This book was passed along to me recently by a friend who is the ultimate traveler. This is a must read for anyone who loves traveling or a travel enthusiast. Also a good read for people traveling for the first time. The book touches on the different customs, traditions, do's and don'ts of other cultures and obviously why you shouldn't be Dutch in Beijing. Many interesting facts such as this one:
'The origin of tea as a drink are the subject of unreliable myth. But ch'a was certainly popular in China many centuries before it was even heard of in the West, established a the national drink under the Tang dynasty (618-906 CE), Tea was first drunk in Europe by the Dutch, in the early seventeenth century - then a costly drink for the well-to-do. The popularity of tea in the UK owes a lot to Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese queen - consort of Charles II. When she arrived in England in 1662, tea was so unknown that when she asked for a cup of it, they had to bring her a glass of beer instead. But, led by her example, tea soon became popular at court and was then adopted as a smart drink by the aristocracy: high-priced and heavily taxed.'
Who knew?
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