Special to Somewhere Tours
SWTSp01 Spring 2010 14 Days
Spring Tea and Antiques: Asia
SWTSp01/ A Human Cultural Treasure Tour
The “Spring Tea and Antiques Tour”
1. The Lotus Lantern Festival, 2. The World Ceramic Exposition galleries, 3. The Mungyeong Tea Bowl Festival and 4. Visit Gangjin home of “First Under Heaven” celadon during one of their millennium years. 5. Visit tea ware masters and tea plantations. 6. Antique Markets in Seoul. 7. Antique Markets in Seoul, Hong Kong and China 8. YiXing Teapot artists. In addition you will visit the studios and homes of living human cultural treasures and other outstanding artists in several fields of art and view some of Korea’s most important places of interest. Immerse yourself in Korea, Hong Kong and China
A Morning Earth Site
You are not dreaming. It is true. This amazing two week tour can actually do all of this. Imagine visiting the WOCEF galleries that include examples of the most interesting ceramics in the world and then visiting personally with human cultural treasure artists from several disciplines. Imagine witnessing the spectacular Lotus Lantern Festival and the Mungyeong Teabowl Festival. That doesn’t begin to bring us to the heart of this tour - tea and antiques.
In late April the first tiny buds are hand picked for Korea’s superb green tea. Very little of this tea is exported as Koreans consume it themselves. In Bosong, Korea you will visit the tea plantations and possibly watch the amazing yet time consuming hand process for preparing green tea. Near Bosong is Gangjin home of “the finest celadon under heaven”. Gangjin lives up to that 1000 year old reputation today.
Tea is important in Korea and so is tea ware - the tea bowls, teapots, tea cups, and other ware important to Korea’s various tea ceremonies or for just serving tea. That is why the 1000 year old village of Mungyeong holds their international teabowl festival in late April or early May. That festival brings together ceramic tea ware artists from nearly thirty countries each vying for a teabowl connoisseur to purchase their work. The history of this village is amazing.
So are the amazing antique bargains you can find on the streets of Seoul, Korea and Hong Kong China. You will be guided to the out of the way markets as well as the most important haunts of international antique dealers where you may find just the right piece at just the right price. In the evening you will attend a spectacular performance, during the day you will also see the important museums and historical sites of these two amazing countries.
Finally, you will go to Shanghai and YiXing where you will be personally guided by an YiXing artist to personally experience the making of the internationally famous Yi then to Xing teapot.
This is a spectacular tour and since the date of the Lotus Lantern Festival changes each year this tour will never be the same.