Weekend Trip to Fujian Province: The Birthplace of Oolong Tea

Good evening.
It's the start of winter, and with the change of seasons, I've been feeling a bit under the weather and down in the dumps.
Anyway, I went on a trip to a region in Fujian Province called Wuyishan last weekend, so I'm going to write a report about it.

https://www.his-j.com/theme/world-heritage/asia/china/wuyi/

There was an introductory article by HIS, so please refer to this if you are interested. After climbing Mount Huangshan in May, I got the urge to go hiking again, so I decided to climb Wuyishan, which ChatGPT recommended for viewing the autumn leaves.
By the way, this place is a World Heritage site.
Even though I say 'climb,' it's only about a 3-hour hike, so it's a nice, casual level of fatigue.

I went with a friend this time as well, and since we did it as an individual trip, I'll leave this here in case anyone finds it useful.

We took a high-speed train from Shanghai, which took about 4 hours and 30 minutes.
By the way, perhaps because it's the autumn travel season, tickets sold out immediately, so we had a super tight schedule with a full 24-hour stay, arriving at 11:40 AM on Saturday and departing at 11:00 AM on Sunday.
As an aside, it seems that in China recently, especially among young people, the countryside and nature are becoming more popular as travel destinations than city centers.

On the way there, we arrived at Nanping City Station.
Since there was a train running from there, we took it for about 40 minutes and arrived at Wuyishan South Entrance.

We ate the familiar beef noodles at the entrance of the scenic area to fill our stomachs before setting off.
I had purchased entrance tickets in advance via a WeChat mini-program, but it looked like you could easily buy them on the day as well.
Immediately after passing the entrance to the scenic area, there was a tourist bus stop, so we took a bus to the entrance of Tianyou Peak. From there, we walked for about 2 hours to the summit.
The scenery changed a lot, with rivers, trees, mountains, and tea plantations, and when we got tired, we could take a break by eating Da Hong Pao (a brand of tea from Fujian Province) soft-serve ice cream, so it was fun and felt very much like a leisure trip.

By the way, Wuyishan is in Fujian Province, and the tea leaves for Suntory Oolong Tea are from this province. In a sense, it's a pilgrimage to the holy land of Oolong tea.
Six months ago, before coming to China, 'drinking Oolong tea in Fujian Province' was on my bucket list, so I was happy to be able to fulfill it.

Actually, I've already achieved everything on that bucket list, so it really makes me feel the power of words, or rather, that speaking things out loud becomes a catalyst for my own actions.

This place also seems to be a holy site for Neo-Confucianism, and there are many schoolhouses and temples in the mountains.
It had a 'Castle in the Sky' vibe, which was exciting.
We followed this itinerary:
Day 1: Tianyou Peak → Yixiantian → Sunset → Dinner → Impression Da Hong Pao (show) → Night Market
Day 2: Nine-Bend Stream Rafting → Wuyi Palace → Song Dynasty Street → Return home (arrived in Shanghai at 4:00 PM)
Honestly, I was very satisfied with this itinerary! If I do say so myself, I'm so good at making itineraries that I should change jobs to a travel agency.
With this itinerary, you can still hang out in Shanghai on the evening of the second day, and even if you come to China from Japan for a 3-night, 4-day trip, you can enjoy it. (Shanghai is mostly shopping, so if you want to see deep China, I recommend taking the high-speed train to other cities.)
We skipped quite a lot of the mountains, so if you're someone who wants to hike more, there are endless sights to walk to.

Yixiantian is a tourist spot where you walk between narrow walls (very roughly speaking), but there was a moment where I blocked the path for about 5 minutes because I didn't want to get my newly bought North Face jacket dirty and wanted to put it away. Perhaps because I had been chatting with the lady behind me about how 'your nails are cute,' when I spoke in Shanghai dialect with definitely wrong pinyin, saying something like 'Bu hao yi si, deng deng gei wo yi dian er,' she said 'Mei xi, mei xi' and shouted to the people behind us, 'Wait for her~~ no need to rush~~,' which was so reassuring.
I always think it's so warm how Chinese people, if you can speak a little Chinese or are smiling and engaging, will become your allies and help you even if you're a stranger.
Also, fat people really can't pass through here, so they should write 'NO FAT PEOPLE ALLOWED!!!' in bigger letters. It was so narrow that even I barely made it through halfway.

