Last Friday me and Lisa decided to take advantage of the good weather (a nice cool breeze, and not raining) to go out to the Tea Plantation. We could have taken number 10 Bus, but we were lazy and shed out the 20 kuai for a taxi.
The Plantation itself is located a bit outside of Guilin in a beautiful serene landscape. The first thing when you enter the compound is an old wood-build house in the middle of a small tea field. I think it is used as restaurant now (there are fish ponds directly next to it, where you can catch your own fish).
We were greeted by the guide who showed us around the plantation and explained how tea is harvested and which part of the tea plant is used for which kind of tea.
After that we went into the main building to join a tea ceremony and try all the teas that she talked of before. My personal favorite is still the Ginseng Woolong tea. Lisa later bought one packet in the tea shop to bring it home.
The whole tea tour is free for visitors. They later try to make some money by selling the tea, but they are absolutely not pushy. If you don’t like to buy, nobody forces you. I’ve done the tour about 5 times now, and this time was definitly not the last.
After leaving the tea plantation, we didn’t directly walk back to the main road, but took a small path along the tea fields and around the plantation. After crossing a small stream we were directly on the property of the old Ming Tombs of the Jingjiang Princes. This part of the area has not been restored and looks like nobody visited it for quite some time (The grass sometimes went up to our neck). If you walk around a bit in the huge area, you will find many old statues and other broken remnants of the graves of the Ming Princes.
One of the tombs actually has been restored by the government, but the entrance fee for seeing two restored gate houses and a hill of mud is not really worth it.
If you have time, and you’re not afraid of a bit dirt and mosquito bites, playing “Indiana Jones” and discovering the unrestored part of the tombs is much more satisfying.
For more information regarding the tea plantation, please visit their website: http://www.guilintea.com/
