Tea-riffic Day (I'm sorry, I really am and slightly hate myself right now for that)

5/15-

Today really was a great day.  Judy met me at the subway station to take me to the Lin Family Mansion and Garden, one of the few truly traditional Chinese houses left in Taiwan.  It was nice and a very kind guide helped explain some of the symbolism for me through Judy's interpretation.  Afterwards, we met Judy's Mother, Sister and 3 year old Niece.  We went over to see the Taipei 101 building but I didn't go up it since I didn't want to spend the money when it was so foggy (and I'd been waiting all week for it to clear up but it never did).  From there, we went over to a Barracks Museum showing the barracks that housed the Chinese soldiers and their families after the split.  The soldiers had their immediate families with them but were never allowed to return to the Mainland to see the rest of their families.  I'm doing a poor job of explaining this, but they weren't prisoners, just couldn't go back to China, so the families banded together and created an enclave.  It was somewhat interesting, more so because Judy's grandparents had been a part of the original settlement.

Next we went for a ride on the Maokong Gondola (cable car) which was really nice, even though it was getting very dark and our visibility was limited.  The top town had small hills of tea leaves.  I couldn't smell them as tea, but could smell the strong scent.  It's known for its tea and Judy said it was one of the few places in Taipei where they still grow it.

For dinner, we went to a tea restaurant with a lovely view out over the valley.  Everything we ate had tea in it so we had: vermicelli with tea leaves, fried tea leaves, chopped or crushed tea leaves in fried rice, chicken and seafood soup with tea leaves, pork and shrimp sauce with tea leaves and baby bamboo.  Most of it was delicious- I especially liked the fried tea leaves, the noodles with tea leaves and the bamboo.  The bamboo didn't have much flavor, but basically absorbed whatever you ate it with (like tofu, but better tasting) so I just dipped it in a yummy chili sauce.  It also had a really nice texture, sort of like asparagus (only texture wise, not taste) and was just so much more satisfying than tofu.  I hadn't even realized that you could eat bamboo, though only when it's young and basically still a cone, but I wish it were more easily available- I could see myself eating it frequently.

After the tea dinner, which Judy very generously paid for, we took the gondola back down.  Judy said there were fireflies out but I didn't see any.  I played a bit with her niece, though it was difficult since she didn't speak any English, but was cute and well-behaved.  She also had a rather insane amount of energy at 10 p.m. so when we got off we danced around a little bit.

Right next door to the gondola base was Dancing Waters, a large fountain that had free water/music/light shows every hour or half hour so we waited and watched one, which was really pretty.  We all took the train back together, though I had to say my goodbyes when I got off at my stop first.  Even though I'd started out in Taipei very unhappy with the local who was supposed to show me around, Judy had more than made up for it in the past two days and had really made me feel special and like some weird, half-related crazy cousin (to use sitcom characterization) in a good way.