Whenever I drink oolong tea from Taiwan it always brings back so many memories of great food, friendly people, and of course flavourful teas. Recently I opened up a package of tea I had bought from our homestay owner and tea grower in Rueili Taiwan (part of the Alishan region) when we travelled to Alishan in 2013. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to go to their tea garden while there, but we did get to have tea with the owner and visit his shop across from the homestay.
Here is the tea that I purchased. A 2013 Alishan roasted oolong that was picked in the spring, their middle grade. I found when this tea cooled down, the roasted flavour came out even more.
53.1 Homestay is the kind of place that makes you want to stay longer. It's by no means for the frugal though, the homestay has a lot of comforts, is spacious, and warm, and was a nice retreat from the smog and noise of Taipei but it is on the pricey side for Taiwan (but average for the location). I was there last year for 2 nights. When I was planning the trip I searched the web for info so I thought I'd post about our stay to help future travellers.
We set out for Chiayi County on the high speed rail (NT$1045 in 2013) which got us there quickly but no buses from the high speed rail go towards Alishan. Our homestay was about halfway to the Alishan Scenic Area so we had to take a taxi which took a little more than an hour winding up the mountain. If you take the regular trains, it is slower but there are buses in the morning that go up the mountain and saves you money.
Here are pics of the homestay...
 |
| Arrived late afternoon, so the fog was setting in. |
 |
| Too much fog so we couldn't see the sunset both nights, disappointed but what can you do... |
 |
| Common area |
 |
| Our room, 53.2 |
 |
| Wall of the dining area |
 |
| First breakfast |
 |
| Yes, there are persimmons in the sandwich... |
 |
| Second breakfast |
 |
| A trail you can walk up but it is very steep... |
 |
| It was slippery that morning so we didn't make it to the lookout, just stopped in the middle of the bamboo forest. |
We had a nice local dinner our first night, getting there was quite a challenge since the area was covered in fog, the sun had set and there were no street lights. Luckily our phones lit the way and a local dog accompanied us as we walked the 5 mins to the restaurant. Here is what we had...
 |
| Local restaurant, no frills but good home-cooking style place. |
 |
| 龍鬚菜, the literal translation is dragon's whiskers or beard. Had to look this one up, they are chayote shoots which are common in Taiwan. Quite a nice tender green. |
 |
| Fresh stir fried bamboo shoots. Simple yet surprisingly tasty |
 |
| Tea oil fried chicken |
 |
| Monkey mushroom soup. |
 |
| A close up of the soup. |
 |
| Dessert: fresh persimmons. |
I really enjoyed the soup as the mushrooms were very "meaty" in texture and the soup itself was "sweet" in a broth kind of sense.
I'll be posting the recipe soon!
Unfortunately in Toronto we don't carry fresh monkey head mushrooms, only dried. The dried mushrooms were very mushy once reconstituted thus it just wasn't the same. It can be still made into a soup though and is supposed to be healthy, only you don't really eat the mushrooms.
 |
| After dinner we had tea and pumpkin seeds. The pumpkin seeds were so sweet and can be purchased there! |
And the next day hiked the Alishan Recreation Park.
The owner and his family were really nice and helpful. They also drove us to the Fenchihu town for us to sightsee after hiking.
 |
| Luckily we got to see the sunrise amidst a tea garden our second morning before leaving |
