March 30, 2013

The Tea Farms

We've done a lot fun things since being in Taipei, but one of my favorites was a visit to the Tea Farms. All you have to do to get to this beautiful place is take the MRT to the Taipei Zoo and from there you can take a gondola ride up the mountains to the Tea Farms.

Of course this is Taiwan so the cost of riding the gondola is only $1.50. And this is for the more expense car with the glass bottom.

The funny part about all this was the line. The line for the cheaper gondola was nearly three flights of stairs. The line for the expensive car was almost nonexistent so they kept ushering us forward and we cruised past everyone. This has happened to us on several other occasions and I'm pretty confident we're missing something. Certainly everyone wasn't waiting in the long line because $1.50 was too expensive?

But does it matter if a Rolex is fake if no one can tell the difference? And does it really matter why you skipped the entire line as long as you didn't have to wait in it?

I want to make note that the below photo is not downtown Taipei, but actually the outskirts. The center of the city is just beyond the horizon, where the skyline becomes hazy.


We stopped for a bite to eat before exploring the trails. It was here that I ate the most disgusting pizza of my life. Two words; Kraft singles.

Afterwards we went in search of a tea house. We were, after all, at the tea farms. We walked along the road for awhile and, after turning left at the shack housing an obscene amount of trash, came across a long staircase. It was only a few steps before we knew we'd found a gem.





The set up was lovely and so was the view. (We did of course need a tutorial.)



"Rabbit face" is a phenomenon that began soon after my braces came off in 2007.

Our friends Cory and Jamie met us at the tea house and agreed we had found ourselves an awesome spot to enjoy Chinese tea. Afterwards the four of us spent the remainder of the day exploring the trails. If you look closely you can spot Taipei 101 in some of the photos. Until 2010, Taipei 101 was the world's tallest skyscraper. (It's also quite close to our Hotel)


A gondola makes its way up the mountain.











 The farmers were completely unphased by the tourism.




We visited a temple while we were there and two gentlemen gave us a crash course on how to pray to Buddha. Of course I was the only one who did it.

So here's how it goes down; You hold two blocks together while you pray to Buddha. When you're done you drop the blocks and depending on how they land determines whether you can continue speaking with him or not. You have three tries and on each try I got the symbol for a smile. He neither denied me nor did he permit me to ask him my question, he simply just smiled at me as if saying "Hello. Welcome to Taiwan." I thought that was cool and perfectly fitting.






Before heading home we had dinner with Jamie and Cory. It's because of this meal that I can now say, "Yes, I have eaten Kung Pao Chicken in Taiwan." Excuse me while I go ahead and check that off my bucket list.


Later we told our friends at the beer shop how much we enjoyed visiting the tea farms. I believe there exact response was "Why? This is so boring!"

I find the Statue of Liberty to be excruciatingly boring so I will let them have this one. Nils and I did not, however, find the Tea Farms boring. On the contrary we spent the whole day enjoying the weather, taking pictures and sipping tea.


The Beer Shop

I find myself referencing the Beer shop a lot to friends and family back home and so I thought I should share some pictures and memories we've made there.

I owe all this to Nils, who bought a bike his first week here and spent his evenings exploring the city and, of course, finding a place to drink quality beers. (What can I say I surround myself with classy people.) Anyway, it was during these early adventures that Nils stumbled across L'apero. Now I'm not a beer drinker, but there is no denying that L'apero is an amazing place to pass the time. I will never forget it or the doors it has opened for us.

L'apero is a little like Cheers, except I'm not clear on how to pronounce everyone's name.

The owner's name is Kevin and he's been in the beer industry for many years. His shop, however, is brand new, and it was during his opening week that Nils visited for the first time. Kevin carries a plethora of Belgian beers, some of which come from obscure breweries in Europe with as few as seven employees. He also has a great selection of sour beers that Nils goes crazy over.

 It's like Nils died and went to Asian heaven.


During our visit here Kevin's shop received positive reviews in the newspaper. Duh.

Cloudy is the young girl who works there. As far as I can tell she's there every day that it's open and always has something good coming from the stereo. Cloudy has great taste in music and although she's shy with her English I can tell she's a cool chick.

Probably the most amazing thing that happened at L'apero was Pai, the man sitting across the table from us on one of our visits.


Pai- "Where are you from?"

Me- "We live in Kansas City."

Pai- "I lived in Peoria, Illinois."

Me- "Really? Nils is from Peoria. So, you lived there?" 
(I thought maybe his English was off so I asked him again just to clarify.)

Pai- "Yes I went to Bradley University."

Jaw drops on floor.

Whoa! Talk about six degrees of separation. Here is a man from Taiwan sitting with us at a beer shop in Taipei who went to the same college as Nils. Pai graduated in 1990. He showed us the student ID he still had tucked away in his wallet and went on to reminisce about Peoria's street names and his old apartment, where they put in the new Walgreens and all the professors he had during his time there.


Me- "I can't believe you still have your ID."

Pai- "All my life I look for someone from Peoria Illinois and I never find it."

Don't you love stories like this? Pai has a fondness for America. He has driven his car from Illinois to Seattle and then along the entire West Coast and across Texas. He knows almost all the capital cities and has been to Yellowstone.. wait for it.. seven times!

Pai also loves Scotch Whiskey, the outlet stores and TGI Fridays, where he claims to eat three times a week. No doubt Pai is a character. The stuff that comes out of his mouth is priceless. When he's had a few drinks Pai will often hold up his glass and sing "let's go Yankees". Don't worry I asked him to change that to the Phillies.

Ho and Yuki are good friends of Kevin and seem to be there whenever Kevin is. Ho is a world famous photographer. No seriously, he was a documentary photographer in the 90s and later went on to be the head photographer for Taiwan Playboy. Right on, Ho. Right on.

Moving on with introductions I find it necessary to steal a photo from a non-beer shop excursion. Consider it a sneak peak into exciting new adventures yet to be seen here on Stinky Tofu.



Ho is a character and I've been told he's hilarious. He speaks little English so I can only trust that he's as funny as everyone says he is. Based on his mannerisms and overall jolliness I suspect they're right. Ho also taught us "gam bai" which essentially means "chug" if that gives any insight into his personality.

Late one night (after an entire bottle of Scotch Whiskey compliments of Pai) Ho showed me some of his work. His photography is amazing. It's very political and stirs a lot of emotion. He also shared with me a project he's currently exploring. Although the communication is limited with Ho it's clear he is an educated man and a true artist.

I don't know as much about Yuki other than he's friendly, works in construction and gets made fun of by Kevin and Ho for having a Japanese girl's name. It is an interesting thing to be friends with someone you've never had a conversation with. The three of them have been friends for a very long time.


It seemed unfair to keep this place all to ourselves and not share it with some of Nils' coworkers. Matt grew a mustache while he was in Taipei. I'm sure his wife will be pleased.

Fun Fact- Matt has been told several times that he looks like Roger from "101 Dalmatians".

Kevin gave me a Chinese name, which I have been told by many is very traditional. Here's the break down;

American name; Emily Bond
Chinese Phonetic Translation; On Mei Pong (pronounced un may)
Family name first; Pong On Me
Official Chinese Name; Pong On Mei

You can just call me Pong or On Mei from now on. I no longer go by Emily.


We owe so much to these wonderful people who have taken us in and helped to make our time here that much better. They have become good friends.