Sunday 16 March 2014
Maokong
I've been in Taiwan for a week. Last Sunday, almost immediately after checking into the hotel I went with a number of Mozilla people to Maokong Gondala and did a short hike around Maokong itself, to Yinhe Cave and back. I really enjoyed this trip. The gondala ride is quite long, and pretty. Maokong itself is devoted to the cultivation and vending of tea. I haven't seen a real tea plantation before, and I also got to see rice paddies up close, so this was quite interesting --- I'm fascinated by agricultural culture, which dominated so many people's lives for such a long time. Yinhe Cave is a cave behind a waterfall which has been fitted out as a Buddhist temple; quite an amazing spot. We capped off the afternoon by having dinner at a tea house in Maokong. A lot of the food was tea-themed --- deep-fried tea leaves, tea-flavoured omelette, etc. It was excellent, a really great destination for visitors to Taipei.
