In this edition of Fast Five: Eye hospitals, boba tea, and a unique massage.
Welcome to the Taiwan edition of Fast Five! In this new feature, I’ll talk about some of the most fun and interesting things that you can do in a specific country.
These things are meant to get a glimpse of Taiwan’s culture, food, and the local scene. I won’t go into a wall of text explaining each of the things (that’s why it’s called the Fast Five!) but there’s just enough detail for you to decide if you want to check it out – and if so, I’ve provided all of the info so you don’t have to spend hours Googling. ;)
Can’t wait to see what’s inside? Here’s a mini table of contents of things that I’ll be talking about today:
1. Boba-making class
2. Knife Massage
3. Tea Plantation + Ceremony
4. Cat village
5. Ice cream in Eye Hospital
Let’s check out the rest!
TAKE A BOBA-MAKING CLASS AT THE BIRTHPLACE OF BOBA
春水堂
The first time I heard about boba tea (also known as bubble tea) was when Mai, my Bigs from my fraternity, mentioned going to some place called Purple Kow. Why was the cow purple? Wtf is boba tea? As I quickly learned, it was this delicious mix of milk, sugar, tea, and chewy tapioca balls (hehe) called boba.
A little background history: The owner of Chun Shui Tang went on a business trip to Japan in the 1980s, saw how they made their iced coffee, and had an idea. He would shake the cold tea before serving it and created bubble tea. A few years later, the cafe’s Product Manager was drinking her regular cup of tea and decided to add a few tapioca balls on a whim, thus making the world’s first boba tea. Voila!
If you’re a boba tea lover like me — or want to become one! — take a Boba Class at the OG Chun Shui Tang location in Taichung. I booked this one from KKday and loved it!
Even though the class was supposed to be in Mandarin, our instructor, Easton, spoke perfect English and was extremely helpful when showing us how to make the tea.
We first got to learn the history of boba (like I mentioned above) and then dove straight into creating the perfect drink. Our first drink was the classic bubble tea, where we mixed all of our ingredients into little shakers (how cute!) and poured it like a bartender. Next up was everyone’s favorite, boba tea, which was very similar to bubble tea but had a few extra steps, like soaking the boba. In the end we even got a surprise gift from our instructor, but I won’t spoil it for you. You’ll have to take the class and see! ;)
WHERE: Taichung, Taiwan
TO BOOK: Click here to book the boba making class through KKDay
PRICE: $20/person (includes teacher, supplies, and gift)
DE-STRESS WITH A KNIFE MASSAGE
刀療
Are you always on the edge? Have a few sharp pains here and there? Or maybe some dull muscle aches? Ok, that’s enough knife puns – I think you get my point ;)
You’ve probably tried a Swedish, Thai, Deep Tissue, or another kind of massage, but have you heard of a knife massage? It’s true, and Taiwan is home to this popular and unique style of massage.
Here’s how it works: You lay down on a massage table, cover yourself with a thick blanket, and try to relax as much as possible. The massage therapist then takes a (dull!) butcher knife and begins to gently chop you into pieces “massage” your neck, back, arms, and feet.
According to my massage therapist, this practice goes back over 2,000 years. Every time the therapist strikes your body, it is believed that the knife transfers energy and hits important acupressure spots.
So how did it feel? When I was laying down and waiting for the massage therapist to do the first move, I felt her hand doing mini karate chops to my back, kind of like a traditional Chinese massage. After about 20 minutes I kept feeling the same move until I realized that was the knife actually massaging me, not her hand!
Overall, it was an interesting experience and I would recommend trying it at least once. My muscles were aching from walking around all day, and this massage helped relax and soothe some of my pains. I also felt more flexible and like my body had turned into pudding.
If you want to try this knife massage for yourself, head over to Taipei Main Station (台北車站) and go to the bottom level where there are stores and kiosks. Find Exit Y13, and there should be a red and yellow colored massage parlor.
WHERE: Taipei, Taiwan
TO BOOK: In-person, just show up! We came in the evening and there was no line
PRICE: $30 for a 30-minute massage (they have different options)
Credit: Pixabay
TASTE THOUSAND-YEAR OLD TEA
台湾茶
No, I’m not trying to poison you with extremely old tea, don’t worry. ;)
Taiwan is famous for its unique tea, which mainly comes in three types: oolong tea, black tea, and green tea. In fact, there’s even a competition held every year to judge the best tea from around the world – and Taiwanese tea growers make the top 10 every time!
