Hiromi Usagi!

So the part II was about the second day since I mainly traveled on the first day and hang out with Chad. We went to see Dao temple and the night market nearby the temple. There are so many night markets in Taiwan, and they seem to have everything, I mean everything. We even found an Indian curry restaurant. Of course, pirated DVD and CD. It is a collection of many small stores and foodstands. I believe that it is an everyday thing. There are several big ones, and I like the one in ??(shilin). I had a very delicious vegetable steamed bun with Ella and Selena. You know those steamed buns you see in Kung Fu movies. But this one was smaller and vegan! How nice! very vegetalian friendly.

On the 3rd day, I did a lot. I took subway from Gongquan to Shilin to to go the palace museum again. I had an onion pancake before I rode a bus from Shilin station. It was a nice snack, because you can eat it while walking. The museum was nice and a lot of stuff to see. I liked porcelains and glasswares, expecially the one looks like Nappa cabbage. After the museum, I went back to Shilin station area and somehow decided to have a haircut. But I just had a shampoo since I had a hard time communicating with my hair dresser. Don’t give me wrong, they were super nice and the receptionist girl spoke pretty good Japanese. They were all curious about me, I mean, a Japanese girl who is traveling here by myself. They gave me a nice blow dry on my hair, and I felt very clean.

I went to a tea house called ??? (the 1st character means bamboo, and the second one means home town, and the third is a house or building–in my Japanese way of understanding). I think I again had a high mountain tea. I didn’t write about the tea on my notebook, but the foods! I had a fried shiitake mushroom and tofu and seafood stew with a steamed rice in a bamboo container. Oh so delicious! I wanted to try shrimp with drangonwell tea leaves, but too much for myself. I didn’t have much time either, because I planned to meet up with Chad and Ella.

Ella speaks very good English and Japanese, and her friend, Selena speaks very good Japanese and English, so we had no problem to communicate whatsoever. They have never been to another country, but their language level was amazing! I spend so much time in the U.S., and I finally speak good enough English for people to understand me. It seems to take me a long time–those pronounciation classes! I still cannot get over “R” and “L” stuff. I just can’t hear it sometimes. My Japanese ears don’t catch them.

Ella and Selena took me and Chad to Danshui ????by the river. There was a nice view and many people. It looks a good date spot. We ate yummy stuffed tofu, sour plum juice, shrimp roll, and a wax apple and we headed back to Shilin. Chad left for his house party, and it became girl’s time! After we walked around Shilin night market, which is big and fun!, we went to have a cup of tea. It was an English style tea house, and I had a rose tea. It was very delicious and fun. We talked a lot in English and Japanese. I think Ella is better at English and Selena is better at Japanese, so our conversation was very cute! I was very lucky to hang out with them. Both of them were going to their parents’ house for the Chinese new year’s next day, so I could hang out with them only one day…sad… There was a crazy party at Chad’s apartment. So many Americans and Taiwanese. It was fun.

The next day was Saturday, so Chad and Chris hang out with me. Not me, but they were hang over, and I had a yummy cold noodle and a stinky tofu (that’s what it is called for real, and stinky like something rotten or boiled egg) by Chad’s house. There is a tea stand by his house, and I wanted to get a hot green tea and I couldn’t find it on the menu. I always pointed to the green tea one, but it is always cold. I wanted hot one, so I wrote ??? (warm-green-tea) on my memo pad, and they understood me! I love that Chinese characters break the language boundary. We went to a nice dimsum place in the central part of taipei, and we went to the East where a few big department stores and movie theathers are. There were no food stands, and the restaurants in those fancy buildings area and they were closed early, and we went to some bar. I had a whisky and a pasta and met a group of boys who love Japanese culture (that’s what they said to me). Earlier that day, we went to the modern museum and a nice park and played in a maze. That was fun. We cabbed a lot. One time, my Chinese character skill worked in a cab ride. We wanted to go to Warner Village, those department stores and movie theather area I mentioned earlier. The cab driver didn’t understand English, so I wrote ????, which I copied from my Japanese guide book with my beautiful handwriting (j/k), and the cab driver understood ! I took calligraphy lessons for 6 years when I was younger, so my handwriting is not so bad…Thank god my Kanji (Chinese character) exams. I used to hate them, but I really appreciated them in Taiwan. We went back to Taiwan University area where Chad and Chris live. I found the sign said Tofu-pudding, so I placed a to-go order and ate it at Chad’s while we watched Princess Mononoke. very very Asian….. so much food, but so healthy and so small, so you can eat many things…

