The bicycle is a very popular means of transport in Taiwan. In Taipei, there are plenty of bike paths, and also long-distance cycling is getting more popular in Taiwan. In Taipei, there are also public bikes, which can be rented for 30min for free.

Even though the public bikes worked very well for me, I decided to get my own bike in order to have more flexibility. I bought a 14-gear bike for some TWD 2,000 (EUR 50) at the bike shop at the NTU campus.

Cycling in Taipei adheres to rules slightly different to what the average European may be used to. For example, nobody would indicate a right or left turn. At the NTU campus, the bikes are moving in an even more (seemingly) disordered fashion. People mostly cycle on the right hand side of the road, but not strictly. Also there doesn’t seem to be any particular right of way. If someone wants to turn left, they would just do so. No waiting, no indicating, no matter how many other bikes are crossing.

How does that work without major accidents? I don’t know, really. It just “flows”. Often, my sudden braking or change in direction causes great confusion for my fellow bikers. So in order to initiate a left turn, I have to slow down and slowly initiate the turn. This way the others “feel” my intentions and will slowly (no sudden change of motion!) make room. The amount of space needed for a bicycle to turn is considered to be quite small. I am still freaking out sometimes when, after carefully initiating a turn, there are bikes crossing just in front of me. I then react by sudden braking, with a high risk of collision with some person behind me.

Taiwanese people often carry an additional person on their bike. This person often stands on two bars mounted at the rear spike, or sits on the rack.

Map of the bike path

Bike path along the river

Bike facilities along the path

Bike path along the river

Bike path along the river

Exit indication at the bike path

The bars on which another person can stand on

My bike

I am visiting the National Taiwan University (NTU) within my PhD studies in Vienna. Why Taiwan? Because the group I am working with here has expertise in my research area, and because I received a research grant to come here.

I spend most of my time at the NTU campus at Gongguan. It’s a great place to be and provides anything needed. There is a big sports center, a bike shop, many, many places to eat, teastores, convenience stores, parks, a huge library. Around the campus, there are even more places to buy food, there are bus stops, an MRT station, public bike stations, a night market, shops of pretty much anything. The main campus, which I have to cross every day to get to the lab, covers more than 1km².

Getting around
The size of the campus is one of the reasons for the abundance of bikes. Bikes can be rented at the public bike stations ubike with an easyCard. The first 30min of each rental are free. Most students have their own bikes though. Bikes parked on the campus are required to carry a permit stickers (it seems like permits are required for pretty much anything in Taiwan), however, so far I couldn’t be bothered to get one, and my bike has not been towed (yet). There is a bike shop on the campus with inflators and free(!) repair service (you only have to pay the material, which is usuall very, very inexpensive). Cycling itself was a bit adventurous for me, at least in the beginning. See also Cycling in Taipei.

Cars are allowed on the campus, but are subject to an entrance fee. Walking is an option for people who really like walking.

Finding my bike can be quite a challenge.

Roads are mainly used by bikes.

The main boulevard.

The Fu Bell strikes each hour in honor of the university’s former director 傅斯年, a promoter of free education with great influence.

Sleeping
There are many dormitories at and around the campus. Most, if not all, of them are gender-seperated and provide shared rooms. I was lucky to get a single room at the . It’s a neat ensuite room with a big bed and a desk, with a nice view. There are water dispensers (hot, room temperature, and cold) at each floor. The shared kitchen is not quite what the average European student might be used to — it’s one electric stove, one rice cooker, and one microwave for the whole building and there are hardly any other utilities. However, thanks to the abundance of food, it’s not really necessary to cook for oneself.

A dorm aisle.

My room.

Eating
It’s hard not to find food at the campus. There are many buffets, food courts, tea shops, and restaurants at and around the campus. Also, water dispensers can be found in all buildings.

