One Day Nannuo Mountain Tea Culture Tour in XishuangBanna

Route: Gaozhuang（告庄）-Nannuo Mountain（南糯山）-Banpo Laozhai（半坡老寨）- Preliminary production factory of Dou tea industry in Nannuo Mountain （南糯山初制所）-The King of Tea plant（南糯山茶树王）-Gaozhuang（告庄）

Self-driving is the best choice from Gaozhuang to Nannuo mountain, it takes about 30 minutes. After that we will start hiking from Nannuo mountain to the king of tea plant which has 800-year-old history, then we go back to Gaozhuang,the round-trip journey takes 4 hours(or 2 hours if you walk fast).before starting off,you should get full preparation, for example,sun block cream, insect repellent, band-aids,mountaineering shoes, mountaineering wear,mountaineering bag,drinking water are necessary while mountaineering,for more information, you can ask the shop manager of Gaozhuang experience shop for help. There is no restaurant in the mountains.so we have to go back down the Nannuo mountain for lunch. We choose a Hani -flavor restaurant which has a beautiful name -Mingyan Aini restaurant(茗彥僾尼农庄).we order a lot of local dishes such as fried eggs with choucai（臭菜煎蛋），braised fish in brown sauce，picaigen fried meat（丕菜根炒肉），barbecue, fried river fish,onions fried meat,fired lettuce,fried potatoes,hamstrings,braised pork in brown sauce,red rice, guamiao soup,and all kinds of vegetables in season such as agaric and baihua（白花）. The special recommendation is bamboo-tube-cooked chicken soup,which is cooked in bamboo tube. It was cooked in a special way, as there was no tableware before when Aini people worked in the mountains so that they had to cook with bamboo tube. They put ingredients into the bamboo tube and then plugged banana leaf in the bamboo tube, then put it on the fire at a 45-degree angle.

Tea culture tour is a opening platform for tea aficionados, from which every tea aficionado has the opportunity to experience the different taste between different tea-producing region, at the same time they can appreciate natural environment and local customs. For tourists, there is no place better to visit the time- honored brand in Yiwu（易武镇）to experience the leisure of the famous historical city from the Ancient Tea Horse Road. You can get to know the source of the tea and how to produce a good tea by visiting the preliminary production factory of Dou tea industry. During the trip tourists also can slip tea ,sharing tea story with each other in Dou experience pavilion.

Relying on the closest distance,Nannuo mountain is the first stop of our journey.
Nannuo is the nearest tea mountain from Jinghong（景洪） with convenient transportation as the scenic road from Jinghong（景洪）to Menghai（勐海）cross the foot of Nannuo mountain, we need only 30 minutes by car.
In Dai language, Nannuo means a place that produces bamboo shoots sauce（笋酱）. In Qing dynasty , the delicious bamboo shoots sauce was sent to royal household every year as one of the tribute by Hani people, after that Nannuo mountain gained its reputation.
The old tea gardens of Nannuo mountain are well preserved without excessive development and human interference. It has the most original environment thus no cars can drive into the mountain because the rood is too narrow except for walking or riding a motorcycle.

Warm-up: Slipping tea with the handsome superintendent of Banpo Laozhai（半坡老寨）.
Drink some tea before mountaineering. Driving the car from the bottom of the mountain,after 10-minute bumpy drive on dirt road we arrive at Banpo Laozhai（半坡老寨）. In the distance, we could see the striking totem outside the gate that stands for the belief of Hani people.Banpo Laozhai is the settlement of Nannuo aborigines who are mainly Hani nationality. The preliminary production factory of Dou tea industry is also located in Banpo Laozhai,among the village household. A handsome young Hani superintendent received us, he is the son of old superintendent. As far as he was concerned, his family lived here for generations, their home is next to the preliminary production factory. They cooperated with the factory for many years because the old superintendent held the same concept as Dou tea industry did as well as his excellent skill of producing tea and good personality. The preliminary production of Dou PuEr tea was completed here.。

The best tea are produced in deep mountains.Dou tea industry always build its preliminary production factory in the mountain because it is convenient for farmer to process the fresh tea immediately so that the source of the tea can be completely controlled.
While slipping tea on the second floor of the factory, we are shocked by the amazing scenery. This is one of the best position where we could see the scenery all. We suddenly realize how diligent they are when they choose the position of the factory.
A gust of the wind blew, the wind chime made a joyful sound, the whole Nannuo mountain is within view, it makes people believe the mountain is a wonderland if it happens o be rainy and foggy.
This is the most optimal place for working as the air is mixed with fresh flavor of forestry ,smelling the fragrance when frying the tea, feeling the sound of birds,the whole factory is surrounded by the green mountain scenery.

You will find the Nannuo mountain completely belongs to plants and insects when hiking.The old tea plants have been on the two sides of the dirt road for centuries and you have the chance to get close encounter with them.

In Yunnan province, the tea plant is one of the species among the mixed flora that distributing in rainforest, mushrooms ,orchids and dandelions are growing everywhere. What makes things more exaggerated is the huge fern, it is so large that only two people can fold it. You can’t even imagine the plants what absolute our respect have been growing there for more than 200 million years.

The sound of birds and insects feels like we are in the romantic and fantastic magic forest of magic world when we walking on the road covered with colorful leaves,soft and rustling. we can only feel the beauty in heart, the camera can’t take the beauty of it.
Nannuo mountain is the heaven of hiking because its gentle slope, not as dangerous and steep as other place.we can’t stop appreciating the beautiful scenery when walking along.

The best water makes the best tea. We come across the spring water twice. Local people divert the water with a long bamboo tube so that passers-by can reach it. They can wash their hands when walking by, and some unconstrained men will take a shower directly under water. However, we drink the water up and fill up the containers with spring water to make tea when we go back home.

Encounter: women show their athletic ability when picking tea
We come across a group of women picking tea
Some women are on their way home while others are picking tea,they climb up the trees in a very quick way. Some women even cooking in a wooden shack they built, laughing and chatting with their food that served by banana leaves.

The legendary king of the tea plants finally show up after we taking short cuts with the superintendent .it is surrounded by fence so people can’t touch it but appreciate it outside the fence in a awestruck way. I am quiet agree with the protecting methods they made, it can protect the king of the tea plants from the unintentional destruction of human,like touching or close-up shot. The old tea plants and ecological rainforest are worth protecting and cherishing. Reminding of the fragrance of Nannuo PuEr tea,the strong feeling of the time rises in my mind when I sitting besides the king of the tea plants, which stretching its 800-year-old branches into the sky.

“I will book the whole tree next year because I missed it this year!” someone behind us says as his friend, we smile at each other and then the calm returns.