My trip to China: an introductary

When I'm asked why I choose to go to China the only honest answer I can give is "I dont know". Cause the truth is I'm not sure. I first got the idea about a month ago, while sitting on some steps in soho. I was sitting on the steps watching the clouds, a personal hobby of mine, when the thought kinda just came to me. "I should go to China". There was no train of thought, no connection to a previous idea, it just kinda came out of the blue. I had never been to China, I don't know chinese and I couldn't think of anyone who would want to go with me. At the time I merely laughed at the thought, and put it in the back of my mind to save for a rainy day. 

Paulo Coelho once wrote "And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.". A few weeks after my epiphany on the steps of American Apparel, the universe gave me a gift in the form of a crazy landlord.

Above the store I work in is the landlord of the building. An interesting character to say the least, he always comes down complaining about the noise we are making. There is nothing really as mind boggling as a man who constantly complains about the amount of noise a tea house is making. And as much as we would like to tell him to shove off and stop blowing weed smoke in the vents, he is out landlord so all we can do is smile apologize and evidently soundproof the ceiling. 

Now soundproofing a ceiling is no small talk. You have to take down the whole ceiling, install the sound proof material, then put the ceiling back up. This was going to be a two week long project. Two weeks that the store was going to be closed. A two week break that we were going to get paid for. This is exactly what I needed. Less than five days after we were told the dates we were going to be closed I booked my tickets. 

After about of day of excitement it hit me, what the fuck do I know about China?

I want this to be a tea themed trip. Of course I will see some temples and such, but my main reason for going to China will be for tea. I want to see what the tea culture is like in China. Obviously China being such a diverse and large country there is not going to be one way they drink it, but growing up in a culture where you tea always takes milk and sugar, a culture who appreciates the raw tea will be a nice change. 

In the week or two since then my dad has managed to contact a business associate in Shanghai who is willing to show me around and is luckily also a tea drinker, so I will be able to see great tea houses and markets. I am looking at going to Hangzhou and maybe Wuyi Mountain. The details are fuzzy but they get a little clearer everyday. I have 38 days to figure out my trip and no matter what I choose I'm sure this is going to be fun.