Another day in a series of fun-filled adventures. Today, we were off to Maokong(貓空, mao1kong1), a district in …. famous for its tea. It’s a popular tourist spot, regarded as one of the best scenic spots to enjoy tea, or 喝茶(he1cha2). There are many intertwining footpaths you can hike which were used as tea harvesting routes.
After a train ride, cab, and walk, we made it to the tea shop. There, we split into two groups: one to stay and hear about the history of the region and drink tea and one to go for a walk. I chose the latter.
However, what I thought would be a stroll around town turned into a forty minute hike up a mountain. Nobody knew what we were in store for. We were unable to make it all the way up, because a classmate who suffered from asthma could not go on. When we made it back down, we went back to the teashop to hear some history.
In 1770, there were to brothers, or 兄弟(xiong1di4), whose last name was 張(zhang1). They were from the Anxi region of Fujian, famous for its 鐵觀音(tie3guan1yin1), a variety of Oolong tea. They were hired by the British to come to Taiwan and see if the region could be used to grow tea(種茶, zhong4cha2). So, if when walking around the area you find a sign with the last name 張, you know the owner is the Zhang Brothers kid’s kid’s kid.
After the tea shop, we walked over to the gondola station, where we rode a gondola, 氣球吊籃(qi4qiu2diao4lan2), back to the train station. The view was really nice, although the supposed crystal floor car we rode was a bit hard to see through.
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