Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.
-Chaim Potok

China……. Why China well, a place like China that so steeped And culture, folklore and history. Where you turn a corner and you accidentally brush up against a temple that’s a couple hundred years old.  Or you walking through a market, hearing the people yell and barter just like they where in the new york stock exchange back in 1930. And the old ladies, their cart, slowly wheeling around looking at the produce and thinking about what they’ll cook their family. and then you find out a few days later that that Market has been there for over 500 years. That’s why I love China, a place where you don’t look at the history through a glass box, where you pay an entry fee of 40$. You live it you are in it. That is “why China“

This is the story of me drinking tea. Where the dragons live.

Today starts just like any other day, I roll out of bed, get dressed, brush my teeth.” But what makes it different” you ask me. well, I am in search of something.

Is it the holey grail, NOPE, 

is it some lost treasure, NOPE,

is it a Tim Hortens in China, “God I wish” but NOPE.

I  am looking for where the dragons live. I know what you are thinking “Dane crack is wack don’t do drugs”  I can happily say I am not on any drug, this is 400 years old legends. (give or take a few decades)  That says that there’s a tea house where the well is said to have dragons. But not only that. The tea Is the highest of quality. This tea that I am looking to have has been drunk by the like of emperors and kings. and judging by the cost that is the only people who can afford it.

This tea cost pound per pound about the same as a gold. 

But back to the moment at hand. As I am getting off a surprisingly long bus ride. Where we passed beautiful tea plantations and lush forests. But after 45 min I make it. As I get off the bus I trip over my own feet and almost fall, the bus driver looks at me like I am as smooth as Mikel Jackson doing the moonwalk, I regain my composer, get of the bus and wave at the driver.

 I start looking for the way I need to go. And guess what ………. I have no clue where to go, but that is ok. I find a nice old man. He looks as if his skin is 4 sizes too big but I smile put on the best (I’m a foreigner please help me and not Sell my kidney face) Then I start using my broke mandrin chines. he cocks his head to the left and smiles. I can read his face and can see  what he is thinking ” but this guy is white?”  He gives me a big laugh and points me up the hill, I shake his hand and say a hardy “再见我的朋友”  “goodbye my friend”   

I start walking, listening to the beautiful birds and the crunching of the gravel on my feet. and eventually, I make it to the hiking trail and in broken English, it says “dragon tea up ahead” my heart starts beating fast, I think to myself, will I see your Dragon?  Or does the dragons  give the tea a special taste or special properties?

I hike up the hill a little faster,

A little further ahead I  see a little temple, but I almost missed it, the vines and trees have made it look like the earth has been trying to eat it. I walk up and another small saying says dragon tea. YAY, I made it I say to my self. I walk past the beautiful archway that is the door to the Teahouse,  I start to takes in my surroundings. I look around enjoying the Nature. Seeing lovers, New parents with kids and friends hanging out. Eventually, I make it into the teahouse.

the front of the teahouse is Mark with a giant teapot,  “well I hope they have tea”I say as I let out a Laugh to myself.  I’m surprised there are not that many people and there are no foreigners. I walk up to the counter And a Chinese lady that resembles. That grandma from that Pixar movie up walks over and asks what I would like to have. I  smile at her and I say “I want some tea” She rolls her eyes. I think I hear under her breath she says “no shit” She gives me a  wry smile and asked what kind of tea,

then she gives me a menu in English. I point out the tea that I want and a couple munchies, and I pay, she gives me a small glass with a spoonful of tea leaves in it, and what looks like 15 litres of boiling water. I ask her is that enough tea leaves and she says that mall amount is good for 15 cups of tea. My jaw drops that’s crazy. and all for like five dollars.

 I sit down next to a glass table, I take in my surroundings the beautiful ancient trees that are most likely older than Canada. I relax in there canopy, looking at couple old man, off in the distance playing cards laughing. Weaving storeys where I can see facts are not necessarily the most important part. I pour the hot water over the tea and let it steep for a minute. As I steep in the golden moment that I have to stumble into. After a few moments, I can already smell the beautiful aroma coming off of the tea leaves.

The tea leaves have flowed up the top of the cup. I’ve never mastered drinking tea out of a cup as they do in China. Where you blow the leaves out of the way in the same way you would blow a candle on your 80 birthday out. I can do it but I look more like a 3-year-old blowing out his candles. I look like I don’t know what I’m doing but hey, that’s most of my life. But I set down the tea on that old dusty table. Takeing in the taste which is amazing ( sweet, light, delicate)

A small part of me hopes that some of that magic powers of the dragon seep into me. Just like that hot water that is seeping into the tea leaves. Relaxing as I enjoy the tea I forget where I am, And when I am. The look of this place seems off like I stepped on to a wormhole and gone 400 years in the past.

 The time starts to pass, I just sit there and enjoy. I don’t know how long it takes 20 minutes one hour, two hours. could be a lifetime, All I know I enjoying it and eventually when I’m done. I stand up and say thank you to the woman and go on my way, wondering if there is a tea where the well is full of any other mythical beasts that I can try