The Largest Tea Museum in the World, Old Town, Cycling, and of course, Swimming

Last weekend a small group of us visited a town east of Taipei by the name of Pinglin, literally meaning “forest on level ground!” Sweet! After a 45 minutes bus ride from Taipei we arrived.

First stop was to visit the world’s largest tea museum and learn everything one could possibly want to know about tea ranging from cultivation to drinking techniques. After strolling through the museum we tried the famous bao chung tea.

Tasting some tea before visiting the fields - Intense process...

Quenched of knowledge and actual tea we moved on to the old town area and ate lunch. Perfect timing allowed for us to eat and for the rain to pass by before we continued on to the tea fields.

The Main Strip

Deeper into town

A failed attempt at renting bikes led us down to the riverfront to check out the river. Due to a ban on fishing, the water is loaded with “flashing fish.” Not sure as to their real name, but you can imagine the reflecting sunlight coming off the fish. We hung out along the river for about 30 minutes skipping rocks and chatting, and then ventured back to the shop to see if the roads had dried enough to rent bikes.

Sweet Fog in the Mountains

Riverfront

Nature!!!

We were in luck and within a few minutes we were equipped with some pretty ridiculous little bicycles. About 5 minutes later we were on a bike path that weaved through the tea fields and followed the river. After about 3 km we turned back around and found a nice spot to take a dip.

Paul insisted on giving Katie and I a lift to old town

Katie, Paul, Me, Cecelia, Libby, Winnie

Almost cycled into this dude- Can you say heart attack?

We swam until dusk and then hopped back on the bicycles and raced back into town in time to catch the last bus back to Taipei. Upon returning the bikes, the owners of the shop gave us free tea and tea caramel – delicious!

A quick ride landed us back in Taipei ready for dinner. We decided on Indian food. Two of the girls had never tried it before, and after not being able to find the “ideal” restaurant, we settled for the only one we could find.

Should have taken the clue when we walked in the door that it might not be too good. Next to the kitchen was a wood carving of an American Indian. Slight misunderstanding in translation, oops. Anyways, the food was alright and satisfied our needs before catching yet another bus back to Chungli and ending another awesome day trip.