View from the Top

Saturday, we visited Maokong, the largest tea-growing district in Taipei. A twenty-minute MRT (Municipal Rapid Transit) ride takes you to the heart of the area and to the base of a mountain that boasts a gondola ride to the top. The gondola stops half a dozen times on the way to the top, at which any pause you can get off, tour the mountainside villages, temples, and tea houses.

The American in us brushed aside the ‘lesser’ stops along the way and took us as far as the gondola traveled. Once atop, we found a tea house where we sat for almost three hours learning the tea drinking customs and watching the rain fall as we sipped our Oolong tea. Kaytlin love the intersection with nature, still adjusting to city life. Rainy days and lazy afternoons will bring us back to the mountain sooner than later.