[Alishan, TW] - 茶山 95//Tea Mountain 95//Ca Ya Ma Vana - A Photo Essay [12.2018]

Last winter, I had the opportunity to go back to 茶山. Business has been so good that I wasn't even able to stay on a weekend! They were booked up over a month in advance, so I ended up having to stay from Wednesday to Friday. That said, if you plan on making the trip (I highly recommend it! It's incredibly relaxing and fun), plan ahead! Call or email and don't forget to have either a translator  (you could probably ask the hotel concierge or front desk at the hostel you're staying at) or be relatively fluent in Mandarin. In case you didn't get a chance to see my original post from a year and a half ago, it's here.

Disclaimer - each visit might have similar elements, but because it's the outdoors, activities will depend on the weather and season. Some of the activities we did this trip differed from the last few times I went, but it was still a blast! So what are you waiting for? Are you going to go or nah?

(Reservations - call: +886 937 356 215 or message through Facebook)

茶山95號客棧
No. 95, Qingshan Industry Road
Alishan Township, Chiayi County
Taiwan 605

The best bamboo rice I've ever had was here. This time, The Boyfriend was involved in the process. He had to clean out the bamboo, wash the rice, and stuff it just the right amount (need to leave space so the rice can expand).

I love the drive up. It's twisty but as it gets quieter and the city disappears, I just find myself relaxing and enjoying the scenery. Just watch out for the  crazy blue Delica truck drivers!

Almost there!

It's actually called Ca Ya Ma Vana by the local Tsou people. If you want to read more about any Aboriginal people from Taiwan, I would  suggest picking up some (and by some I mean an extensive amount) Japanese as I considered doing my MA Thesis on Aboriginals of Taiwan and the majority of texts were in Japanese Universities, with a few at NTU (some in Traditional Chinese, a lot in Japanese).

Don't forget to pluck off a delicious banana to snack on when they're ripe!

Right away, he was put to work slicing some fresh papaya. 

Probably can't tell from the picture, but these were super fragrant and sweet.

He'd actually done a lot of remodeling since the last time I went. This was a new "decoration" - a wasp nest. Are they really wasps though? Scroll down to see the big red monsters that built this!

The Alishan area is famous for its high mountain tea, and the tea at 茶山 95 is some of the best that you can't get in stores.

Honestly, not entirely sure what these are. We would hear the sounds of what sounded like pebbles being tossed, but they were actually these nuts that they kept calling "American peanuts." To eat them, you have to boil them. Otherwise, like water caltrop (菱角), they are poisonous  if you eat them raw. 

Seriously, once they ripen, they go fast. Be it people, birds, or bugs.

Like I said, it's changed a bit since the last time I was here. This area was opened up and now it looks much more spacious and welcoming. Not that it wasn't welcoming before ;)

They have also upped their branding game. They make their own brown sugar. They have a few options available such as regular brown sugar, or my favorite - ginger brown sugar. Some ginger brown sugars are too sweet without enough ginger, but this one is very good. The ginger taste is nice and strong the way I like it!

Papaya plant, in case you haven't seen one before.

You can order tea and coffee here, along with braised pork belly over rice.

Remember when I said he's in the wasp business? Gotta have gear to be near them right? This is one of the outfits he created just for the task.

It's an event in itself trying to get into the suit. By the way, those little circles are vents with fans because it's very thick material and it really traps the heat in there.

Driving up the mountains in Taiwan, there are always random trails. It just happened that one of these trails led to his hornets(?!)/wasps(?!)

After we returned from our mini expedition, we waited with Mom-cat as they prepped more gear to handle all of the hornet/wasps.

She is super soft and friendly!

Back to work! First you have to saw off the pieces before you can clean them and stuff them with millet.

Next step - clean the bamboo!

Now that they are the proper size, you can stuff them with the washed millet.

After they are stuffed and plugged with a few leaves, it's time to cook them!

Here comes the fun part! Sike. They have to open up the bag of monsters. They told us to move farther back because they are extra mean and the stings are no joke. We backed up and hung out with some four legged buddies instead.

 

I can't tell you enough - this guy is such a sweet, sweet dog.

