I’ve never liked coffee. I dislike the taste, smell, and all things related to coffee. Tea, is a whole different story. I could drink tea all day, every day. My favorite being chai tea, but I usually won’t turn down a nice hot cup. Sadly, in Taiwan, even in the Starbucks located in Taipei, there is no chai tea of any sort sold. Quite a departure from back in the states where at least every coffee store also offers a myriad of different teas, chai included. As a result of this sad, sad fact of Taiwan tea I have had to branch out to try new kinds of tea.
There are many locations in Taiwan that are known for their tea. There is Alishan, a mountain on the west coast which is lined with tea plantations and already on my list of places to visit come second semester. Taipei also has one such tea location, Maokong Mountain – also known as 貓空山, which stands above the city. The mountain is littered with family tea farms, but that’s not even the best part! One of the ways to get up the mountain is to take the Maokong gondola up the side of the mountain. The gondolas carry you up the mountains and through the valleys, stopping on multiple peaks for different attractions like the zoo and temples. I have been looking at going to this mountain for quite some time, but always thought it would take too long.
Maokong, 貓空, is named for the cats on the mountain which is shown in the amount of cat based sculptures, signs, and desserts
In reality, it wasn’t as bad as I thought to travel to the base of the mountain to the gondolas. In order to get there, you first have to take the brown line train to the end of the line and then you can take the gondola ride which takes around another 20-30 minutes. In all I would say the entire trip to the mountain top was around an hour and a half. Not a bad trip when you do it with a friend. That’s where Crystal comes in. I feel bad saying this, but I am glad she needed to go to wedding boutiques for her sister in Taipei. It meant that when she wasn’t pulling invitation card examples for her sister, she was open to joining me on the adventures I had planned as solo trips. There was Taichung and now Maokong.
Being midway through the week, there wasn’t many people crowding the MRT trains. We had seats all the way to the end of the line which is usually unheard of, allowing us to chat and relax the entire way. Even looking out the window of the train I saw places and temples that I wanted to visit. I think in that short MRT ride I created 7 different markers and saved places on my google maps for future visits. That’s beside the point.
When we got to the base on the mountain we had a decision to make. Do we get the regular gondola or the crystal gondola? I hadn’t fully understood the difference. The online description made it sound like the crystal gondola was all glass: floor, ceiling, and even the seats. There was no signs for any price difference and waiting to make a decision all the gondolas that seemed to pass through the gondola station in a ski mountain sort of way all looked like regular gondolas. Only in discussing which kind of gondola to take did I find that Crystal is actually a little afraid of heights. So not only did she agree to come with me on the gondola that travels quite far above the ground, but she even took the time to discuss with me crystal vs. regular. As much as I wanted to go all in and get the crystal gondola option it didn’t seem worth it this trip. Crystal already disliked heights and the line was too long for the Crystal gondola. We made our choice and were first in line for the regular gondolas. The Crystal gondola ride seemed to stretch for ages with mostly older western tourists waiting.
We made a good choice going for the regular gondola. It shook quite often causing Crystal to sometimes jump and there was less of a demand for them so we got the gondola all for ourselves. After reading the list of rules posted in the gondola asking that we don’t stand, to distribute weight, and to not throw anything out of the gondola we did what all millennials would do, have a our cameras/phones out taking pictures while going up the mountain. * most of the pictures didn't make it with how dirty two of the windows were in terms of clear pics of the landscapes - maybe that's why people were paying for the crystal option- to get cleaner windows?
After waiting through 3 stops along the way, we finally made it to the Maokong station. Departing the gondola we were greeted with the crowds and noise of a small night market. There were stands of milk tea, different meats of sticks, and desserts. I think most of these food stands were used to catching tourists from the gondolas because I don’t know anyone who would travel to a mountain known for tea and then buy a milk tea at a street stand instead of a tea house. We didn’t buy their milk tea, holding out for a real place, but Crystal did buy chicken on a stick. I swear you put anything on a stick it not only tastes better, but more people will eat it.
I hadn’t really made a plan after we were to get off the gondola. I had just assumed there would be a ton of tea plantations to take pictures of and we could just walk and choose whichever tea house we wanted to sit at that looked cute. We chose a direction and just started walking. The view was gorgeous. To walk to any of the tea houses you had to walk single file on the side of the road looking down at all of Taipei beneath you. We past cute little tea shops, but with closer inspection most of the tea places were selling the same brand and canisters of tea. I hoped for a more “authentic” experience so we kept walking. Walking past most of the other tea houses in the more touristy area. The more we walked, the less people we saw. It was peaceful and fun to just walk and take pictures without a schedule that needed to be followed.
We didn’t pass as many tea plantations as I thought we would and I can only assume they were farther up the mountain, maybe even unreachable by walking the main road as I saw many small mountain paths an experienced driver could take a scooter or a truck could run over the terrain. Whatever it may be, I didn’t see the image of tea plantations everywhere like I had thought I would. The tea house we chose made up for that fact.
