ADVENTURES IN ASIA WITH LADYB AND GONGGONG
Story #16: our first Christmas and road trip in Taiwan Province.
Puli Town, Nantou County, Taiwan Province, China.

Dear Granddaughter Mila,

In the four big metro areas in Taiwan Province, you can get by without a car, but in our small town of Puli there are no city buses, so having a car is essential to get around town and see the island. Our Taiwanese friends helped up buy a 2004 Honda Accord. She’s 20 years old, but the previous owners took great care of her and she’s in pretty good shape, with 260,000km on the odometer. It has a sunroof and retractable sideview mirrors, so we are wallowing in the lap of luxury. Never had such a fancy car! I bluebooked it in the US and it cost us half as much in Taiwan.

All my life I called my cars, “Bessie”, in honor of my paternal grandmother. It can even be pronounced in Chinese, so why change? Voilà: BESSIE!

For Christmas, Evelyne made a nice decoration in our new place, seen below. The stockings are Korean and given to us by Taiwanese friends,

Merry Taiwanese Christmas!

To express our humble, sincere thanks for all they have done to make our move here such a success, we invited our Taiwanese friends to a Christmas Eve dinner in a really nice Hakka restaurant. Those dishes are of many we had by the end of the meal,

Bon Hakka Christmas Appetit!

We live 530 meters above sea level (masl) outside Puli. Christmas morning, we drove into the mountains to 730 masl to spend the night in a Chinese chalet, with its interior all decked in pine and cedar wood. It is called Lucca World in English and the very kind owner is named Meihua.

Meihua and her mountain chalet are adorable. What better place to spend Christmas and the night?

Within walking distance was a new restaurant, with Guangdong (Cantonese) roots. Only been open a year and quite beautiful. See below,

We asked the owner for a side dish of green vegetables. She said, “I’ll be right back”! She returned with an armful of Chinese chards from their garden,

We each got a bowl of (Christmas!) beef noodles with side dishes, along with a serving of fresh chards. It was really scrumptious. Like all over China, eating out is very affordable. This is an “expensive” place and only cost about 1/3-1/4 for the same thing in the West,

Two servings of beef noodles, sweet potato fritters, three side dishes, those fresh chards, a 600ml beer and a pot of excellent Taiwanese oolong tea. For the two of us? €/$20.00!

The next morning, Meihua prepared a really interesting and delicious breakfast. It was the first time either of us had seen baby corn in the husks and not in a can or jar.

Breakfast dessert? Sweetened red beans and tiramisu. Puts a plowman’s breakfast to shame. We didn’t eat until dinner, when we got back to Puli!

Then the big climb to Mount Hehuan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hehuanshan). Hehuan (合欢) means silk tree, family reunion or making love in Chinese, so be careful how you use it! At 2,600masl, we gazed over a lush valley below, with lots of greenhouses pinned to the mountainsides. It was already in the afternoon, so the warming air from below was rising quickly, creating condensation and clouds.

We turned and wound and wound to finally get above the tree line at 3,000masl. There was a rest stop at 3,070masl. I have a t-shirt from a Shenzhen friend who owns a hotpot restaurant. All his staff wear one and in Chinese it says, （快乐很重要）Being happy is very important. I’ll say. Thus, we present it when posing for fun photos.

We then went another couple of clicks to Wuling Pass （武岭）, 3,275masl, which is the highest place in Taiwan accessible by car. It is nestled between the East and West Hehuan Peaks, both 3,420masl. By this time, the West Peak was in the clouds, as was the view behind us towards the west. Only to the east looking towards the Pacific coast was it still clear. In any case, it was cold. Everyone was wearing parkas and hats.

In the future, we need to go early in the morning, before the atmosphere heats up and the rising warm air condenses into clouds on the mountainsides. It was very beautiful in any case. We’ll also be better prepared clothing-wise, to take hikes in all the mountain national parks.

On the way back, we stopped to drink some famous Taiwanese oolong tea, while overlooking a reservoir. When we told the owner about our sumptuous breakfast and that we had no appetit, he gave the pot of tea for free!

What a great first road trip in our new home of Taiwan Province. We look forward to many more!

Love, Grandfather Gonggong

PS: LadyB waves Merry Christmas!