Tea Ladies On The Night Train to Mongolia
One unexpected delight to the China Tea Tour was the overnight train from Beijing to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. It was this part of the trip that I first started to appreciate the expertise and commitment of our national guides. I started to realize how many things can go wrong in a schedule as full and tight as ours which could have seriously disrupted the plan.
Managing a dozen people and luggage on and off buses, in an out of hotels and arranging meals is one thing. But having those same dozen travelers nearly miss a completely full train was a challenge that will never be adequately translated. We were all too busy trying to man-handle our own luggage through a complex and crowded terminal to fully appreciate the delicate negotiations Mr. Wu demonstrated on our behalf.
“What did you do?” we all asked once safely through the chaos and on board the train in our compartments. He just shrugged and smiled. One of many times he worked magic to make travel flow seamlessly from one adventure to the next.
We all fit into three compartments. Luggage filled the overhead rack and the isles between bunks as each of us claimed a “rack”. Then there are always the toilet stories. But I can leave most of the details about “squatties” on a moving train to your imagination. What my camera missed were the signs at squatting eye level. One was a caution not to let your cell phone fall down the hole. The other was a reminder not to jump off a moving train. (Not about tea but I still laugh out loud when I remember the moment.)
Buying Tea on Lui Li Chang Street, Beijing
Quick Photo Flashback:
Being the tea devotees we all were, the plan to have tea on the train had been calculated that afternoon as we cruised an amazing tea and antique area called Lui Li Chang Street (Beijing). Several of our group spent the afternoon in an amazing tea store and found an Oolong worthy of celebration. But two elements – in addition to the superlative tea – were critical to properly enjoy tea on board a Chinese train.
One was a travel gaiwan set. A very generous companion on our tour team found an excellent mini-set in a clever travel pouch. She shared her brewing expertise, her travel set and an unforgettable tea she found on Lui Li Street!
The second was the fact that there was hot water available on our train. At the end of the car was a small cabinet in which there was a kettle with a constant supply of hot water. Tea Land!
There we had a Train Tea Party. We were a giddy group, jostling our way through multiple infusions. I think we lost count. But, finally, we were rocked to sleep on board our train.
End Of Non-linear Moment
There’s just something about taking tea in unusual surroundings . . . probably one of my reasons for going on this trip. New tea experiences. New life experiences. I had ridden trains before. I had slept on trains before. But I had never watched the gradual dawn over the gentle hills of this kind of countryside. As the light came up, I could watch from my upper berth – the pastures, the farms, unusual rock formations. An entirely new part of the world. But it could have been my home state. It could have been the grasslands of Western Texas. Except for the tea.
