Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taipei Breakfast 葉家肉粥 Dadaocheng Cisheng Temple

The next morning, I decided to try my luck again at a porridge place I wanted to try. I wanted to go there when I first landed in Taipei, but the shop don't open till like 9am. I didn't have the time then, but now, at the tail end of my trip, it was more easy going schedule, so I took the same walk there. Above is the front view of the porridge place, just outside of Cisheng Temple. It was a pretty local place. 

But everyone eats behind the shop! At the temple ground, beneath the beautiful trees. This is the Taipei I want to be absorbed in!

Here is the shop. The guy in front of me took a while to order that the owner just ask me what I wanted and took my order first, lol. I already knew what I wanted! Porridge and fermented fried pork! That was what they were famous for!

I sat at a table under the tree, surrounded old uncles this time. I had to share a table with one too. But he hurried finished his porridge and left. I was able to enjoy my breakfast alone until a group of tourist came and asked to share my table....

My breakfast. The porridge was a bit watery, but it was delicious with the fried fermented pork. To be honest, it was quite expensive. almost 5sgd for breakfast! But this was Taipei, what did I expect. At least it was delicious. And eating in front of the temple underneath all those beautiful tree, was a nice experience to remember by. No regrets! Would go again if I am back in Taipei.

Usually, it is customary for me to pay my respect to the local deity before wandering around their town or area. But because I was hungry, I did this after my fulfilling breakfast. Above is the small Cisheng Temple. It's not very famous, and quite hard to get to, hence the very local feel of the whole area. 

Inside, I saw the mazu gods. I love these gods. My mum said they looked scary, why was I so fascinated by them. Well, it's because on my very first trip to Taiwan, it actually coincide with the Mazu Festival, and I had the chance to walked among these giant gods on the streets of Taipei! I would never forget the experience. It was just so surreal. And I have love these Gods even since.

More Gods. 

And lastly, me at the roof top of the temple :)

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taipei Maokong Sunset Gondola Ride

Riding the gondola down was quite an adventure too. Due to the stopping of the gondola due to rain and strong winds, when it reopened again, there weren't many people going down. I managed to board a transparent cable care on the way down! That's me favourite shoe and the glass view of the trees beneath me! How cool is that! 

I had to share the cable car with a couple. They kept looking at the phone, what a waste. I hope I don't have to travel with such a companion. What's the point if you can't enjoy this beautiful moment with me right there and then, right? I recall a video by the YouTuber Tech Lead, who went on a date with a girl to see beautiful nature. He enjoyed it so much, but then he realised that the date couldn't see anything cause she wasn't wearing any glasses on the date so that she could look pretty for him. Hahahahaha. So funnny. But he pointed it out right, sometimes the experience is a personal one and not everyone may experience the same thing as you. But still, wouldn't it be nice if they tried, and they did? That would be a connection that is hard to described in words. 

Sunset view of the cable cars moving down.....

Bright orange sun light.

Dooms Day City View, all dark now.....

Beautiful Taipei 101 landscape <3

When I got to the station below, I had some time to wander around. So I took some photos of the cute gondola they have on display here.

"Welcome to Maokong", it says!

It was pretty dark by now, and lights were turned on.

Love this view of small cable car lightings decorated outside the Taipei Zoo Station. I took my time as I knew the bus I was taking stopped near by hotel, so I wasn't worried about it getting dark. I was pretty familiar with the streets in Taipei Station by now. However, silly me did waited for the bus at the wrong side of the road! Hahahahaha. But I managed to get back to the hotel safely, gazing at the night scenes of Taipei as the bus drove by all the small towns along the way. What a lovely day I had :)

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taipei Maokong Tea Cafe

 

Walking back to town, I wasn't satisfied until I bought some tea from here. I have the budget for it, and I really wanted to get something local. Luckily, I came across this beautiful tea shop above. They sell different types of tea in cat canister! How cute! I went in to take a look, and an old aunty started talking to me. I asked her about Maokong tea, and she recommended a few to me. I ended buying three small cans from her and was rather happy about my purchase. Mission accomplished!

The tea shop was joint next to a cafe, and they serve tea ice cream with cat shaped biscuit on it. How could I walk away without trying this? It was almost the end phase of my trip, so I decided to splurge again and went in.

I ordered the tea ice cream. And it was SOOOOOO GOOOOD! I can really taste the tea flavour in it. I'm even gonna say that it was better than the Miyahara Ice Cream I had in Taichung. This one was a lot stronger and fragrant. Totally LOVE IT! Would come again anytime!

I also ordered a pot of tea since I wanted to sit there to enjoy it while waiting for sunset. Above is how they serve it, in a kind of a french press, and a thermal flask. The service of the staff there was amazing. I might have sat there 1 or 2 hours just drinking tea, and they never seems to hurry me off. In fact, they kept asking me if I wanted to refill the flask. I felt so happy just being there and feeling so welcome. In some shops, they will just refill it once, and wait for you to leave the shop! Oh, the pamphlet was about how to brew different types of tea. The tea shop aunty gave it to me :)

The beautiful tea cups. One was for drinking tea. And one was snacks that the tea shop aunty next door randomly came over and served me some free snacks! I love Taiwan Aunties! They are so generous! Of course being an aunty age myself, I do tend to talk to them too, lol. Aunties Unite!

