Day 6: Fountain of Youth
Antioxidants. Polyphenols.
I'm no longer concerned about turning 40. I have the key to an eternal healthy life in a small plastic bag right here. It cost me a small fortune, but as they keep telling us: you can't put a price on your health.
I'm talking about our visit to Green Tea Plantation just outside of Hangzhou.
We were treated to a tea ceremony and learnt all about the slimming and anti-ageing properties of green tea. We learned how to make it properly so as not to kill the good stuff in the process.
First of all, forget Lipton tea bags.
Secondly, don't pour boiling water over your delicate green tea leaves. Wait 3 minutes until the water temperature comes down to 80 degrees.
Thirdly, re-use the same leaves 5 times. You can use cold water and some lemon to make iced tea, too.
The bad news is, you have to drink 20 cups per day for any noticeable health benefit. Or you can just buy the tablets which are 18 more concentrated and cost about as much as a small car.
Oh, you can also make a face mask out of used tea leaves mixed with egg whitse and honey.
And you can 'steam your eyeballs' by holding your eye over the cup for 30 seconds to relieve tired puffy eyes and black circles under your eyes.
You should also chew the leaves as a snack instead of chips.
So, that's it. Now you know.
This highly educational tea ceremony was well balanced by a dull cruise on a lake. The air pollution made it hard to see the separation between the water and the sky, let alone any other scenery around us.
Shared lunch followed.
Then, we made the 3 hour bus trip to our final destination: Shanghai. We arrived reasonably late, so by the time we ate some pasta and drank some red wine (gosh, how I missed both!), there wasn't much time to explore before checking into our hotel after 9pm. A long day.
However, we did get to visit a local Bazaar and walk along the Bund broad walk taking in the very cool city lights. Shanghai is a relatively new city, and under rapid development, so the landscape is changing constantly. The city is only 180 years old. Compared to places like Hangzhou, which is 1000 years old, this place is barely worth a mention in the pages of the history book. It's hard to imagine, Shanghai is almost as old as the history of modern Australia.
We've been very privileged to have stayed in some magnificent hotels on this trip. The last one wins, because it's an apartment, so we have even more room to spread our stuff and make even more of a mess 😀. In Hangzhou our room was on the 25th floor, in Shanghai on the 20th, so the views have been spectacular as well.
One more full day of adventures tomorrow before we start to think about our journey home.
I'm no longer concerned about turning 40. I have the key to an eternal healthy life in a small plastic bag right here. It cost me a small fortune, but as they keep telling us: you can't put a price on your health.
I'm talking about our visit to Green Tea Plantation just outside of Hangzhou.
We were treated to a tea ceremony and learnt all about the slimming and anti-ageing properties of green tea. We learned how to make it properly so as not to kill the good stuff in the process.
First of all, forget Lipton tea bags.
Secondly, don't pour boiling water over your delicate green tea leaves. Wait 3 minutes until the water temperature comes down to 80 degrees.
Thirdly, re-use the same leaves 5 times. You can use cold water and some lemon to make iced tea, too.
The bad news is, you have to drink 20 cups per day for any noticeable health benefit. Or you can just buy the tablets which are 18 more concentrated and cost about as much as a small car.
Oh, you can also make a face mask out of used tea leaves mixed with egg whitse and honey.
And you can 'steam your eyeballs' by holding your eye over the cup for 30 seconds to relieve tired puffy eyes and black circles under your eyes.
You should also chew the leaves as a snack instead of chips.
So, that's it. Now you know.
This highly educational tea ceremony was well balanced by a dull cruise on a lake. The air pollution made it hard to see the separation between the water and the sky, let alone any other scenery around us.
Shared lunch followed.
Then, we made the 3 hour bus trip to our final destination: Shanghai. We arrived reasonably late, so by the time we ate some pasta and drank some red wine (gosh, how I missed both!), there wasn't much time to explore before checking into our hotel after 9pm. A long day.
However, we did get to visit a local Bazaar and walk along the Bund broad walk taking in the very cool city lights. Shanghai is a relatively new city, and under rapid development, so the landscape is changing constantly. The city is only 180 years old. Compared to places like Hangzhou, which is 1000 years old, this place is barely worth a mention in the pages of the history book. It's hard to imagine, Shanghai is almost as old as the history of modern Australia.
One more full day of adventures tomorrow before we start to think about our journey home.
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