Art Of Trance ‎– Gloria #artoftrance #gloria #teance #classic #mymixtapes (at London, Unιted Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFLYmUqHTo_/?igshid=1xx0jfhv5led8

We made it up above the clouds! At close to 2000 meters on top of San Lin She, home of the high mountain oolong, the intense fog drenches the leaves and nourishes the new leaf buds, getting ready for the winter harvest. The hike was a good hour long 70 degree incline. Along the way, monkeys were eating leaves, bees picking flowers, and toads were leaping out of our way. A little tea adventure.

Even being at the paradise of tea farms, my tea buying adventures are still very strenuous. Today, I have been mosquito food for maybe the entire village of mosquitoes already. I am also fighting the desire to suddenly pass out into sleep, whilst drinking some of the strongest tea known to mankind. Mr.Zhang and various villagers drop in to find out about some real information they are curious about but can’t get, such as how much cars cost in the U.S. An average automobile that costs $35,000 USD can cost $75,000 easily in China. The middlemen make a killing. Yet their income tax is something like 3%. What about that election next year, they want to know? As long as it’s not a Bush again, they mused. Why hasn’t the U.S. attacked North Korea if they are so against Communist governments? Simple, I replied, without any basis for my opinion. No oil there, and it’s a monarchy, not a Communist country. It’s impoverished as hell and it will implode anyway, the tea villagers reasoned. The conversation turned once again to Xi Jin Ping’s crackdown on the corruption. Government offices can no longer buy 1000 RMB a Jin teas for office consumption( about $180 a lb). The offices I know in the U.S. serve Lipton teabags at 10 cents each.... Well, the cultural exchanges at every farm are always very interesting. According to the villagers, no foreigners ever come there to buy these authentic, but expensive, highly prestigious Wuyi teas. They buy fake stuff from import companies. No one even goes there from Hong Kong, or Beijing, for that matter. I might as well be Alien Visitation. I am teaching myself to master the final hurdle, I told them - the strongest tea in the universe, Rougui tea. For that reason alone, I just travelled some 10,000 miles, fighting mosquitoes and possible purse snatchers along the way. Why not? What would I be doing in the Bay Area today otherwise? Go get tomatoes at the farmer’s market?

Today I suddenly had an epiphany about the state of affairs in China. The U.S. was not devastated by any war in its land since the mid1800s. Europe and Japan began reconstruction after WWII, some 70 years ago. But China? China started waking up to an alternative economic model in the late 80s, and by the beginning of the new millennium, soared ahead ruthlessly without regard to repercussion, in an effort to catch up. Catching up to the meticulous engineering minds of the Germans and Japanese is difficult, who are not only technological advanced but whose long term social emphasis do not even come into the conciousness of the short term thinking of the Chinese. And 70 years head start might as well be a thousand years of the traditional ways the Chinese function. So it’s understandable that one of the most twisted, macabre governments in the world leading the most populous demographic in the world, runs up against chaos, inexplicable behaviors, and all kinds of head shaking issues. Today the cab driver asked where I was going. To Wuyishan, I said, so clean and pleasant unlike other parts of China. To buy tea, I further replied. The cab driver was incredulous. You are going by yourself all the way there to buy tea? Are n’t you afraid of crime? I asked, what sort of crime? He replied, purse snatching! Stealing! Even robbery! I asked, robbery at knife or gunpoint? He says well, either is really rare….. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that in the U.S., we experience mass shootings once a week, daily, maybe hourly random shootings in Oakland alone, and not even for the purposes of robbery. Just random shootings. At least here in China you can be killed for criticizing the government, but being randomly and senselessly killed? Not bloody likely. I felt suddenly Ok with China. Purse snatching? Ha ha ha. They ain’t seen nothing yet. So off to Wuyi Shan I go, to indulge in some luxurious teas.

Everywhere I go there are mainland Chinese visitors in various forms of behavioral challenges. Here at Kansai Airport waiting for my flight to Hong Kong, a Chinese woman is shrieking at someone on her phone, in Mandarin. For like ½ hour already. I hope she misses getting on the same plane with me. All the flight attendants, in excessively polite and low speaking Japanese, were eyeing her with disdain. Now I am seated in the plane and all these Chinese people are constantly stepping over me vying to change seats, in case some passenger doesn’t board. There is always some little advantage to be gained! I hate that about the mainland Chinese. What happened to the Confucian ideal of putting others first? They are not pleasant to be around and sometimes dangerous. Hopefully none of them will open the emergency door mid flight today. But then, I never know anyone like that personally. My China farmer friends are great, professional friends are rational, professor friends are educated, family members hospitable- I wonder, do they custom make this model of mainland Chinese to go aboard, like a viral epidemic?

I tell you what. I will post fake stories along with real ones from now on. You can copy them and likely have a fake story to call your own. Or if you send me a check, I can write one for you. I have thousands of miles and decades of legwork, I can make you a fake story to go with your fake tea with ease.

Stay tuned for the tea adventures to live again this Oct 10! Traveling to China, Taiwan, Japan again. I will be bringing a tour group with me this fall.