Here are the snacks she gave me. Thank you so much!

This is what the cafe front view looked like. It is right at the main street of the town. And no, that is not my car. It's the owner's car I assume. There wasn't much customer in the afternoon as it rained and the cable car actually stopped operating. This causes no tourist to be able to get to Maokong! Lucky me! I more or less had the whole place to myself! One of the best tea experience I had in Taiwan! The other was in JiuFen. Both time, I went alone :)

The beautiful tea shop attended by the aunty. Do visit her if you are here!

My budget damage, OMG only 11SGD! I wish I can go again RIGHT NOW!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taipei Maokong Tea Research and Promotion Center

About twenty minutes walk from Maokong Station, you will reach this beautiful Tea Research and Promotion Center! I was excited to visit this place! I am an avid tea drinker. Come to think of it, I think I sometime just travel to destination due to tea! And Maokong itself was a tea plantation area.

Entrance is free, hence I am here! Lol. And the exhibit inside did not disappoint. Beautiful wordings and display about tea.

Some of the famous tea Maokong and Taiwan is famous for. I super love Chinese Tea and Japanese Tea. European Tea? Not so much.

Tea cups? Love them too! One of my favourite thing to do is enjoying a nice cup of tea, either alone, or with someone that is good to chat with. Or even in silence with the right companion. There is a certain kind of high you get from drinking very good tea. It's just so smooth. And because it's hot, you can't drink them in a hurry. So as you sip it slowly, your whole world just automatically slows down, and you too starts to calm down. And after drinking the warm tea, it just relaxes your whole body, and the fragrance of a good tea just melts away your worries :)

Outdoor area of the Tea Center shows what Maokong's surrounding area looks like, and which part is used for tea plantation and research.

Lovely display of the different types of tea.

I think it was meant to be an engaging center for people to come and learn about tea and maybe try some tea? The center itself was beautiful, but perhaps it was low tourist season, there wasn't much engagement from the staff there.  I would have love to learn more about tea and maybe try some. I was even ok to try some, but there wasn't anywhere to do so here that seems welcoming. So I just scroll around the center and left. I thought that was a pity. It could have been a better experience I felt. But no worries, in the next post, I'll document about the highlight of my trip to Maokong, and yes, it involves TEA!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taipei Maokong

 

Reaching Maokong, the top station, the station was beautiful. The place actually reminded me very much of Penang Hill. The air was also a lot fresher and cooler. No monkeys sighted though. 

Upon exiting, one can walk to the nearby town on the left. That was the path I took, to go see the tea houses dotted along the road and on the slope of the hills. You could go in a meal or enjoy the local tea here. 

Lots of tourist on the streets as there are some snacks being sold along the little town.

Walking through the town, this is how small the roads are. In front there is a pink shuttle bus that can take you around the hill if you don't want to walk. The place I was headed was around 20minutes walk away, so I decided to just walk there. 

Along the way, I saw super cute cat cafe! It was up a slope of stairs and I didn't want to climb it, so I skipped it. But it looked so cute! The problem with cafes, how many can you visit in a day right? You can only eat so many sweet cakes and drink so many cups of caffeinated  drinks in a day!

I also went inside this shop cause it says they sell fresh milk mantou. But sadly, they sell it frozen/refrigerated. So I couldn't get any. They didn't even have cooked ones for same! What a pity. It was half way to my designation and it would have been nice to have a snack along the way. 

I also took this photo of some graves I walked pass. Look at the words on the grave stone. That's my surname! Maybe I'm related to some of the people here? Is that why I feel so at home here? Anyway, I finally reached my designation, Maokong Tea Research Center. At times I wonder why I have the courage to walk through lonely path alone. I was afraid I might come across some dogs. But the path looked so much like Penang Hill that I just persisted on. I'm do a dedicated post on the Tea Center in the next post.

Walking back to town in the evening, to the left of the cable car station is kinda like the Maokong crossroad where you can find many crossroads and taxis to bring you around. There are temples around the hills, but I didn't visit any. Didn't want to walk all the way there and be caught in the rain.

It was kinda late by the time I head to the left side of the station, else I would have love to walk some of the trails found here....maybe next time?

The beautiful valley view of Maokong. I was hanging around waiting for sunset time before I hop into the cable car. My target was to capture some sunset view on the ride down.

A different view of the Maokong Gondola Station, this time later in the afternoon.

The beautiful tea shops on the slope of the hill. They lighted up when it started to get dark. Must be beautiful at night here. Reminded me of JiuFen very much. 

The same dooms day shot, but this time, orange grey in colour as the sun starts to set. Isn't nature lovely?

A zoom shot I took from the cafe I stopped at. It has Maokong Station on the left, Taipei 101 on the right, and the beautiful landscape in front with a type of mist/fog partially covering it. I was very grateful that I decided to make the journey here. It was one of the most beautiful shot I got of Taipei :)  Moral of the story? Don't stay in your hotel room the whole day when you are on vacation! Go out and explore!