If you’re interested in trying authentic Taiwanese tea, I recommend starting with a tea plantation tour. I opted for a guided tour because I’m a complete noob when it comes to tea and normally get my fix from those Lipton tea bags. During the tour, our guide, a Taiwanese local who’s been drinking tea for over 55 years (!!) gave us a crash course of everything we needed to know about tea.
We drove to the outskirts of Taipei to see the gorgeous Thousand Island Lake, met with a tea farmer, and even got to pick the leaves. Afterward, our guide took us to the Pinglin Tea Museum (which honestly deserves its own blog post, but that’s another story!) The museum had dozens of rooms about tea, tea, and more tea!
The history of tea, how it made its way around the world, different packaging of tea (my favorite), the culture of gifting tea, and so on. At the end of the tour, we were invited to a local shop for a tea ceremony, where we got to taste some of Taiwan’s finest quali-tea brews. If you’re a foodie or want to learn more about tea, this is the perfect tour!
WHERE: Pinglin, Taiwan
TO BOOK: We used Klook, the Asian version of Viator, to book our tea plantation tour. There’s also a very similar tea tour on Viator as well.
PRICE: The price per person varies, but generally around $50~70 per person. If you prefer to DIY, you can pop into any tea stores around Taiwan and ask if they do tea ceremonies.
MAKE FURRY FRIENDS AT THE HOUTONG CAT VILLAGE
猴硐貓村
You’ve probably heard of cat cafes in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, etc … but have you heard of an entire cat village? That’s right! Taiwan has their own town where most of the residents are cats – and it’s called the Houtong Cat Village.
It takes less than an hour to get from Taipei to Houtong by train or car and there’s plenty to do. It took us a few hours to get around the entire town, which features restaurants, cafes, souvenir stores, and bakeries – all decorated in the theme of cats. If you’re lucky, you might even see a few of the cat “locals”!
This was one of my favorite places in Taiwan, and if you’re an animal lover, I highly recommend visiting the cat village. It’s a short trip from Taipei, a perfect “off the beaten path” city, and you only need to spend a few hours to get the whole experience.
WHERE: Houtong, Taiwan
PRICE: Free! You can buy treats for the kitties at one of the local stores for around $2~3
SAVOR OVER 25+ VARIETIES OF CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM AT AN EYE HOSPITAL
宮原眼科
What do an eye hospital and chocolate ice cream have in common? Absolutely nothing …unless you’re in Taiwan ;)
The Miyahara Eye Hospital was originally opened by a Japanese ophthalmologist in the 1900s, but after a string of earthquakes, the original building became uninhabitable and the government planned to tear it down. However, a company called Dawn Cakes stepped in, completely redid the entire building, and reopened it as a store and cafe in 2011. Although it wasn’t originally on my list of places to visit in Taichung, I kept reading rave reviews about their ice cream and stopped by on my last day, and I’m so glad that I did!
The building is split into two parts: a store that sells sweets and a small ice cream cafe. We explore the store first, which looked like a gorgeous antique library filled with boxed cookies instead of books. They had hundreds of different pastries like matcha cakes, coconut truffles, red bean cookies, and so on. If you’re on the hunt for a cute and unique souvenir, stop by the shop and pick out a box – they have gorgeous decorations and are well priced (around $10 for a medium sized box).
The second part, although smaller than the sweets store, is the most popular out of the two: it’s the ice cream cafe! When we arrived, there was a long line out the door with locals and travelers who wanted to try this famous ice cream. If you can, go inside the cafe and grab a piece of paper with all of the flavors listed before standing in line. There are over two dozen flavors of chocolate ice cream alone (I counted 27), plus exotic flavors like Oolong Tea, Mango, Mascarpone Raisin, and 30 more. The flavors change monthly, so you never know what’s up next! For an extra few dollars, you can also add toppings to your ice cream.
If you’re melting from the Taiwanese heat, stop by the Miyahara ice cream cafe and get yourself a treat – they’re open from 10 am to 10 pm every day!
WHERE: No.20, Zhongshan Rd., Central Dist., Taichung City, Taiwan
PRICE: Depends on what you’d like. Here’s the current price list (2018):
One scoop: $90TWD / $3USD
Two scoops: $160 TWD / $4 USD
Three scoops: $225 TWD / $5 USD
Extras:
Waffle bowl: +$20 TWD / $0.75 USD
Three extra toppings: +$80 TWD / $2.75 USD
Which things are you most excited to do in Taiwan? Let me know in the comments below!
