What have I been up to these last few weeks? Herb Market for one.

Oh man. I am quite a few weeks behind. But I guess there really isnt anything to write about...well, besides the sea of bamboo. Hmm...I take that back...that's the only topic I have pictures to accompany. So, let's begin shall we?

*pulling out my planner*

Oh, btw, if anyone is looking for good Chinese music, there's this artist named Wang Fei who's really popular here. She has some really nice songs...so yeah. Look into getting some of her songs.

:) Glad I pulled out my planner because I just remembered I forgot to blog about my trip to the herb market.

**Haha...sorry for all of these extra side notes...but I won't be able to put in as many pictures as I would like here because of my firewall issue. So...I will post all of my pictures over in Yahoo in due time. Check there for more photos...**

SW China's Largest Herb Market
This is absolutely the place for people who love traditional medicine of all sorts. Early Saturday morning, I rode my bike to North gate and met up with Sarah and Andrea. The three of us then rode our bikes for about an hour and half up north. The north is very different. It is literally a span of area full of people carrying outrageous things on their bikes. For example, we were biking behind this guy with 6 or 7 huge, huge electronic boxes. People also carry things like televisions, several at a time. They tie these bags or boxes to themselves and then off they go. It's quite the scene to see. The north is also where you would find things sold in bulk...sort of like Costco...but a alot more things and alot more crazy. Like, there's a shop full of small, medium, and large sized towels. The ride went by fast though, mostly cause we just had so many things to see. We finally arrived at the herb market...and this place was definitely worth all of the biking. Huge sacks of...well...pretty much everything! Let's see...there were antlers cut into pieces, slices, or ground; dried deer penises, scorpions, beetles, centipedes, ants, snakes, geckos, etc. There was this one sort of thing that was just absolutely fascinating. It's only found in, I think, 2000 or 3000 m above sea level. It's this small catepillar that had been infected/germinated? by a small plant. Thus, as this grass grows from the catepillar, the catepillar dies without ever turning into a moth. It is the craziest thing I have ever seen. What I kept on wondering about though, when I was there...was whether or not everything I was seeing there really "real". Cause these grass catepillars are supposed to be really really rare...but I saw them everywhere here at this herb market. Tons and tons in jars. *Shrugs* Well, it is the largest herb market in SW China...so maybe they have alot.
We just walked around and took in as much as we could. The place was too big though for us to walk through it all. However, alot of the vendors were selling the same things...so I think we covered most of the items. After our tour of the market, the three of us headed on over to the tea market. We spent around 2 hours here tasting and chatting with the owner of a pu er tea store. Man, there's so much to know about tea. I'll try to remember what I learned...or rather, what I know. Alot of the stuff about tea I already knew...just from traveling around China and visiting all of these tea houses...so here I go.
Pu er tea is a special sort of tea. Rather than many of the other teas you drink, such as green tea, pu er tea leaves comes from a tree rather than a bush. These tea trees can be over a 1000 years old. Pu er can come in the "raw" form which means that nothing was done to it except that it was sun dried and then packaged. There is also the "fermented" kind which most people know about. They cook the tea a bit so that it becomes....well, cooked. The taste and color of these two sorts are very different. The raw pu er has a lighter color to it...and tastes alot more earthy. Cooked pu er is a rich reddish brown color and has a smoother taste. Pu er is also one of those teas where you can reuse the tea leaves several times. Alot of the other sorts of teas can only be reused 5-6 times and usually leaving these tea leaves in water overnight makes the tea not exactly drinkable...meaning that the taste isnt too good...but also drinking this tea might not be too good for your body. Pu er is not like this though. You can reuse pu er tea leaves up to 20 times...and it's safe to drink it again even after leaving it out overnight. Tea culture is really amazing. So, there are several components to having a good cup of tea. First, you have to have good tea leaves. Much like wine, tea becomes better with time. So, if you can get tea that is several years old, you are getting aged tea...good thing...well, only if it's really been aged that long. Second, you need a good tea pot and cup. Ones most commonly used are those made from a material called "sai". I am not exactly sure what this translates to in English. It is brownish in color. Third, you need to get the temperature of the water right. Some require boiling water, some are better if you dont heat the water too hot. Fourth, remember to toss the first pot...usually, the first time water touches tea leaves, it acts as sort of a wash. Drink the 2nd pot. And lastly, you must have a frog. :) I'm not kidding. The shop we went to had a frog made from "sai". He's sort of a guardian for tea. You pour a cup of tea for him everyday. Tradition.
Sarah and I each ended up buying a "disc" of cooked pu er. Pu er usually come in cubes, bricks, or these discs. Having tea leaves at home has definitely made the past few cold Chengdu days better.