Osmanthus
I had never heard of the osmanthus flower until about two years ago when I was ordering tea. The had osmanthus green tea listed as being like jasmine, when I looked it up I found it is a type of flowering olive prized for its fragrance. The tea was lovely and subtle, much more fragrant than jasmine but a bit weak.
The city of Guilin has a name that translates to Osmanthus Forest. Apparently in the Autumn, the whole city is redolent of the flower. We had no such luck, but we did have the local osmanthus tea, which was wonderful, especially when we were exhausted on a rainy afternoon.
Until we left Guanxi Province, we had yet to ever see the Chinese sun. We had come to Guilin for it's famous scenery, but couldn't actually see it when we arrived. So we walked around the river walk, climbed a mountain inside a palace (a rather impressively verticle rock) and had tea. The food around there is good at least.
The next day however, we figured that we'd make a go of doing the big tourist draw and took the cruise down the Li River amount the limestone cliffs and peaks. The rain and fog managed to lift enough to see the peaks and we had a lovely time. Unfortunately, until I can upload some pictures, words don't do it justice. I did however have some rather sweet osmanthus wine on the cruise.
The end of the cruise is the tourist village of Yangshou, we didn't have much time there and it wasn't really our scene. Yet, and the end of a lane, Tara saw some women knitting; she pulled out her own knitting to show them and literally fifteen women immediately mobbed her. They all wanted to touch her work, see how she knit, and what tools she used. The were fascinated by the patterns and cableing she was doing, having never seen such things knitted before. Even though we couldn't talk to most of them, with such a physcial activity it is easy to connect with others. Truly a you-can't-buy-this sort of an experience.
Guilin was really a lovely city that I expect will be mobbed with Western tourists in the next few years. There was even an article about it in the New York Times a few weeks ago. However, it was time to move on and we hopped on a train the next morning for Kunming, Yunnan.
The city of Guilin has a name that translates to Osmanthus Forest. Apparently in the Autumn, the whole city is redolent of the flower. We had no such luck, but we did have the local osmanthus tea, which was wonderful, especially when we were exhausted on a rainy afternoon.
Until we left Guanxi Province, we had yet to ever see the Chinese sun. We had come to Guilin for it's famous scenery, but couldn't actually see it when we arrived. So we walked around the river walk, climbed a mountain inside a palace (a rather impressively verticle rock) and had tea. The food around there is good at least.
The next day however, we figured that we'd make a go of doing the big tourist draw and took the cruise down the Li River amount the limestone cliffs and peaks. The rain and fog managed to lift enough to see the peaks and we had a lovely time. Unfortunately, until I can upload some pictures, words don't do it justice. I did however have some rather sweet osmanthus wine on the cruise.
The end of the cruise is the tourist village of Yangshou, we didn't have much time there and it wasn't really our scene. Yet, and the end of a lane, Tara saw some women knitting; she pulled out her own knitting to show them and literally fifteen women immediately mobbed her. They all wanted to touch her work, see how she knit, and what tools she used. The were fascinated by the patterns and cableing she was doing, having never seen such things knitted before. Even though we couldn't talk to most of them, with such a physcial activity it is easy to connect with others. Truly a you-can't-buy-this sort of an experience.
Guilin was really a lovely city that I expect will be mobbed with Western tourists in the next few years. There was even an article about it in the New York Times a few weeks ago. However, it was time to move on and we hopped on a train the next morning for Kunming, Yunnan.
3 Comments:
In Kunming make sure you hit Cuihu Park. We went in the morning on a weekend (don't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday) and it was full of people playing arhus and otherwise enjoying the day. Very pleasant. -Jim
Ah, how knitting brings the world together! Can't wait to hear more when you return.
Love,
Robin
A hobby that bridges any gap, for sure. Curious as to what the women in the village were knitting themselves.
These posts are really evocative of your experiences...thanks for keeping the blog.
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