Maokong is the name of the tea growing area south of Taipei proper. You just take the MRT to the southern end (Taipei Zoo stop) and hop a gondola out there. The ride itself is great, taking you through some parts of Taipei that have not yet been hit by Taiwan's rapid economic growth. The gondola's themselves are great as the gondola's (some of them) have see through bottoms. We took in panoramic views of Taipei and rode our way to the top of the mountain and were greeted with jungles and tea fields.
We walked around for a bit before deciding on a tea shop recommended by Lonely Planet. Very rustic but with great tea. How it works is you buy some tea leaves that are grown there, make tea with a few of them and drink it for hours. Hanging out up in the mountains and drinking tea was a great way to start day ywo, given how much we did on day one. The place itself was run by a Chinese family and I think I spotted four generations there.
We then decided to walk down one gondola stop to a Daoist temple. The sign had it pegged at 3k's but that must have been as a direct line because we ended up walking almost 8k before getting there, feeling very sweaty. The temple itself was a bit kitschy, sort of Chucky-cheese does Daoism, but there was a very nice Chinese family there, the daughter being bilingual and only slightly younger than us, was eager to tell us about the temple and where to visit in Maokong. Her parents seemed very nice but had virtually no English.
By the time we got down it was almost 6 so we headed back to the hotel to shower and change and then went to Xinmending, the downtown core where young Chinese go to show off their clothes and cars. We found a small patio that served beer and dumplings and sat back to enjoy the scenery and watch Taipei walk past us for a change. We also explored the area a bit but being that we were two backpackers on a budget a place advertised as "Taipei's Ginza" was a bit out of our price (and fashion) range. Still, it was neat to see. I was also surprised at the lack of pubs/bars in the area. Unlike Korea, where you must work hard to escape all the drinking establishment and drunken Koreans, the Taiwanese seem to be very moderate drinkers and pubs seem to be rather scarce. On that same note I loved the lack of smoking. No smoking in Taiwan means no smoking. In Korea you often see a group of men lighting up, often in a restaurant and under a no smoking sign. This does not happen in Taiwan, which I loved.
Anyway, by this time it was midnight and we had an early start the next day so we decided to make our way back to the hotel, grabbing a 7-11 brand beer along the way (though it was surprisingly good :P), watch another really bad Hong Kong film and sleep.
me enjoying some homebrewed Chinese green tea
7-11 beer :)
looking down on the gondola
Maokong means no cats, so there are dogs like this everywhere up there.
tea fields through the mist
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