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Eating poisonous foods for dinner outdoors in smog choked dusk in…

Tea Adventures

Eating poisonous foods for dinner outdoors in smog choked dusk in Guangzhou. Moms of the world worry when their kids go to China and have to eat local food. Yet I don’t see horns bulging out of anyone or extra eyes growing out of foreheads? Preferable to invisible cancer cells. Good thing people drink tea nonstop or the 1.3 billion people in this country might all be dead or at least mutated… My day of restocking some teaware at the tea mecca was uneventful, which means, success. Sat and drank tea with a tiny antique dealer in the smallest shop (about the size of a single bed) featuring the tiniest items. Got a pair of rare seal emblem cups and intact pair of Gaiwan. Score. Found some shallow bowled glass Gaiwan perfect for steeping Lu Shan Clouds a and Mist. Another score. Got a collection of sweet tiny Yixing teapots of smooth brocade clay. Double score. Ore’s running out, any finds are good. Found a mad artist who talked like a fast moving unstoppable river, all about the various historical glazes of China. What a guy, what a shop; got some expensive dragon celadon gaiwans. I think probably only me and the river running mouth understands their value… When I got up in the morning today, I prepared myself for functioning as a half-wit. Half of my brain cells have choked from a stuffy nose from a bad cold, the other half choked from lack of oxygen in Guangzhou. Not too bad for being completely dysfunctional….

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Hong Kong, more coverage on the blog this time than other times….

Tea Adventures

Hong Kong, more coverage on the blog this time than other times. My last retreat will soon be gone. Where will I live in the future, I ponder, once Hong Kong falls ? I have always lived in the U.S. with the comfort that I can move back to HK some day, the only truly free place on earth for a Chinese person. Free from suppression, oppression, or ethnic discrimination. As the U.S. wastes itself away on guns, military, and Right Wing Politics, I thought of moving everyday. But that option will no longer be available.
Mr. Yan and I spent the morning at dimsum complaining about how my batch of Phoenix oolong was over roasted. A respected elder specializing in Tieguanyin, Mr. Yan is also a patron to many tea makers and their sometimes sloppy handiwork. That’s when he responds with yelling in Fukienese; I think cussing in that dialect and tea goes hand in hand. How many thousand batches of teas have turned out badly in the last thousand years?
At the Taoist temple, an icon of old Hong Kong, statutes of all the zodiac gods line the walkway. Incense offerings and prayers later, I relax with some German beer in front of the ocean. It’s Octoberfest, yes, even in Hong Kong.
A little old, a little new, a little Chinese, a little of all the world… That’s HK. Now, if only there wasn’t China.

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Paradise Lost

Tea Adventures

In all my years as a sort of ‘konger’, there has never been much political unrest. It’s not a very political place. People were content to shop and watch soccer. But then, today, massive protests run amuck on the streets, people turning out to protest the government of not issuing a license to a new TV station. Why? Censorship from the Central Communist government? Someone didn’t pay a bribe to…

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Well, I will enjoy HK for as long as it lasts. It is still home…

Tea Adventures

Well, I will enjoy HK for as long as it lasts. It is still home to me at heart. Here is my prized find today: Hello Kitty wet naps! The collection is complete.
Heading out to dim sum on the MTR, still the best subway system in the world. I freak out when one out of 10 things don’t go right in HK,where I rejoice if ever, by chance, when 1 out of 100 things do go right in China.
Feverish day and sick with a cold, head foggy. Not a good day to go into China as I will need all my wits with me. Today, i’ll just eat and shop all day. And drink lots of all kinds of tea. HK is after all, the only place you can get ancient Pu-Erh, all kinds of Wuyi, Shou Mei, along with British milk tea but made with condensed milk!

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Twilight Zone

Tea Adventures

Systemic breakdowns in Hong Kong are unheard of. There are never lack of preparedness, lines, or breakdown of the revered octopus card system. For the first time in 20 years, the Great China Chaos has descended into HK. I go buy a sim card and it was sold out. There wasn’t another one that works for both China and HK. There was a line at 7-11. Then, as a final straw, I couldn’t check my balance on…

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