Just look at this face! Savor it! Because the hornet/wasps are coming!

Once each layer is removed from the nest, they can extract the larvae. Milling all around the nest are these monsters. He tosses them in a jar of moonshine to make his own er, manhood enhancing concoction.

How he manages to not get a stinger in his hand while doing this is totally beyond me.

Seriously. It's a monster. You should hear them buzzing about!

Here's an extra big one...

While we play with the dog and cats, they are handling the hornet/wasps, and also grilling the mountain boar. It's scary and smells delicious at the same time!

It was pretty scary getting this close to the nest since there are still live ones in there. Those white things are the larvae and the next to be extracted.

I know a lot of people around the world eat these, but the way they move give me the heebies. It's like The Thing when it takes on your form. That top one is almost adult wasp/hornet looking, just not in color!

Kill it with fire!

Maybe it was hard to tell that the sun was rapidly dropping in the sky, so here's a picture with the scene metered for the flashlights. This was scarier as we couldn't see them anymore in the dusky evening, but we could definitely still hear them!

Fry up the larvae!

The variety of larvae was kind of interesting.

I'm actually not sure if this is something that they normally serve people. It could very much be just that we were there with my aunt and got to eat what they were eating. If you don't look at it, the taste is just whatever it's cooked in, and the inside is creamy like chicken nads. But the face... the face really threw me off. They are so high in protein I couldn't handle eating that many (ie they are very filling). I am thankful I got to try these though!

Pork belly and sausage! I love this. It really doesn't taste like this in the city.

Winter, summer, spring, fall - it always feels like hot pot time.

Chicken!

Bittermelon! I really liked the way this was prepared. Since I like  bittermelon so much, I am always looking for new ways to prepare it.

Egg "custard" with mushrooms steamed in bamboo. This is one of those things where if you've had it before, you probably already know how good it is. The thing is, it tastes even better when it's cooked in bamboo and gets that extra hint of bamboo flavor!

  

Follow Dog! He knows the way! Then we're gonna shrimp these waters, m'boy! Have to keep active after our big dinner to digest. And to get hungry enough to eat the shrimp we catch!

And maybe catch some crabs while we're at it 🦀🦀🦀

We're not this talented, but the young men who took us out shrimping caught these fish by just netting them. It's really hard because they swim so fast. But, it's worth it! They taste just like ayu - which is to say - delicious!

Plate full of sauteed shrimp - what do we do now?

 

Ah, remember that bamboo fill of millet The Boyfriend worked on?

Perfect to eat with these skrimps!

The beggars have arrived! Just kidding. I love them. We shared some snacks with them and called it a night.

 The next day, we wake up to one of my favorite things - locally grown Alishan coffee (it's award winning now too, folks!), and ginger sugar. This coffee doesn't need sugar, but I like the ginger sugar so much I munched on it between sips.

Last time I squeezed the fig skins. This time, The Boyfriend had the distinct pleasure of killing his forearms with the repetitive movements. Once he was finished, we had some time to kill so we worked on decorating some bamboo cups.

So while you can start out etching designs in the bamboo, you can finish up with some good ol' fire. Little Pi passed the torch over to the The Boyfriend who enjoyed his turn to burn some things and draw his favorite sea creatures on his cup.

Back at the fig jelly... after it solidifies, it becomes a nice gelatinous, cooling treat.

...especially with lime juice.

By the way, he grows some miracle berries. If you ask nicely, I'm sure he'll let you try one out! They're originally grown in Central Africa, and when you eat them, they coat your mouth and turn sour things, sweet! 

He had some fresh squash also, so he sauteed some for us to eat. Normally, I am not a squash person but this one was so crisp and tasty.

Still working on his sea creatures while more food arrives.

Fresh tofu, Alishan wasabi, a different squash (interesting how limited English is for these various squashes but they all have specific names in Chinese), cabbage, and milkfish for the meat eaters.

Some red dragonfruit and pickled daikon also arrived. All so very, very good.

After our breakfast, it was time for another activity! Off to play in the water we go!