We had time before dinner, so I wanted to go to Wuyi Palace, but we walked in the opposite direction and spent an hour just walking along mountain paths.
Moreover, the sunset along the open river on the way was very beautiful, and I was happy thinking I'd found a hidden gem, when a suspicious man in all purple who looked a bit like Lou Da-chai and a cool lady took photos of us for free with a DSLR, lol.
The posing instructions from the purple man were so mysterious that my friend and I were shooting while saying, 'Is this really right?'
But it was actually good, and it was truly free. Xie xie nin.

For dinner, I wanted to eat local food, so we went into a cafeteria in front of the theater, but even though we ordered, it didn't come for 30 minutes, so we went to urge the staff. And since the food we ordered wouldn't make it in time, we canceled one dish.
While saying 'cancel it,' I asked myself, 'Wow, I've become even more strong-willed.' You have to assert yourself or you'll lose! I've started living with a strong spirit★
The food was stir-fried tofu with tea (it was probably a dish like mapo tofu with tofu soaked in tea, but it was so delicious that I couldn't stop using my chopsticks), stir-fried greens, and white rice.
Stir-fried greens are ultimately simple and the best. That flavor seasoned with garlic and salt is foolproof.
I devoured it in 15 minutes. There was Wuyishan beer, so I tried it. It was rare for a Chinese beer to have a higher alcohol content and a strong hop aroma, giving it a strong beer feel. There was also tea beer, but I forgot to buy it to take home... (´;ω;｀)

And the highlight, the Impression Da Hong Pao (play)!
Honestly, I only went because everyone on RED recommended it, but it was actually so good that I highly recommend it.
If you do dance or theater, or just enjoy it, I think you'll find it very entertaining.
The theater is outdoors, under the starry sky, and the audience sits on a rotating platform in the middle.
A regular seat (random) costs about 4,000 yen.
It starts with a narration by an old man, and as the seats rotate 360 degrees, dancers perform and projection mapping is displayed in front of mountains, rivers, and old houses.
The plot is likely about the process of picking tea and the joy of the people after the tea is finished. Along the way, the cast actually brings tea to the audience, and those in the seats on the edge can drink it.
It's amazing that they created a play based on Wuyishan's specialty tea, and the sheer number of cast members is overwhelming.
The interactive elements with the audience are also great.
And above all, the extraordinary feeling of being outdoors! It would be tough if it rained, but since it was clear, the air was clean and I could see the stars, so I was very satisfied!
It was about 90 minutes, but it flew by, and I really want everyone to see it.

After that, I went to the night market about a 10-minute walk away.
You can buy lots of souvenirs, and there are food stalls where you can enjoy local food.
There was an old man hand-rolling cigarettes, so I decided to buy some as a souvenir for my Chinese colleague (25 years old) who I recently became friends with and who is a heavy smoker.
That kid spends his whole time talking about love or taking smoke breaks while we're preparing for board meetings, but he's probably actually super talented.
And, he only speaks Chinese, but because of that, it's been a huge help for my Chinese conversation practice, so it's a thank you for that.

Took a taxi to the hotel.
There were about three types of tea rooms in the hotel, so after taking a bath, I tried making some tea! I'm not sure if I did it right since it was my own way, but it was still very delicious.
The hotel is clean, has tea rooms, is cheap, and is right in front of the raft boarding area, so it was a total win.

On the second day, I woke up at 7 AM and boarded a raft. It was more authentic than I imagined, water gets in, and it's basically rafting. Super fun.
The person rowing the raft asked me, 'Do you understand Pudong dialect (Shanghainese)?' and I replied, 'A little...'
As expected, once you get to Fujian Province, English isn't spoken, so it might be difficult to travel individually if you don't know at least basic daily Chinese.
If you have top-tier communication skills, you have nothing to worry about.

After riding the raft for about 2 hours, I saw Wuyi Palace, drank a Da Hong Pao latte (oolong tea latte), and took a taxi to Wuyishan North Station.
It was effectively only a one-day weekend trip, but I was super satisfied! There weren't too many people, and the balance between nature, history, and tourist spots was just right.
If I could have stayed longer, I would have liked some time to just zone out in the tea fields.
Honestly, it's one of my favorite places, so if you love oolong tea, I highly recommend a pilgrimage to this sacred site.

This weekend, I'm traveling to Xi'an with the lady I went to Inner Mongolia with!
We're going to see the Terracotta Warriors! Next is a pilgrimage to the sacred site of Kingdom (though I haven't read/watched Kingdom yet).