On our last full day in Taipei, Steve and I decided to take the MRT to the Taipei Zoo station and then walk over to catch the Maokong Gondola which would take us to the mountain where all of the tea plantations were. It was a beautiful sunny day in Taipei, so of course the locals were bundled up in their parkas and hats, while Steve and I had on T-shirts. I really could have been comfortable in shorts, but I didn't know what the weather would be like on the mountain, so I wore jeans. Here is a picture of what the MRT train looks like and in the distance you can see Taipei 101 peeking over the hillside. I swear you can see that building from anywhere in the city!
So this is what one of the gondolas looks like. We sat in one with a young Taiwanese couple. It only cost 50 Taiwanese dollars which is only about $1.50 and it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get to the top of the mountain. It's a quiet, lovely ride - but if you don't like heights - I wouldn't recommend it! I really liked it though.
The gondolas began operation in 2007 and have been a popular tourist attraction ever since. They say that the gondolas have eased up on all of the traffic that used to choke up the narrow mountain roads on weekends as tourists would try to visit the tea plantations.
Here are some scenic views from our gondola:
And another view of Taipei 101:
This picture shows that there are actually 3 stops along the line. You could get off at the southern part of the zoo, then the 2nd stop is at a temple which had some pretty walking trails. If I lived there I would definitely stop and take in those trails, but we were limited on time and energy. Then the last stop was the top of the mountain where the tea plantations were.
It may be a little difficult to see but this sign says "MaoKong". There are statues of cats and cat paws all over the place. So the question is - why? Here is the answer: Maokong literally translates in Chinese as "no cat". One joke for the name of the mountain is that it's called that because there are no cats in the area - I didn't see any. In fact, its name comes from the Taiwanese "niaokang"
which refers to the topography of surrounding mountains, which are scoured and pitted by the runoff from springs. "Niaokang" is a reference to this pitted surface, but it is also a homophone for "cat scratched," which was rendered as "maokong" in Mandarin. (I got all of this from the gondola literature!)
These are some examples of tea fields. You can actually walk through the fields. The people don't mind at all.
This old man came up to Steve and asked in broken English if Steve was an American. Steve said yes. The old man was so happy that he had guessed right. The younger man said that his father really likes Americans. Steve told him that we were happy to be here. The old man was really happy to hear that.
Here is a man working in his tea fields. These people were not young - I was amazed at how flexible and strong these Taiwanese people are!
An example of a wonderful tile I found on what I believe to be an ancestor grave in the middle of the tea field. I didn't know if I should walk through it - out of respect - but later I saw other people trampsing through. I'm still glad that I didn't.
The restaurant where we had lunch:
We had rice with tea leaves in it, green tea, iced tea with fruit in it (it was wonderful but it was a fight to just drink the tea - there was so much fruit in it!) plus we had quiche. Yum!
Gosh, we had a good day hiking around this mountain! If you get the chance to come to Taipei, hop on the gondola and ride up to Maokong mountain. You won't regret it!
Sawadii Kha!
Linda
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