July 13, 2012, by Anastassiya Chshegreneva
Serendipity and a cup of tea…
Hello people! A few days ago I was wondering what might possibly surprise us, people from the 21st century? We have already seen everything possible, and even beyond that.
Well,at the weekend I decided to find out something special, in order to try something different from the usual Lao WaiTan haunts. My first stop was a small Chinese shop. There was something attractive about this shop…of course: the smell of sandalwood incense coming from there. It was very cosy inside, and it smelled of tea, wood, and different incenses. I took a look at the goodies, they were amazing: wooden bracelets,carved figures, boxes and chests, but the most of all I liked the turtles with huge shells. Honestly, they looked real 🙂 I enjoyed a lovely cup of long jing tea with the shopkeeper, who was very friendly and warm, and also gave me some Pu-er tea for FREE!
Whoa, I was sincerely happy. I noticed that Chinese people tend to be very warm and hospitable towards foreigners who are interested in their culture, and despite the fact they may not be able to communicate in English they are willing to express the warmth through little gestures like these. Before leaving the shop I bought some sandalwood incense which will always remind me of this serendipitous afternoon.
Sia.
Free tea sounds wonderful 🙂
I’ll take the giant turtle for my flat!