The lunch or the view?

12th July 2019 0 By livinguktaiwan

I don’t think I’ve written abou this hike before because I can’t remember the exact location. All I can remember is the view and that it’s somewhere in Miaoli County in western Taiwan. Unlike my other rather challenging walks, this was a very pleasant one.
今次寫這一篇遠足之前沒有寫過，因為正確的地點我已忘記了。只知道在台灣苗栗縣某一個山頭。這次遠足比一般的較為輕鬆，因為我們是一群人一起去。其他朋友平時較少遠足，所以選擇了一條較輕鬆的路線。

STARTING THE WALK

There was a kiln at the beginning of the walk. It didn’t look like a factory, my guess its more like a small workshop. There were many small teapots resting on the table, and based on my limited knowledge of pottery it seems like they have come of from the kiln, waiting to be decorated. We lingered around looking at the teapots for a while before we started our ascend up the mountain.

遠足的起點經過一家製造茶壺的工場。工場還有一座用柴燒陶器的窯。我見到有不少已燒好的茶壺放在桌面上，應該是等待修飾吧。

THE VIEW

This walk was organised by my friend whom I normally go hiking with. He chose this relaxing walk because on this occassion his neighbor and some other friends came along as well. There was about 10 of us in total and I think they hike less than us, so he choose an easier walk to suit them. I remember now why I didn’t take many photos of the walk. First, because we were walking gently uphill on the road all the way. The breath was breathtaking as usual like this, and it was pretty much the same view all along. And second, I was chit chatting to some of the others so I couldn’t take too many photos.

流連了一回兒，我們開始起行上山。我發覺原來這次沒有拍很多照，但沿途都是連綿不絕的青山鬱蔥，清爽宜人。

THE LUNCH

Anyway, the highlight of this walk wasn’t the surrounding views like usual, albeit stunning. The best part about this was lunch. My friend had prepared some vegetable and different types of meat balls and fish balls. The lunch was simple, assorted soup but it was absolutely delicious. I don’t know if it’s because he had so many different ingredients in the soup, or because we were having lunch out in the open where food always taste much better.

其實這次遠足的亮點並不是風景，而是朋友為我們預備的午餐。簡單的一鍋雜菜肉丸湯，原來在山明水秀的大自然環境中，變得特別好味。

Here’s where we camped out. We found a gazebo which was perfect to chill out during lunch. A bit further away was a temple. Of course, no matter how remote you are in Taiwan, there’s always going to be a temple nearby. This one was only about five minutes walk away and was handy for us afterwards to use the facilities. Anyway, how could I not enjoy my lunch amongst such beautiful natural surroundings?

MORE VIEWS

After lunch, we ventured a bit futher up to walk off the scrumptious lunch The further up we went, the better the view. Maybe it was all about the view after all.