Sports center
With all the food here I’d be getting fat even faster if it wasn’t for the great sports center. It has a huge outdoors area with running lanes, a swimming pool, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, and other courts. Indoors one can play badminton and table tennis and there are various group lessons, a gym, a pool, and probably plenty other facilities that I am not aware of. I mainly go to the gym and to the pool. It’s quite inexpensive. I had to get a sports center card at the administrative center at the lower floor of the main building. The gym can get very crowded when a group of people shows up. Taiwanese love group activities, even at the gym. But most of the times I get to do the exercises I want. The pool is usually ok, too.

The sports center.

Don’t surf in the swimming pool!

The Drunken Moon Lake
I first thought its name is a bad translation. It’s 醉月湖 in Chinese, where the last two characters clearly mean “moon lake”, and for the first character 醉 I couldn’t find any other translation than “drunken” or “intoxicated”. I don’t know where its curious name comes from, but the Drunken Moon lake sure is a very nice place to be. I go there often to have lunch or read a paper. There are usually ducks , geese, swans (one of which is black), very cute turtles, squirrels, and fish of many sizes in and around the lake.

View on the Drunken Moon Lake.

A turtle

A bird with big feet…

and its male version.

A bird that is hiding.

Another bird.

We took the very comfortable High Speed Train from Taipei to Tainan. Tainan literally means “Tai South”, just like Taipei means “Tai North” and Taitung means “Tai East”. With a population of almost two million, it is Taiwan’s fifth largest city and the third largest I have been to (after Taipei and New Taipei City). It’s also Taiwan’s oldest town and was its capital for more than 200 years. It remained a capital under the Dutch, who first built Fort Zeelandia, the Ming, who under the command of Koxinga removed the Dutch, and the Qing until 1887. Several remains of these eras can be visited in Tainan.

Apart from historical places, Tainan is famous for nightmarkets with a great variety of Taiwanese specialties. It is also a big and densely populated city without a sophisticated public transport system (particulary, no subway). This results in very high individual traffic with all its inconveniences. I found the air to be significantly more polluted than in Taipei (where it is quite ok).

Our couchsurfing host lent us two bikes and we headed off to Anping, which would have been an about 30-min. ride if I hadn’t been so terribly scared of the traffic. We finally made it, visited the fortress and headed back into town to see the Confucius Temple. We also went to the nightmarket, but unfortunately I forgot the camera.

Anping fortress

View from the tower

Swedish guy serving for the Dutch East India Company, who surrendered Fort Zeelandia to the Ming

Koxinga, the national hero who drove the Dutch out of Taiwan

One of many temples in Tainan (Anping)

A god

One of the buildings of the Confuzius Temple

I wished I could read this!

Inside Confuzius Temple

Erhu, a traditional Chinese string instrument

A wall of wishes to the gods

A child’s wish in English…

… and in Zhuyin

包子 for dinner

The Maokong Gondola is a convenient half-day trip from Taipei. It goes up a hill of tea plantations and, on a clear day, allows magnificent views over Taipei. The starting point is at the end of one of the Taipei MRT lines. The gondola is integrated in the Taipei public transport system and the EasyCard can be used to access it.

At the top station there is plenty of food (as everywhere in Taiwan) and a crazy number of teahouses. This area can get quite crowded, particularly on weekends. However, for those willing to invest a little exercise the crowd can be escaped on one of the many hiking trails. We found a very cosy teahouse on one of the trails and for the first half hour were its only guests!

The trail consists mainly of stone steps. The stones can get very slippery when wet, but apart from that, it’s an easy hike. Mosquitos of the very aggressive kind are abundant. We didn’t bring a repellent and ended up with painful bites that swelled up to 4cm in diameter. Apart from the mosquitos, it’s a very beautiful, scenic area. The trails lead through rainforest, tea plantations, and religious buildings ranging from small altars to the impressive Zhinan Temple (指南宮).

Our visit to the teahouse was as follows: Upon arrival, we were presented a tea menu and a food menu. We had already eaten, so we went for tea only. The tea prices seemed high at first sight (some TWD 400.- for a bag), but one bag allows a tea ceremony for 4-6 persons of more than an hour. (I write ceremony, because it’s not just pouring hot water on a couple of tea leaves.) The unused leaves (we didn’t even use half of them) we could take home.

