猫空。茶道

Today as we stepped out of our hostel, it was not the cold wind that greeted us but the rare sunshine that shone. It's a weird feeling having experienced such cold weather here in Taipei. But yet it feels great not having to pile on layers of clothes. (Heard it's pouring in Singapore now)

The place we visited today is called 猫空. Always wondered why the mountain behind our school is called Cat Hole. I was thinking there were lots of cats hiding in caves up in the mountains. But no... it's a longgg story. Let me begin... long before your time in Taiwan, the streams of water gushed down and hit against the rocks. As time went by, holes were formed. The stones stuck in these holes would create a deeper and larger hole as they swirled with the water currents. So according to our guide, the locals called such a phenomena "neow meng" , which means pockmarked face. When the Japanese took over Taiwan, they roughly translated it to 猫空according to the sound. Haha...Broken telephone. Interesting :)

壶穴

The holes are supposedly shaped like teapots I guess.

The potholes that form the "neow meng".

Me balancing precariously on the rocks

We headed back to 三墩石壶博物馆for a lesson in tea brewing. Honestly, I thought it would be one boring lesson. To my surprise I was pretty intrigued. Never knew teapots could come in all shapes and sizes. We were handed over by 彩凤to a funky looking 馆长with a purple bandana wrapped around his head. Don't be fooled by his dressing. From the way he introduces the history and process of teapot making, you can tell that he is no amateur. In fact, he is the ninth generation carrying on his family's tea business.

桃报壶 (Made in the 1960s)

Said to be one of the most precious pots in the museum. The pots here are really valuable with some so ancient they're 400 years old.

I personally like this teapot coz it's very contemporary looking

我第一堂茶倒与品茶课。

彩凤gave us a brief intro lesson to the many different teas... a bit confusing having to absorb the many different categories of tea. But I did rmb her saying green tea is bad for the stomach. Point taken.

Each of us were given a packet of tea leaves randomly. I got packet one. So I had to take the tea set one.

1. Pour your tea leaves into your cup.

2. Pour hot water into the cup, cover it and wait for 6 mins.

3. With swift fingers, pour the tea into your drinking cup.

4.Tada.... tea!!!

Think these are very basic steps. But it's still more complicated than the 3-in-1 tea I have at home. The real test came after making the tea. We were suppose to go down the row tasting the different flavours of tea and find out which two cups are the same. Ahhh... just like those matching games. I did try my best smelling and tasting the tea. I felt like a pro just doing it. Haha... I was panicking when she said it was time up. So I decided to try my luck and sniffed the tea leaves of cups 2 & 8 again. Yipeee!! Bingo! Sense of achievement. (okok cheap thirll..but still..) 大合照！

孙老师以前在SBC当过主播哦！

随便

Ended off with a sumptuous lunch called 随便. You know how when you ask ppl what they want to eat and they say 随便, you have to scratch your head. Here at this food store with no signboard or name whatsoever, you can really order a dish called 随便. Tada.. the hawker will give you a mixture of all the 腊味 (combination of duck meat, roast chicken char xiu, fried chicken). Yummy... wanna go back and try their 芙蓉蛋饭 (somewhere along those lines lar).