Go Tell it on the Mountain

This is the first time I've experienced sublimity in its original sense:



This picture was taken (Thanks, Greg!) from the top of Seven Star Mountain at Yangmingshan National Park yesterday.

This summer a friend of mine said, "If someone asks you if you're going to something - say yes." Greg asked if anyone wanted to go with him and I immediately agreed.

(A brief paranthesis: I speak absolutely no Mandarin and Taiwan isn't consistent in which romanization it uses for names. Thus, it's often difficult for me to figure out what is being referred to in conversation because I can barely understand what's being said and I'm unsure of how to spell anything. I often only figure out where I'm headed once I'm on the way and I can ask people to show me on a map. This has yielded excellent results though I'm not sure how long it will last before it becomes unreasonable that I'm not learning Mandarin. I can't wait to start blogging about how difficult a language it is.)

I thought I was going for a relaxing day of hot springs when this little adventure began. In fact, it was a two hour hike (with some pretty serious uphill action) for which I was thankfully prepared after a summer of trekking about BC with my pack. It ended with a group of elderly locals who'd hiked part way up the mountain with tea and cakes which they offered to us and my better-educated travel companion charmed them in Mandarin enough to chat for three cups of tea.

Afterwards, what better way to unwind than going to a night market and eating my own weight in food? I ended up at Shilin where we feasted on Taiwanese Steak, a lovely concoction of tender beef, mushroom sauce, overcooked pasta, and an egg that cooks as you eat the steak - all served with a rich, custardy bun!



Unfortunately, at this point, we had to ditch the Australian (Matt - he's a really nice guy who knows a lot about the local food. No weird stereotypes here.) because he has the ridiculous quality of not liking to shop. So the ladies took off!

Of course, this just lead to dessert.



Deep fried milk; a light crispy batter with sweet rich dairy on the inside.

Which lead to second dessert...



Candied fruit! It pretty much tastes like what one might put on a candied apple, except that those perfect-looking red globes in the middle? They're actually cherry tomatoes! It seemed utterly bizarre to me at the first bite, but by the second tomatoe I was experiencing them as a fruit and not a vegetable. This was a first for me and contributed to my "Asians don't like overly sugary desserts" theory.

And that lead to my embarrassing facebook picture, which I will leave you to peruse at your own leisure and curiosity.

Today I went to Jinguashi with a new friend who's from the south of the country. At the market, all the food stands offered free samples and he took me, had me try everything, and explained what they all were to me. I ate giant ocean snail thingies!




Not only did his charming family take me out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - but they also took me to my first tea house.



It overlooked the windswept ocean and mountainsides dotted with temples. They wouldn't let me touch the tea, though. But I watched and managed to glean this:

First you wash the leaves with boiling water and pour this into your cups to heat them and imbue them with the flavour of the new tea (in the event of switching varieties).

Then, you steep the second bowl very briefly and pour; each bowl is steeped for a progressively longer time (presumably learned by watching your parents and intuition).

You don't say thank you when someone re-fills your cup (which happens about every 2 - 5 minutes), but simply continue eating delightful little pastries filled with various sweetened, fermented bean pastes and jellies or watching mountains, or chatting. The latter was made difficult by my not speaking Mandarin and the family not speaking English. Not that I had words after this almost obscene display of generosity.

I've never had a more perfect day.