We chose the “high mountain tea” (I don’t remember the exact characters) and were served a bag of tea leaves, a tablet with a grid, a small teapot with a lid and a bigger teapot w/o a lid on top of the grid, cups, a tea strainer, an electric stove with a kettle, and a couple of tools which serve to place and remove the tea leaves into and from the small pot.

Then we were explained the art of tea brewing — in Chinese. I didn’t understand everything and therefore we made a lot of mistakes. Fortunately, a tea session consists of many iterations so we could be corrected by the owner and improve upon the corrections. According to what we learned, this is how it works:

The first round is to wash the leaves and pre-heat the pots and cups:

1. Fill the small pot with dry leaves.
2. Pour hot water onto the leaves.
3. After 50s, pour tea through the strainer into the bigger pot.
4. Pour from big pot into cups.
5. Pour from cups onto the grid of the tablet (waste water is collected underneath)

The first round is followed by five to seven rounds of infusion:

1. Put hot water onto the wet leaves, put the lid on top.
2. After 40s, pour tea through the strainer into the big pot.
3. Pour tea from big pot to cups.
4. Enjoy.
5. Repeat.

Then the leaves are removed from the small pot and fresh leaves are added using the various tea tools to start the procedure over again by the first round.

To measure the brewing time, the professional tea brewer doesn’t need a timer. When pouring the water onto the leaves in the small pot, some water is poured over the teapot itself. (The teapot is on the tablet grid, so the tablet catches the excess water.) When the water on the teapot has evaporated, the brewing time is over.

View from the gondola

More view from the gondola, including Taipei 101

Plenty of food around the top station

On of the trails

Trail and some tea

Flora and…

…fauna along the trail.

There are so many online language study resources that it requires quite some work to evaluate them and decide which to use or follow. Many of them are paid services, some are based on language exchange, and some are just free. I do think that many of the paid classes can be very useful, and I am ready to pay for good Chinese classes. However, the problem is that there are so many of them that it is very hard to decide which one to follow and I was too worried about regretting a costly decision (being a paid service doesn’t necessarily mean being a good service). I think I’d also rather pay for real-life Chinese classes.

It’s not much easier with the free resources though, and it took me quite a while to go through the abundance of language blogs, language classes that pretended to be free but then ask for credit card details, video based, text based, pinyin-only, or podcast classes. Many would cover only very basic Chinese. Some did not provide enough explanations on grammar. Some talk too fast. Some provide only simplified characters. Or no characters at all. Some have a horrible user interface, some cannot be used on Linux.

I am now sticking with two e-learning classes and one exchange platform. I learn new vocabulary and grammar in the classes and then compose texts (or rather, loose sentences), which are corrected on the exchange platform.

Online classes
In the jungle of online resources I found two classes that I am now following on a regular basis. One is a video-based programme from the mainland and uses only simplified characters. However, it is very good in many other aspects, so I do the extra work of looking up the traditional characters. It starts from zero but advances quite fast. Each class takes 15min, introduces some everyday vocabulary and explains some grammar. It features the family of the Chinese teenager 小明 and the American exchange student Mike. Their stories are fun to watch. The programme is provided by the Chinese Television and can be found here: Growing up with Chinese.

The other is provided by the Taiwanese government and has pretty much everything: Video lectures, grammar overviews, reading practice, traditional characters with the option to toggle the simplified version, and pronounciation in Zhuyin and Pinyin. There is a strong focus on listening, and each sentence is repeated many times on different occasions, in different speeds, and by different speakers. At the end of each lecture there are exercises based on listening comprehension, character recognicion, Zhuyin/Pinyin pronounciation, and grammar. The Programme can be found here: Speak Mandarin in one Thousand Words. The Taiwanese government provides many more useful resources in their Digital Publishing System.

Language exchange
On language exchange platforms, users support each other learning languages. This can include correction of exercises, correction of texts, explanations on grammar, semantics, or culture related issues. I had a quick look at three popular platforms and sticked with one of them.