I found a nice tea house by his house, and the name is …. I can’t find a chinese character under my Japanese key because I don’t know how to read it in Japanese. Oh I have a Chinese character dictionary. I should look it up. I found it! but my Japanese key pad seems not to have the character. I am sure the chinese version does it. Anyhow the place has an amazing looking. There are bamboos and other trees by the entrance and the inside is very nice too. You have to take your shoes off to get on the floor. It was very cozy and the tea was great. I had ????a kind of Taiwanese tea coming from a specific region. I don’t know how to write in alphabet). I didn’t write about it, but I belive it tastes like a white grape. very light. The tea leaves get huge when they were in the hot tea pot. It is like a rehydrated seaweed getting a big in hot soup. Wherever taiwanise tea house I go to, I get to have my own boiling water pot by the table, so that I can add hot water into my tea pot as often and as much as I want. I love this. I get to make my own tea and drink it in my own pace. Isn’t it so creative? I love that Taiwanese people enjoy this process and obsessed with the details of tea blewing. Oh, I had a candied pinenut with my tea. It was so simple yet so delicious.

My tea craziness becomes very intense in Taiwan. I am keep writing about it. To be continued..

I went through my camper shoe box in which I put a guide book, maps, and a museum catalogue of my Taiwan trip. I didn’t realize that I didn’t write anything about my last day in Taiwan, probably because I was busy for tea shopping and nervous about taking a bus to the airport by myself. When I arrived Taipei, Chad came to the airport to pick me up, and we took a bus and subway to his place near by Taiwan University, but on my last day, both Chad and Chris were working, and Ella and Selena went to their parents’ houses for Chinese New Year. I left a day before the Chinese new year’s day. I wanted to stay longer, but I want to spend more time in Japan too, so I guess I had to compromise.

I am usually good at direction, so I learned the subway system and rode a bus by myself next day to go to the Palace Museum. I had a my first “official” tea at the museum tea room. Of course, I had a cup of to-go green tea by Chad’s house on the way to the subway station which is 3 min away from his place. How convenient!

At the museum tea room, I had Taiwanese Oolong called, ??????I don’t know how to say in Chinese or English, but Japanese–TOH CHOH OOLONG CHA) Japanese people use Chinese characters but pronounce them very different, and some of the words mean different, and the grammer is very different. I can understand or guess each character individually, but a whole sentence doesn’t make sense to me. Any way, I think a Taiwanese oolong is lighter then other oolong from main land China. I have had it before in NYC, but it was very nice to have a cup of Taiwanese oolong with a great view and in a great tea room in Taiwan. It came with a tea candy which is dark green and tastes like a green tea. The taste and the wrapping paper, both are so classic, like something my grand mother gave me when I was little. It was very nostalgic…weird, it was my first time to be here in Taiwan.

After the museum, I went to a tea house located behind Sheraton hotel. It is called ???? I don’t know how to pronouce it. I could do it in Japanese way, but it doesn’t sound right. I had a high mountain tea. It was floral, but very elegant. There is no flower petal in the tea, but it has a floral fragrance like orchid. It is very light, but slightly sweet like a pear. It is very refreshing. Taiwanese tea in general is very light and taste and texture get richer in 2nd and 3rd blew. At this tea house, a server lady was so nice and spoke English, but I was not sure we communicated well. I think that complimentary sweet comes with a pot of tea, and during afternoon tea hour, which I assume between 2-5 ish, you can get as mush sweet as you want. I had 3 different kinds of sweets: a yellow bean cake?????a white and black swirl bean cake, and a rice cake covered with roasted soybean powder. They were not so sweet and just so delicate and yummy and beautiful. Everything was so tiny like two bites. The server asked me which one I liked the most, so I said the yellow one, and she gave me another one. She was super sweet. I had to ask which one doesn’t have egg and dairy because I am allergic to them. She was very patient and understanding, and picked those sweets for me. This place is a hidden house in the middle of the big city. so quiet and comfortable. While I was sipping my tea, I looked though the museum catalogue and decided to go back to the museum one more time for sure. And I did next day. I wish there were a Taiwanese tea house in Chicago too. Ten ren tea in Chicago doesn’t have a tea room, but the one in NYC does, but very different from the tea houses in Taiwan. There are several Chinese tea houses in NYC. Jimmy and I went to the one, not Ten Ren, but I forgot the name! Saint something…. I had a ginger black tea with black tapioca pearls. He had a coffee with tapioca pearls. very unique! and very good! NYC is fun…

Okay, I think I have to write Taiwan trip and tea III then….. who wants to read this? I guess at least me.

