27 September 2012 (Day 22):

Ooh, today is cold- very cold. What with all the rain and wind blowing about… I can’t stand temperatures below 27°C and this is 13°C! But luckily, all of my classmates and I are now back in the hotel and I have a delicious cup of hot Milo keeping me company as I am typing out this blog entry.

Flash back about 5 hours ago (at 1.30pm), it was still nice and sunny and we were waiting in the lobby for the bus to pick us up. The reason for this trip was because our IS (Interdisciplinary Studies) lesson for today was a Tea and Purple Pottery Culture visit.

The place we went to

 

 After listening to the hostess talk about how the teapots originated, she led us to a table where she brewed Red Tea, Green Tea, Oolong Tea and Puer Tea for us. Only 3 of us had the opportunity to try to brew the tea. It wasn’t too difficult as long as you had a steady hand to pour the tea out to everyone.

The hostess explaining the origin of teapots

 

Me pouring hot water onto the tea leaves

 

Yi Heng pouring the tea into the serving teapot

 

Samuel serving us tea

 

While we were taking turns to serve the tea, the hostess told us that by changing the number of fingers we used to tap the table with while we were being served tea, we could subtly indicate different orders. Tapping on the table with your middle finger indicates that you only want your teacup refilled. Tapping the table with your index and middle finger (at the same time) means that you want to refill the teacups of yourself and your spouse. And if you wanted the person who was serving the tea to refill the teacups of all those sitting at your table, you had to tap the table with 3 fingers, your index finger, middle finger and "ringman" finger, at the same time. This was an interesting topic of tea ettiquette to learn about.

 

 

Although the tea is freshly brewed, I found the tea rather bland (to my taste) and did not enjoy this tea-tasting session very much. To be frank, if my tea doesn’t have any milk or sugar in it, then it isn’t really my cup of tea (metaphorically speaking).

 

Once we were done sampling the tea, we could browse around the tea shop for tea, tea sets and even statues that are meant to decorate the tea set so as to make it look more interesting. Some of my classmates and lecturers bought glass or ceramic products, or tea. I sincerely hope that they can carry these fragile goods back to Singapore without breaking them.

Just as we were about to leave building, we realized that it was raining and had to run over to the waiting bus. Fortunately, my jacket was quite thick so I had no worries about getting my head wet. But still, it isn’t a very nice feeling to run in the cold rain. In about half an hour’s time, the bus reached the hotel and we promptly retreated to our rooms.

And flash forward a few minutes and you’ll find me telling you to flash back 5 hours again… That’s Déjà vu, so you might want to avoid flashing back again.

Well, I think that just about wraps up my day today. Goodbye dear reader! Stay warm!

 

I Y Hot Chocolate!!!

 

Best regards,

Marianne

 

Author’s note:

Photo of hot chocolate retrieved from http://cdn3.mixrmedia.com/wp-uploads/girlybubble/blog/2011/03/cute-kawaii-stuff-epicute-lovely-hot-chocolate.jpg