There is Livemocha, which looks fancy, but doesn’t work on Linux. Yes, that’s pretty weird since it’s a web-based service. I did make it work by running Firefox in Wine, but then abandoned it because I was overwhelmed by its features. The same feeling I had with Busuu. For me, there are just too many features. Too many colorful, blinking things that conceal structure. Livemocha and Busuu not only offer correction by fellow language learners, but a whole learning programme, with lessons and quizzes. I found the lessons to be unstructured and the quizzes to be much too easy.

And then there is Lang-8, which I have really gotten to like. It’s very simple: Write anything you want in your target language and get it corrected by native speakers. In turn, correct stuff other people wrote in your native language. Very straightforward! There are some annoying advertisements in the free version, but I understand that income has to be generated somehow. There is a paid version which eliminates the ads and lets you add more than two target languages. Lang-8 is a lot of fun. I can choose what I want to correct, and I got to correct some really fun texts in German written by people around the world. My Chinese writings usually get corrected on the same day. Often one text is corrected by more than one person, and it’s interesting to see different opinions about some mistake I make.

雪山, which literally translates to “Snow Mountain”, is a mountain in Shei-Pa national park at about three hours drive from Taipei. It features Taiwan’s second highest peak at 3,886m, several hiking trails of varying difficulty, two cabins, and some shelters. The most popular and easiest trail to the peak starts at some 2,100m and goes up to the Main Peak at 3,886m in 10.9km. This main trail is easy and can be done by the average hiker in two to three days. Its trailhead is reached best by car. Public transport ends in Wuling, which is a 7km walk with 300m difference in altitude. Apart from the main trail, there are various more challenging trails. The famous Holy Ridge trail connects to the mountain’s North Peak and another one goes down westwards from the Main Peak.

On the main trail, there are two cabins for overnight stay, 七卡山莊 (Qika cabin) at around 2,400m and 三六九山莊 （369 cabin) at 3,100m. The cabins provide drinking water most of the year, bunk beds, and pit toilets.

The trails require a permit, for which to apply can be a somewhat tedious process for those who are not familiar with the system. Luckily enough, I have a very nice Taiwanese colleague with a passion for hiking, who did the paperwork for us.

While planning the hike, I talked to several Taiwanese people to gather information. Interestingly, all of them with only one exception (my colleague who organised the permit) adviced me to join a group or hire a guide. Their comments included “very difficult”, “very dangerous”, “you will get lost”. In the aftermath I am very happy that we did not join a group. I am not much of a group person and very much enjoy hiking quietly on my own (and my husband’s) rhythm.

My husband and I hiked 雪山 with three overnight stays as follows (all comments on difficulties and time estimates reflect the perspective of a somewhat experienced and somewhat acrophobic hiker of less than average fitness whose gear was carried by her husband most of the time).

七卡山莊 (Qika cabin)

We arrived at the Wuling visitor at around 4pm by public transport from Yilan. Not so keen on walking 7km along the street to reach the trailhead, we tried our luck hitching and were promptly picked up by a friendly Taiwanese. At the trailhead, we left our permit and were taken pictures by and with the ranger.

It took us a bit more than an hour to reach Qika. The trail was very easy with the steep parts perfectly covered with steps. Many hikers prefer to skip Qika, to sleep in a more comfortable place down in Wuling, and hike up to 369 directly, which I think is also a good choice. There are two rooms at Qika, one of which was occupied by a group of 40 students from Singapore and their guides and cooks (yes, the groups here even hire their own cooks!), and the other we shared with five or six other people. There is probably space for around 50 people per room.

Apart from sleeping, there is not much to do at Qika, so that was what we did.

Wuling Visitor Center

Ready to go!

Qika cabin

On the second day, we hiked up to the 369 cabin. The cabin has its name from being located at the foot of a 3,690m peak. It took us about five hours to get there. The trail was easy and the scenery beautiful and diverse. The Crying Slope, a much-feared ascent according to various descriptions of the trail, turned out to be not difficult at all (not long, not steep, no need to use your hands).

