Taiwan Suits Us to a "T"

Fast train to Taichung
Globee, Annie, and Blue lunch with Sandy, Alva, Jimmy, and Nick
Checking the tea plants

Teng Ting-Sou - tea ware artist

Pine House - One of Ten Rural Stay Village

Coffee plantation visit

In the 16th century, when the Portuguese visited Taiwan they named it Formosa, their word for "beautiful." The island is so green it could be dubbed the "Ireland of Asia." Taiwan is advertised as a place that will "Touch Your Heart," and it does. With an excellent road and rail system, Taiwan is easy to get around and English is commonly spoken. During our first visit in 2005, we stood in awe at the Taroko Gorge and rode the world’s fastest elevator to the top of the world’s tallest building.

On this trip Taiwan’s High Speed Train, the newest engineering marvel, reached 180 miles per hour as we sped to the tea and coffee area south of Taipei. As great as the wonders of man and nature are it is the people that make a trip memorable.

In 1865, Lin Feng-chih traveled to China to sit for the imperial civil service examination. After successfully passing the exam he returned home with 36 tea plants that were the beginning of the waves of sculpted tea plants that now cross the undulating hills. The leaves are picked by hand in the time-honored tradition but teapots have taken on a new look. Teng Ting-Sou, has dedicated his life to creating innovative teapots. "I wanted to be the first teapot maker to break away from the traditional idea that a teapot must have a spout and handle," he explained as he demonstrated his Gu-yi teapot in which the tea flows out from the bottom of the pot. Now he teaches his art to others.

At the Tea Culture Museum, our guide proudly explained more about the history of tea production and the area’s culture. "To preserve our tea tradition we teach the schoolchildren the proper way to make and serve tea."

The area is also good for producing high-grade coffee. After visiting a coffee plantation we had lunch at Shan Hai Guan Coffee Grove Restaurant where we learned coffee is not just for drinking. One of the desserts was coffee-flavored yams. Years ago, on the way to work, the owner bought small thin yams from an elderly woman. Not knowing what to do with them he started experimenting until he came up with the yummy coffee-coated roasted yams. And, it didn’t stop there; his family also makes chocolate-covered coffee beans, coffee toffee, a variety of other coffee products, and developed an inventive way to brew one cup of coffee at a time.

Nearby we visited the workshop of Mr. Tsia, a ceramic artist, who had completed the delicate face of a statue when the devastating 7.3 earthquake of September 21, 1999 stuck. The statue toppled to the floor causing the face to be flattened on one side without destroying the beauty on the other side. Lives were lost and buildings destroy but in the aftermath the government helped the hard-hit farming area by promoting agri-tourism. The statue is a metaphor for the area pointing out the good and bad effects of an event.

Our tour was one of the ten rural-stay village tours available to tourists; now we want to visit the other nine villages. We spent the night at Pine House, a modern log cabin complex that looked like it belonged in the Adirondacks. In the evening we shared dinner with our guide and several people from the community during which one guide entertained us with the song, "Beautiful Formosa."