Trekking through tea fields in the winter (afternoon) 茶園冬遊 （下午）

In my last post about my hike to Zhang Kung Lun mountain on a cold winter morning , I stopped at my lunch spot, the Ginko Forest and promised to tell you what's so special about it.

我在上個帖子談在很冷的一天去樟空崙山遠足。帖子完結前，剛到午餐地店銀杏森林，但沒時間跟你講這地方有甚麼特別。就現在講講吧。銀杏森林這個名字很有趣，應該是農民取的。 這就是銀杏森林。

In case you're wondering where the forest is, it's those sad looking twigs dotted in the field. Growing tea is the main source of income for farmers here, but the authorities has dictated that they must grow tress in order to cultivate the land and has offered a subsidy to do so. The cunning clever farmers choose to grow ginko trees because they are not actually suitable for the Taiwan climate. They don't have a lot of leaves and don't bear any fruit. This is perfect for the farmers as they are low maintenance, won't interfere or shade over the tea bushes beneath it, and most important of all, the farmers can still claim the subsidy from the authorities. Clever or what?

看不到森林? 在田中一棵棵好像枯了的樹就是噢！在這裡，種茶是農夫的主要收入來源，但政府為了護土規定農民一定要種植樹木，而且還可以申請支助。狡猾聰明的農夫就選擇種銀杏樹，因為銀杏其實不太適合台灣的氣候。它們不會長很多葉不會也不會開花結果。農民不用花功夫打理樹，銀杏樹又不會遮擋太陽，可以繼續在樹底種茶。最重要就是農夫種了銀杏樹之後，可以向政府申請支助。你說不聰明嗎?

Lunch was at the restaurant next to the Ginko Forest facing the mighty Alishan (Taiwan's most famous mountain).

午餐就在銀行森林旁邊的餐廳，面對著台灣有名的阿里山山脈。

We each ordered a hotpot which came with a plate of meat, you can chose between beef, pork or lamb. There was also a big plate of locally grown organic vegetable. Even an unhealthy person like me who don't usually eat much greens found it very appetising. I particularly liked the purple cabbage as I hadn't seen that before, it was very tender and sweet, and just needed less than a minute to cook.

我們點了火鍋。火鍋包括 一碟肉，可以選牛肉，豬肉或是羊肉，另外有一碟當地耕種的有機蔬菜。蔬菜很豐富，連這個平常很不健康又不太吃蔬菜的我，也很快吃完整碟。蔬菜之中，我特別欣賞紫色大白菜，因為以前沒見過，而且它的確很鮮甜，只要燙幾十秒就可以吃。

Outside the restaurant was a truck selling vegetables, including the purple cabbage we just ate. The truck owner said this variety is imported from Europe but he couldn't remember where in Europe. According to him, there are only three farmers in the whole of Taiwan who grows them. I bought some purple cabbage to support the local economy.

在餐廳外有一個帥哥年輕農夫在售賣他種植的蔬菜及其他農產品。原來剛才吃的紫色大白菜就是出自他的農場。帥哥說這一個品種是從歐洲引入，但他忘記歐洲哪個國家。據他說，台灣只有三個農夫在種植這個紫色大白菜。為了支持當地農民，我買了一棵紫色大白菜。

The last part of our hike was to go up the Zhang Kung Lun mountain. In fact, from this point we just need to climb a little hill to get to the trig point at the top. Here's the trig point and the surrounding view.

遠足最後一段路是要攀上樟空崙山。從銀杏森林上去只有一個小山坡，不用五分鐘就到山頂的三角點。 在樟空崙山頂可以遙望遠方廣闊翠綠的山峰，很舒服。

Finally it was time to head back down to the car park. By the time we got back it was 1650. The weather was only 7 degrees. I did say it was a cold weekend.

我們沿著早上的路返回山下的停車場時已經是4點50分。天氣只有7度，我都說這個週末很冷。



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