So I bought a Nikonos V for underwater shots and was still learning at this point. I didn't want to make the same mistake I made last time of ruining my supposedly waterproof phone! 

Time for a massage!

 

If you get bored of playing in the water, there's always fishing! These are the same type fish that was caught the night before that taste like ayu.

This was my first time seeing a walking stick. It was bigger than expected.

They said that those things bite so we avoided touching it.

Here's that river fish that The Boyfriend caught. It always tastes better when you're the one to catch it!

 

After dinner, we went on a spirit walk of sorts. There's a natural spring up the road that has a fire in it. It's completely natural, and something we both had not seen before. We walked up in the dark behind Dog who is the bestest gud boy - he was looking out for snakes! Once we got to the top, we lit our bamboo with the fire.

 

Fire! This was really cool. They told us that if the fire gets too big, to lower the bamboo. If the fire starts to die out, hold it up straight.

 

When we got back to the homestay, it was time for some mochi making and moonshine! The leftover bamboo millet was pounded by all of us, and was the best mochi I've ever had. The texture was so soft and chewy, and tasted subtly sweet even plain since the millet had that flavor already. I tried eating some machine made mochi after this and it tasted so terrible and artificial even though it was a good brand. That moonshine with the wasp/hornet is very popular amongst the locals. It has some millet wine in there also so it's semi sweet and doesn't taste rough like it looks.

Stir fried some peanuts, ground them up, and then dipped the fresh mochi in them. This was heaven.

 

Special booze for the occasion!

 

And now folks, the last morning here in my favorite mountain paradise: fresh made pearl milk tea using their high mountain tea, perfectly QQ tapioca, handmade dumplings, high mountain coffee, and a dipping sauce of just vinegar and ginger, the way it should be. This breakfast was bittersweet as I wanted it to last, but it was so good I wanted to scarf it down like my brother might appear and steal it from me.

There's actually more than one homestay, and they are owned by two brothers. The older brother has started running to keep in shape. On his run this particular morning, he found some passion fruit and shared it with us.

He's also an ecologist and if you're interested in bird watching, he is the perfect guide! Also, Mom-Cat loves him. She follows him on his morning runs. They are the coolest pair!

After breakfast, it was time to do our last activity. They brought us up  higher to about 3,783 ft. This was also a new activity for me. Although it wasn't fully in season yet, they still managed to help us locate some fresh bamboo shoots. Once they pointed it out, it was time to dig at it. This was a bit scary with how steep the hillside was, but for the experience, it was worth it. Just watch where you put your hands... some of the bamboo have spikes around the rings, and don't forget that you're in the wild so there are definitely spiders and other insects running about. And, they aren't used to people so they can get a bit big!

Can you see it? It's pretty small, but oh so good!

Also found a random fungi!

It's ok to hold onto the bamboo to keep from slipping - it's really steep!

This is what it looks like if you miss it and it sprouts. You don't want to eat this.

Our haul.

After washing it, The Boyfriend sliced it up and sautéed it. But we'll get back to that after our lunch. 

Last lunch before heading back to the hustle and bustle of city life...

Fresh taro from the mountains

I believe this was cucumber. It was very sweet and crisp!

Catch of the day!

Some spicy chicken wings - they were very liberal with the chilis

Spicy tofu

Even this high mountain cabbage tastes better than regular cabbage. It has flavor, for starters!

Post lunch snack - freshly foraged bamboo shoots!

 

The towel was for all of the chilis that were tossed in there. Someone mentioned we should use a few but didn't mention just how spicy each one was! Once the spice fumes flared up, we all started coughing!

While extremely spicy (and you really can't tell from the picture, but I assure you, it was!), the texture of the bamboo was incredible. It just made me sad that all of the bamboo shoots I buy in the States are nothing like this.

Some of the cups that were made

Don't forget to pick up some brown sugar to go!

You can also purchase some of their pickled bamboo shoots. These were really good with breakfast. If I was 100% sure that I could bring these back to the States, I would have!

And now, I'm just going to finish this out with some pictures of Dog (I'm not telling you his real name because I don't want you to get the wrong idea).

Such a sweet, sweet boy 💚💚💚