Taking Tea in Taipei

I'm still in sunny Spain, but today I was on deadline for a travel piece on Taipei. We had a 48 hour stop over there on our RTW trip last year.

This is little set used in the traditional Tea Ceremony and I've just photographed it to go with my piece.

Just a short distance out of the metropolis of Taipei, in the rolling hills that surround the city are small, unassuming tea houses where one can enjoy local green tea. We happened to find one where the owner was a dwarf, which just added to the unusual experience! It was actually fantastic; so good to be in an unfamiliar environment where you can't rely on the English to get you through.

The dwarf gave me his tea set which I thought was a very kind gesture - they don't have many tourists so they are not a cynical bunch of people yet :-)