Dez, Donovan and I went out to breakfast before we were all set to board a charter bus south.
Most people slept during the 90-minute drive. I don’t think we all realized we were about to embark on a grueling uphill hike into the jungle.
The hike just kept climbing up and up. In the jungle it felt like 100% humidity so everyone was soaked in sweat.
The stairs were really slick in the downhill areas. Multiple people fell. I’m usually pretty sure footed and I took a hard fall in this stretch, too. Gonna feel that in my back tonight.
We hiked 4 miles but that included 88 flights of stairs.
The hike took a lot longer than we expected. It was 1:30pm and everyone was hungry. We jumped back on the charter bus for the short drive to Beipu Old Street to experience some traditional Hakka food and culture.
After lunch we visited a Hakka tea house to make our own lei cha (擂茶). The name literally means “pounded tea”. You grind a mixture of peanuts, tea leaves, sesame and pumpkin seeds, and grains until it’s a fine pulp.
At last they said the mixture was fine enough. Now they pour boiling water into the clay bowl and scrape the sides to quickly mix it.
They brought out bowls of rice and dried goji berries.
Finally, they poured our mixture into these bowls and we were instructed to stir them with a small wooden spoon.
I thought it had a really unique nutty flavor. The rice had a good texture and we ate it kind of like a soup. It’s a lot of work to make this by hand!
With 30 minutes to kill we toured the old street.
Everyone has so much packing to do tonight! Will they find room for their oversized cat plushies? Mounds of jelly straws and mochi candies? Clothing and skin care products? How much whisky can I squeeze into the gaps of my luggage? All these questions and more will be answered by tomorrow morning!