Trekking through tea fields in the winter (morning) 茶園冬遊 （上午）

The other weekend was one of the coldest weekend in Taiwan, yet my friend suggested we go hiking on Saturday. He said he would come to pick me up at 7am, so early!! By 8.45am, that's when my alarm usually goes off, we had arrived at our destination. The temperature was only 2 degrees 😰.

之前有個週末天氣很冷，朋友卻偏偏提議星期六去行山，還說早上7點來接我。天呀，這麼早! 到達目的地的時候才8點45分，就是我平時鬧鐘響的時間。這天的溫度才只有2度😰。

We parked at Xitou, this area is very popular with locals in the summer as it's nice and cool. Xitou is around 1150 ASL and our destination Zhang Kung Lun mountain is 1520 ASL, so we have to ascend nearly 400 meters today. From the car park, we needed to go through Kua Huo Forest which literally translates to Living Happily forest, not a bad way to start a day. There weren't any signposts around but luckily some hikers had written the direction on the ground. 我們行山的起點在溪頭，一個蠻熱門的旅遊點，在夏天來過，很清爽和舒服，但那天是冬天啊! 溪頭在海拔1150米高，而我們的終點樟空崙山有1520多米高，這天會攀升差不多400多米。 從停車場出發我們要先經過快活林。附近沒有路標，但有行山人士在路上畫上指示， 我們就跟著指示進入森林 。

This hike is along concrete paths making is a very pleasant walk. There were plenty of greenery on both sides of the path, a little stream flowing down from the top of the mountain, and these plantations which look like yam leaves. It reminded me of the rainforest from my Machu Picchu trek in Peru which I wrote about a while ago.

這個步道是走石路所以很好走，兩旁有很多翠綠的植物，清澈的小溪，和一片片類似鮮芋的葉，感覺有點像之前我到秘魯馬丘比丘遠足時的熱帶森林。

About an hour later, we came out from the forest and the layers of mountain opened up in front of us. The contrast between the two worlds was very distinctive.

大概過了一小時，我們從寧靜的快活林走出來。從清涼的森林到迎面以來層層疊疊的山巒，同一個世界一線之差的分別很明顯。

As we continued up, we passed by a lot of tea fields. Taiwan tea is very famous, particularly green tea. No matter where you go, you can see lots of people drinking tea, and that applies even when you are hiking. On mid way, there was a store which had a terrace overlooking some tea fields and a magnificent range of mountains. It was only 10.30, and some hikers had already stopped here for a break and were making their tea. The gorgeous open view ahead of us was a great way to recharge batteries before continuing with the hike.

台灣的高山綠茶很有名，無論我們到哪裏都會看到台灣人在泡茶，行山也不例外。 在山腰上有一家小商店，店外有一個陽臺面對著一片綠油油的茶園，及中部四大名山之一的鳳凰山。早上10點半已有行山人士在這泡茶，還帶備不少零食。一邊賞茶一邊欣賞風景，休憩充電，然後繼續上路最好不過。

We passed by more tea fields on the way up. The higher up the mountain, the better the tea quality is, because there is less pollution and the air quality is much better.

沿途我們看到很多茶園。一般來說產於山上越高的茶的品質越好，因為在山上空氣清新沒被污染。

Finally, we reach our lunch destination ~ Ginko Forest, a fancy name the tea farmers have given their plantation. Next time I'll tell you what's so special about the Ginko Forest.

午餐是在銀杏森林旁。銀杏森林這個名字很有趣，應該是農民取的。 下次我會講講這個銀杏森林有甚麼特別。

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