I originally introduced this blog to talk of my interesting encounters in China. I’ve slightly staggered away from that path. To venture back on to that path, if only for a brief moment, I’d like to discuss one of my favorite experiences to date.
When one goes to a faraway place, it is custom to return home with interesting things from the journey. This problem plagued me since my arrival in China. I ventured from shop to shop, week to week, unable to locate suitable gifts for my family. Like the United States, China is also full of cheap “Made in China” things and many of these shops didn’t offer anything of a higher quality. Not wishing to purchase such things for my family, I was stuck in a rut. As my mind wandered I thought of several potential gifts but each were quickly dismissed for various reasons. One day while sitting at my desk working it hit me. The answer had been literally under my nose the entire time, Chinese tea.
In my pursuit of interesting places to visit within Shanghai, the Datong Lu Tea Market had continuously popped up. I’d never been but I figured it was finally time for me to make the trek.
Early one Saturday, I located the market on my computer, 598 Datong Lu near Zhongshan Bei Lu, and headed out the door. The oh so frugal shopper that China has made me, I opted for the subway instead of a taxi, believing that Shanghai was now my city and I could easily find the market. I navigated the subway to my destination and then emerged in to a bright and busy market place. The street sign pointed me along the proper heading and off I went.
I counted down the numbers as I walked, still a good five minutes to my destination. At about this moment I had arrived at the Zhongshan Bei Lu intersection. A little surprised that the numbers had dropped so quickly, I took a look around but did not see any signs of the tea market. To my horror, I looked across the road and found that Datong Lu was no where near the number 598 and whoever’s instructions I decided to trust were wrong. Or maybe I was. I gave my friend a call and he verified that the address I had was indeed correct. The first straw of hopelessness was cast upon the camel’s back.
Determined not to let Shanghai conquer me so soon, I trudged on, still a slight hope that my address was correct. This could be possible with the use of the one ambiguous word contained within my directions, “near.” I crisscrossed all the surrounding intersections looking all about for any hope of a tea market. On one street, I found a giant billboard with “Datong Lu Tea Market” with an arrow pointing in “that” direction, wherever that may be I couldn’t understand because I found nothing.
The camel was looking rather exhausted from the weight of the straw but I continued on. Number 598 Datong Lu must be the location. I retraced my steps back to Datong Lu and continued south. With each passing intersection the crowds died down and so too did my hopes of a tea market. The path I was on eventually turned into a tunnel, with 600 on one side. Surely my answer lay upon the other side of the tunnel! I crossed through to the other side, walked up the stairs, and as I stepped upon the last step, the camel’s back broke. I’d arrived at 590 Datong Lu.
