Would You Could You In a Cave?
Would you, could you in a cave?
The best tea drinking experience of the year for me happened in a cave, in Petra, Jordan; and although these kids were cute, and had an excellent sales pitch, we refused to ride an “air-conditioned bedouin ferrari” to get there.
We set off, climbing up winding paths in this mountainous desert terrain for over an hour (850 steps) at the heat of the day (at least 38 C).
At the end of our climb, there was a cave, which was welcome relief from the sun. We sat there, on the floor, resting against cushions for a good hour, drinking hot sweet mint tea and enjoying the glorious scenery, and resting our weary legs. Beside us was a friendly bedouin cat, and several men playing instruments and having a good chat and enjoying their sheesha (water pipe).
This is a better picture of the monastery, taken from a different vantage point. From inside the cave, it’s hard to appreciate the scale of this building that was carved into the rock by the ancient Nabatean people. Petra is a magnificent place. If you go there….be sure to climb up to the Monastery, sit in the cave, and enjoy the most memorable cup of tea you’ll ever drink!
The Monastery, Petra--look at the tiny people!
Would you, could you in a boat?
My most memorable tea making experience:
Captain Hamada and Ali taught “Captain” and I how to make tea during our 4 day felucca journey. We became quite good at it after a bit of practice.
Here are the basic instructions: (taken from my journal written while on the boat)
Step 1: The tea tray (10 inch round cake pan), tea glasses (1/2 cup), sugar bowl, loose tea, and tea spoon come off the shelf.
Step 2: The gas stove is lit (with matches or with flint, as “Captain” showed us)
Step 3: The kettle is filled with Egyptian tap water, from a big container on board.
Step 4: The kettle is boiled, and the glasses are rinsed with boiling water. To do this, cardboard is needed to wrap the handle of the kettle or else you will be burned.
Step 5: Tea is spooned out carefully into the glasses. Captains take 1 spoonfuls, but we only take half (Egyptian spoonfuls are HEAPING spoonfuls).
Step 6: Sugar is added. Captains take 3 spoonfuls, and we started off taking 2, but weaned ourselves to 1.
Step 7: Hot water is added, and stirred.
Step 8: Drink the tea after it cools a bit and everything settles.
Step 9: Carefully lean over the edge of the felucca and hold the glass tightly and dump the tea leaves into the Nile.
Repeat 6 times a day at least.
Tags: best of 2009, travel
