by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)
March 24, 2012- Old Taipei, Taiwan. For those who have not been to China or Taiwan, beware of any tour including a "Tea Tasting" or "Traditional Tea" or whatever the particular tour company may call it.
On my 2006 trip to China, when I knew no better, the idea at least sounded interesting, eventhough I am not a fan of tea in any of its forms (iced, hot, boba). I still gave it a try since it was only a small part of the overall tour.
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| Free boba at the Taiwan office on Friday afternoons |
At these tea tastings, you usually sit at a large table with other English-speaking tourists and the woman leading the tea drinking speaks English, so you have an idea of what is going on. However, towards the end of the tasting, the woman leading the tasting subtly changes tone and focus and you suddenly realize this whole thing is just an attempt to get large numbers of wealthy tourists in a spot where they would buy tea, small teapots, and other tea accessories.
Then, you are taken into a larger “souvenir showroom”, where things like jade, fans, beads, and other "locally made" items are sold. The saleswomen chase you around the showroom with their cheap plastic calculators. Anytime you even glance at something, the saleswomen instantly converts its price to US dollars and show you the calculator display.
On my 2006 trip, the tea tasting was done at an official "PRC- authorized" jade and tea shop in Shenzhen, I picked up a traditional green jade bangle bracelet for Joanie and two red jade Pixiu (good luck mythological creatures) that we keep on top of the living room TV.
I have an "official" red-star stamped certificate of authenticity from the store, but given how the red jade color has seemed to fade over the years, there is a question as to whether it is real jade despite the official government certification.
On this trip, I knew I was going to have another tea tasting; though this tasting was in the area of Old Taipei City.
Then, you are taken into a larger “souvenir showroom”, where things like jade, fans, beads, and other "locally made" items are sold. The saleswomen chase you around the showroom with their cheap plastic calculators. Anytime you even glance at something, the saleswomen instantly converts its price to US dollars and show you the calculator display.
On my 2006 trip, the tea tasting was done at an official "PRC- authorized" jade and tea shop in Shenzhen, I picked up a traditional green jade bangle bracelet for Joanie and two red jade Pixiu (good luck mythological creatures) that we keep on top of the living room TV.
I have an "official" red-star stamped certificate of authenticity from the store, but given how the red jade color has seemed to fade over the years, there is a question as to whether it is real jade despite the official government certification.
PRC-Authenticated Red Jade Pixiu
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Gate to Old Taipei  |
At least I am smiling
Tea Time 2012
Also, on this trip, I was not planning on going crazy with the gift buying like I had done on my first trip. However, something did catch my eye, some small jade dogs. Anyone who knows us, knows we are dog people.
I could barely glance at the jade dogs before a lady with her calculator was nearby. Isn’t this one of the reasons Circuit City went out of business? Anyway, I had my own calculator figure out the US dollars before she came by and I was unimpressed with the price ($NTD 6000= US $201). I made a counteroffer but it was not accepted. So, I walked away, went up the stairs to the street and walked around in the light drizzle until the van driver/tour guide got back to us.
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