I wrote how much I love coffee before. I worked at Peet’s coffee and loved the work and enjoyed esspresso all the time. I think that they have the best coffee in the U.S. But among my friends I am know as a tea crazy! I went to Taiwan mainly because I wanted to go to tea houses. I read a book about Taiwanese tea and tasted high mountain tea at the Ten Ren tea in NYC a few years ago and loved it. I moved to Chicago and found Ten Ren tea in Chicago too! That was very exciting to me and I have been buying tea from them since. Ten Ren tea is a Taiwanise tea shop which carries other Chinese tea and Japanese tea as well. I love their Rose tea, but not the rose we see everywhere, but a different kind. It is good for women because it warms you up and helps circulation. It tastes great!

Ella from Taiwan contacted Harper when his website was shown in a Taiwanese TV show. They become friends and talk online all the time. Matiss’s friend from high school, Chad and Chris moved to Taiwan to teach English. I hang out with Chad a couple of times in Chicago before. He studies Japanese too. So since I know a few good people in Taiwan and love Taiwanese tea and always wanted to go there, I did! It was January 2004. I went back to Japan for Winter vacation and went to Taiwan for a week while I was in Japan. In that way, airfare is chearper than buying a separate ticket, like buying a round trip to Japan and a round trip from Japan to Taiwan. Instead, I bought one round trip ticket to Taiwan and stop-over at Japan. I stayed at Chad and Chris’s place. It was fun and they showed me around every night and the weekend. I really thank Chad and Chris!

Of course, I hang out with Ella too. Harper never met her, so it was very exciting to both Harper and me, and of course Ella too. I remember that I called her when I got to Taipei, she sounded very excited on the phone. We met a few days later and she brought her friend Selena and we all hang out. They took me a nice area by water front and a night market. We had a pink tofu stuffed with some noodle which my guidebook didn’t include. We also had sour plum juice. I think it was a little bit smorky too. It was refreshing. We had a crab apple which I never had before. We took Pri-cla–a sticker picture thing, which is on my fridge now. It was so much fun, and they were super super sweet. I want them my sisters!

There were a bunch of yummy snacks. They are all tasty and healthy. It was definately vegan friendly. I loved ??Tofwa?–I don’t know how to spell it in English– It is a tofu pudding or soy milk pudding which comes with toppings you can choose and a sweet ginger syrup. I love ?? for a topping (looks like a clear jello chips?), but it is actually a kind of mushroom or fungus, I think. I don’t even know if I spelled it right in Chinese character). Ella shows me a vegetarian word in Chinese-??, so I wrote it on my memo pad and showed it every where I go to eat. Thank god, I know Chinese characters! When people did’t speak either English or Japanese, I just wrote some Chinese characters, and they understood. That was amazing to me. I could read some of the signs or guess what they are. It was funny one time when I was talking to Chad over the phone to decide where we should meet up. He fist told me the place in Chinese and I didn’t understand because I don’t know Chinese, but we both know Chinese Characters, so he said some subway stations, and I asked like, “what are the characters?”, and he said like ‘west’ and ‘gate’ in English and I got it. Neat huh? Subway was very clean and convenient and easy. They announce 4 diffrent languages, including English. I think English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, and Hakka.

It was warm in Taiwan, although the owner of the tea shop told me that it was very cold that day. I just wore a long sleeve shirt and was fine. I went to at least 2 tea houses every day. Taiwanese tea houses are amazing. Interior decoration is very nice, not too showy, but very clam and minimal. One place has a nice garden. All of the tea houses are quiet. Price isn’t cheap, but you can make at least 5 or 7 cups of tea from one tea pot. Many people were quietly reading or chatting, simply enjoying their tea time. I felt okay to go there by myself and I always had a lot of questions….I am such a dork as far as tea goes…

There are so many different kind of tea, and I tried many kinds and I wrote down how they tasted like. This blog is getting a long, so I will write about tea in my next blog.