We found tea plantation that was a mix between Japanese and Chinese architecture, hidden away from the main areas. This tea house was marketed more as a tea shop for locals than tourists. If it’s good enough for locals it’s good enough for me. We sat down at a table outside overlooking a small garden of wild flowers and the valley below. Being in Taipei, the menu was clearly translated into English along with the Chinese names of each tea and food offering. The food was definitely not traditional. It listed many fried foods and the occasional rice dish. I was relieved that I wasn’t hungry. The list of teas was what drew me to the tea house. That had teas from across the island using descriptions that I typically would associate with wine and not tea. You know the person that will swirl their wine glass, sniff it, take the smallest sip, and then proclaim that they tasted a faint woodsy taste along with the essence of peaches. I always look away from these people as lying through their teeth because to me all wine tastes like bad vinegar. Anyways back to the teas, there were fruity teas (like lemon and peach), teas tasting of flowers (Roselle flowers and lavender teas), but my favorite were the last teas on the list. They weren’t marketed as flowers or fruity, but more like a description of a wine list. One had an earthy taste while another boasted of a dark aroma. After thoroughly combing through my options, I decided upon the Tieguanyin tea, 鐵觀音茶which is a oolong tea with a nutty flavor. Never have I ever heard of a nutty flavored tea before.
Crystal and I both ordered one cup of the nutty tea. Originally, I had wanted to partake in a traditional tea ceremony, but even though the tea house we were at was known for being for locals rather than tourists, the tea ceremony option seemed to be marketed only to tourists. The price was outrageous. If I remember it correctly one cup of tea was 200$ NTD (6.70$ USD) while if you wanted to partake in the tea ceremony it was more than double that amount with an extra charge of 100$ NTD just for boiled water. Looking at the price in USD doesn’t make it sound that expensive, but in how much the tea ceremony costs in a well-known and visited tea house in Taipei I knew this was an overpriced item.
The rest of the afternoon was relaxing. The few other tourists filtered out quite fast and we were left with the locals having conversations amongst different tables, all seemingly knowing each other. Crystal sipped her tea across from me and threw herself into the Chinese textbook she lugged up the mountain allowing me to take pictures of her while she was reading. I then spent the next few hours reading a memoir called “Educated”, a book I found with Crystal as we tried to find a bookshop that had any books in English or studying Chinese textbooks.
If you haven’t heard of “Educated” or read it yet I implore you to go out and find it. Sitting on the mountain last week reading this book and thinking about returning to school I realized how much teachers impact their student’s trajectory. The memoir follows the tale of a young Mormon girl who grew up outside the school system and in a precarious and unsafe environment as a result of her father’s paranoia of the government. Despite all odds, the young woman was able to find her path and with the help of college professors get her PhD. By far one of the most upsetting and eye-opening books I have read regarding the US education system.
The setting sun signaled our time to leave as well as the cold that set in on the mountain causing me to shiver slightly. The gondola ride was even more beautiful in the colorful light. The sun was bright pink and I scrambled to get my camera out in time to get a picture. Sadly, the picture didn’t come out, but the image is still in my head, almost out of a fantasy book.
Like many of my adventures in Taiwan, I already want to visit again. I understand why this small island has so many ex-pats because it truly is beautiful. I have just now started school. In the days between the trip to Maokong and the start of school I tried to get out as often as I could using cafes and parks as my base. Even in rainy weather I attended a magic show outside and went to the movie theater for the first time. * It is proven that movie theaters here have really good popcorn as well as kettle corn as options at concessions*. I have gotten used to the options I am surrounded with in Taipei and already knew I was in for another shock when I came back home to Guanshan. The ability to have time to myself, to read and relax outside, has rejuvenated me. I needed that before returning to school. Nevertheless, the long break has made it harder for me to get back in the swing of things.
Before leaving I had an organized schedule set to the minute, and now I am failing to remember all the minute details I had developed in how best to plan and move forward. The students are the same and have been louder than ever. I was happy that instead of the quizzes that were originally planned for class, Irene (my LET) agreed to have an activity asking them to draw their favorite activity over break and describe it to the class. This way the kids didn’t have to get their heads stuck in their new textbooks and I got to learn about their time away. I was surprised when multiple people mentioned having seen me around town. For one, I was barely home (less than a week over the month-long break) and on the other hand, they must’ve thought it was cool to see my outside school because they seemed really excited to tell everyone.
The excitement the kids feel towards me is something that encourages me that this semester will be a success. I am optimistic for what is to come and nervous for how fast the time will pass. Soon I won’t be able to plan any more trips around the island and I hope when that time comes I have achieved all that I want to here.
Wish me luck on this last semester!
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