Passing the Crying Slope, we reached a peak which we erroneously assumed to be the East Peak. We took some pictures, continued, and soon reached the real East Peak. We reached the 369 cabin soon afterwards. When we arrived, there were only a few other people. We were very lucky to spot (and even take a picture of) a Formosan Rock Macaque.

The cabin later became very crowded with the Singapore students and another, probably Japanese, group, and some smaller groups. The weather was gorgeous, but when the sun disappeared at about 4pm behind the mountain, the temperature dropped quickly to some 4°C. We hadn’t brought any cooking gear and were sipping some porridge in cold water when one of the group cooks, perhaps out of pity, offered us some hot soup, which we thankfully accepted.

We met the cooks on various occasions on the hike, as apart from preparing food for the groups, their duties also seem to include carrying gear between cabins and shelters, and maybe also maintaining the trails. They were very strong, friendly, and quiet indigenous Taiwanese.

We also befriended a very friendly guide and swimming teacher, who had two nicknames: “Mountain” in English and “木瓜” (Papaya) in Chinese. I really like the Chinese way of name-giving!

A comfortable trail to 369

Directions are well indicated

A bamboo forest

The trail to the east peak

Taiwanese-style headcover, which we later found to be a very good idea

View from the east peak

View on the 369 cabin

A monkey!

The soup

369 with a christmas tree

One room of the cabin. It filled up later with three persons between each of the wooden bunk columns

Dusk above a sea of clowds, view from 369

Roundtrip to the Main Peak and my first earthquake

The next day, we got up at 3:30am and, after arranging our luggage (which we could leave at the cabin), headed off at around 4:30am. There are two trails to reach the Main Peak from 369. One more direct and easy, which is usually taken by the groups, and one significantly more difficult, covering one end of the famous Holy Ridge.

We took the easy trail up to the Main Peak. After a short ascent on the hill behind the cabin, the trail goes up and down through a forest called “Black Forest” (It’s even more black if there is no daylight). I was a bit worried about waking some Formosan Black Bear, but luckily we didn’t. Approaching the peak, the increasing altitude started to manifest in breathing difficulties. It was not a big deal, but we walked considerably slower than on lower altitudes.

We reached the Main Peak at around 8am. Unfortunately, we missed the sunrise (which was at 6am), which surely would have added to the great view at the top of the mountain. But also well after sunrise, the views from the peak were breathtaking. The sky was clear and we could overlook a wide range of the Taiwanese mountains. Westwards we could even see the sea.

To get back to the cabin, we decided to take the route over the Holy Ridge. The trail so far had been easy except for the thin air, but this was going to change now (the difficulty, not the lack of oxygen). The Holy Ridge heads towards the North Peak of 雪山 over, well, a ridge. At kilometer 1.8, another trail turns eastwards connecting the Holy Ridge to the 369 cabin. In order to get to the Holy Ridge, the trail first descends from the Main Peak and then climbs up steeply. This climbing part was the hardest part for me because my acrophobia kicked in quite hard. It’s technically not extremely challenging (some might not even call it “climbing”) and there are ropes to hold onto, but the high inclination was giving me rushes of adrenaline.

The trail continues without major ascents or descents on the thin ridge (and my acrophobic adrenaline rushes continued, too). The views continue to be breathtaking. We met far less people on this trail than on the main trail, and among them, we came across the indigenous cooks twice. We were very impressed by them quietly and quickly walking the Holy Ridge in their rainboots(!) with probably more than 30kg on each of their backs.

At kilometer 1.8 we took the east turn towards 369. It starts off with a strongly inclined scree field, which was fun to slide down. After that, it continues for a subjectively very long time through the Black Forest until reaching 369.

We were quite exhausted when we reached 369 at around 14:30. The hike took us 10h including one long and several shorter breaks. We took a nap, ate, and took a nap again. In between, some hikers, guides, and cooks applauded my achievement upon asking which route we took. I think they did so because I am a woman (they did not applaude my husband), a foreigner, and because we were without guides, which seemed to impress them. I felt flattered nevertheless.

