大茶树 Big Tea Trees!

As usual, we had plans to go one direction but found ourselves riding another, to keep things interesting. This time it was in search of the 大茶树 (big tea trees) a really old tea field on top of a mountain. Tree teas you say? Yes, as tea bushes undergo years and years of pruning they eventually become stunted, thick, and gnarly like bonsai trees. The oldest one amongst the ones we went to see was apparently more than 700 years old. The reason these trees aren\'t just cut up and replanted with new bushes is that they produce leaves much bigger than your average regular tea bush and have a different flavor. These big leaves are an important part is the mixture of tea that eventually becomes pu\'er tea（普洱).

A field on our way back into Jinghong

From far away we thought they were herding lemmings or piglets but it turned out to be ducks.

Morning market in Menghai.

On our way to Menghai we had the option of taking the old road or new road and took the old one. Zero traffic on a windy road that cut through little villages and valleys the whole way. On the way back we took the fast new road so we could see the old tea trees. It was much faster but you definitely don't see as much.

Next update from Kunming! Hopefully.