spot of the tour and were glad we started where we did.
Our trip down the Yulong River.
Surviving the little waterfalls.
Once we passed these busier areas, we got to a more quiet part of the river and the views became more and more beautiful. Along the shores locals were selling fresh caught fish that they were grilling on their own rafts. There were little drops that we didn’t expect that were really fun to ride down, some splashing us a lot more than others.
After the raft, we had a couple hours to spend before being picked up by our hotel shuttle so we got food and wandered around the downtown area of Yangshou and Sixth Street, which is full of shops and restaurants. It was a little overwhelming with all the lights and people shouting at you to buy stuff from every direction.
Our second day in Yangshou we made our way to a tea plantation. We were offered either a car to drive us or we could rent scooters and immediately decided we were not willing to drive scooters in this traffic so we went with the driver. The drive up the mountain was beautiful and we were glad to be here on such a clear day. Once we got there we were given conical hats and a basket and through their gesturing determined we were supposed to go pick tea leaves.
The view of the protruding rock formations are karsts, which are limestone formations which have been eroding over years of weather beating on them.
After walking around a little and taking in the views, while feeling silly wearing these hats, we spotted other groups and asked someone which leaves we were supposed to pick. We began to fill our baskets and it was actually a very relaxing process. We also tried a couple types of tea and were able to take the tea we picked home with us, although we aren’t sure what to do with it.