At around 20:00, we were woken up by a strong movement of the bunk beds. Until I realized that it was no just the beds, but the whole building was shaking, and that I was probably experiencing my first earthquake, it was already over. It had taken around 3 seconds only. I was very excited, my husband at least was surprised, but the Taiwanese people did not seem to care or even notice at all. We later learned that this was quite a heavy earthquake of magnitude 6.3. It was even covered by international media.

I spent the next hour or so thinking of worse places to be during an earthquake. I figured the pit toilet to be a very unpleasant location to be. Even worse, being outdoors below the Holy Ridge, I figured, would be very inconvenient, too. It’s not hard to imagine an earthquake causing rock falls. The permanent danger of earthquakes adds a significant risk to hiking in Taiwan which I previously hadn’t thought of. But then again, can it really be so dangerous if the locals don’t seem to care about it at all?

The cabin got busy again, though not quite as busy as the previous night. We slept little, with the last people arriving at 22:30 and the first leaving at 3:00, a high incidence of flatulencia and snoring, and my adrenaline deposits no quite yet emptied.

Tagwache! 4:30am

Dawn from the upper end of the Black Forest

View to the Holy Ridge

Gipfelsieg! The Main Peak at around 8:30am

Walking towards the Holy Ridge

Connection between the Main Peak and the Holy Ridge, just as scary as it looks

The trail up to the Holy Ridge. The climbing part goes up on the right side of the highest rock.

The Holy Ridge

Still the Holy Ridge

Still the Holy Ridge

The scree field connecting the Holy Ridge to the Black Forest

The Black Forest

The 369 water source, about 1km from 360. Second encounter with cooks in rainboots

Heading back to Taipei

We woke up (or were woken up) at 3:00 in a better condition than expected and after some unsuccessful attempts to go back to sleep, decided to start the descent. It took us some 5h, but I think it can be done in 3h. I walked very slowly because my knees were sore, and we took a long break at Qika. Also, this was our first and only rainy day.

Back at Qika, we also met some people whom we asked for the timetable of the bus returning to Yilan (there are only two buses a day). One of them kindly offered to take us back to Taipei. We first declined because we had to go to Yilan to pick up some of our luggage, but he insisted on taking us there too (it’s on the way). On the way, he also took up a British hitcher and we had a most wonderful 7-course lunch after three days of eating mainly almonds, cold porridge, apples, and bananas.

Tagwache, the 2nd

Group picture with the group we met at Qika

What a feast!

In summary, the main trail up 雪山 was a very rewarding, not too difficult hike. The detour to the Holy Ridge was a bit of a challenge, but this can be avoided by going back the main trail for those who are not up for it. However, despite the stressful moments up there, I do not regret a minute of it. It was a very unique experience with wonderful views and a good amount of exercise.

Last week I went with Shu-Yen to the food market. This market takes place in the early morning, which makes a lot of sense in summer since it is not as hot during daytime. It was very interesting to see the raw material of my everyday dishes. The food on the market is much cheaper and fresher than in the supermarket.

There were no prices indicated, but neither could I see people bargaining (but perhaps I just didn’t understand). Also Shu-Yen didn’t bargain. I have the feeling that this is much less common in Taiwan than in Mainland China.

(Click on any picture to get it full size and as slideshow.)

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and on the right a tasty fruit whose name I don’t know

Algae, tofu, and cabbage

Bamboo. Watch its size compared to the (normal-sized) broccoli!

A very slim type of eggplant

Tofu

Different fruits and vegetables

Meat, presented at > 25°C without refrigeration (but apart from this, sanitary standards were high)

Chicken

Chicken. Chicken feet are also a delicacy here.

Fish, on ice

Algae

Another veggie stand

This is not cheese. It’s flour with raddish, which is boiled (or steamed? or fried? I don’t really know)

Some of the market is covered (good when it rains)

My friend Gill took me to her hometown Daxi, which is some 30min by bus from Taipei. Daxi produces most of Taiwan’s tofu and is famous for spinning tops. The tops are thrown onto small platforms using a string that initiates the spin. It’s quite difficult and requires a lot of practice.

She picked me up with her scooter (she is a very good driver, so my initial worries disappeared soon). We went through town, ate a lot of tofu and a brown egg, did some sightseeing and finally went to see a Buddhist temple. The temple is home of some god or gods that are particularly good children’s future, which is why people bring their kids.

Gill picked me up

Daxi old bridge

Spinning top artist at the Daxi park

Balloons…

… much liked by the kids

A guy playing songs on a leaf (very funny)

The same guy explaining the kids how the leaf music works

Kids around a giant top

Beware!

Chiang Kai-Shek’s residence in Daxi

A Japanese Wude temple

A christian church

A Buddhist temple

Daxi old street, with interesting baroque-style buildings from the Japanese era

Close-up on one of the building’s facade

Gill’s favourite tofu place. Also, the best herbal eggs (eggs boiled in some herbs liquid).

Sweet, cold tofu soup with beans and other things, delicious!

Entrance to a temple near Daxi

A god

People praying…

… and burning incense

Gifts for the gods

Oven to burn fake money

View from the temple

A happy god

A happy dog

A happy baby

Another temple in Daxi

Daxi old bridge at night

On the mid-autumn festival’s Sunday, after visiting the palace museum, we were invited by the lab to a Japanese restaurant, where I probably ate more meat than I usually eat in three months. It was probably the best beef I have had in my life. The chicken, seafood, and fish was also really good. I even tried chicken bones (somewhat crunchy) and beef tongue.

The eight of us sat around a table with our shoes off. The table had three holes for the bbq, two of which we then used to roast mainly pieces of meat, fish, and seafood, with an occasional mushroom. Different raw meats were served on plates cut into pieces that can be eaten easily with sticks. Each of us could take whatever they liked and put it on a roast. When we had finished several piles of meat, the Chinese guys talked to the waiter to order some other stuff, which I didn’t understand and assumed to be the dessert. So I asked what they had ordered. The answer was “more meat”, which I assumed to be a joke. It wasn’t. More meat! There was dessert, eventually, though I don’t remember much of it. Some ice-cream with smileys on it, I think.

Ordering drinks, by the way, is rather optional in Taiwan (unlike European restaurants, or at least Austrian, where not ordering a drink is close to be considered rude). We did order a couple of beers though, but it was perfectly fine to share them. Liquid is often served without a charge in form of a cold or hot soup (bouillon). This is the case in the Chinese eating culture, but I don’t know about the Japanese. In the Japanese restaurant, however, we were served an isothermic bottle with hot chicken soup, which we drank out of small bowls. “Eating soup” is translated into Chinese literally as “drinking soup”, which also reflects the soup’s main purpose of liquid intake.

I can really, really recommend this place and will most likely return. Until then, I’ll be a vegetarian.

The roast

Beef tongue

The table

The roast with things on it: chicken bone at the very left, chicken in the front, beef in red, and, well, pig intestines, i think

The dessert reminded me of Spain (Crema Catalana)

After visiting Sanxia, Jessie and Erin took me to their hometown Yingge. Yingge is famous for ceramics. There are plenty of high-end ceramics stores. Unfortunately, taking pictures was not allowed in any of them.

We went to a pottery DIY (by the way, “DIY” is a term used frequently in Taiwan in its English spelling), where I learned how to make a bowl.

Later, we went to a tea store, where its owner invited us on a couple of cups of tea. “A couple of”, because the cups are very small and the Taiwanese tea ceremony consists of multiple rounds. First, the leaves are put into a very small teapot, boiling water is added and put away after 40 seconds. This is to wash the leaves. Then, boiling water is added again and infused for 50 seconds. The infusion is then put into the small cups. The leaves are infused 4-5 more times.

The DIY pottery

It’s also popular for children

And I also tried my best

And this was the result

Erin is much more talented though

Small teapot with tealeaves for infusion…

… from which the infusion is poured into another, bigger teapot…

… from which it is served to the small cups of the ceremony participants.