德國佬遊台灣 - 北部篇 IV German in Taiwan - Taipei and YiLan IV

接下來在台北的兩天，除了慶祝兔媽的生日外，阿旭獅和小緯兔也去了更多地方！
In the next two days in the North, except of celebrating rabbit's mom's birthday, we had also been to many places!

[歐風進佔台灣？]
"European style is taking off?"

這一天，阿旭獅與小緯兔來到了宜蘭頭城的伯朗城堡。

阿旭獅：「要不是上面有中文字，周圍講著我聽不懂的語言，還以為回到歐洲了啊......」

小緯兔：「歐洲這種古色古香的城堡氣息還蠻得台灣人喜愛的。」

除了在此享受早午餐、自拍到沒完沒了之外，我們途中也造訪了葛瑪蘭威士忌酒廠。

阿旭獅：「威士忌？！我從來沒聽過亞洲也有自釀的威士忌耶！」

小緯兔：「台灣人也不是不愛喝酒啊...... 何況，威士忌聽起來多有異國風情，哈哈！」

阿旭獅：「由此可知，台灣其實很願意，甚至是喜歡吸收各國的文化，然後再透過自己的優秀人才持續發展。總比某些國家的鎖國政策好多了！」

圖片來源：自行攝影

This day, lion Xu and rabbit Wei had been to Mr. Brown's castle in YiLan.
Lion: "If they didn't write chinese characters on the wall, I would think that I were back in Europe..."
Rabbit: "Well, this kind of european style is quite popular in Taiwan."
Except of brunch and selfies, we also visited the Kavalan Whisky Factory.
Lion: "Whisky?! I have never heard there's made-in-asia whisky!"
Rabbit: "Taiwanese don't actually reject alcohols... After all, whisky sounds so... mm... exotic!"
Lion: "You can tell that Taiwan is willing to absorb different cultures and try to make an innovation from it. It's much better than isolationism!"

圖片來源：自行攝影

[台灣總是在意想不到的地方讓人驚喜！]
"In Taiwan, there're surprises in every corner!"

接著我們來到了宜蘭車站周邊的幾米園區。

阿旭獅：「你看！我說得沒錯！台灣人真的很喜歡色彩繽紛的感覺！」（指著彩繪後的宜蘭火車站）

小緯兔：「對啊！看起來有精神多了！」

阿旭獅：「而且台灣人超愛拍照......」（先瞄了正在與幾米畫本中的人物合影的群眾，再望向兔子）

小緯兔：「兔爸、兔媽才是高手......」（雙手一攤）

兔爸：「永旭！來！站這裡，我幫你拍！」

為了避免在老媽的生日派對前就先餓昏，我們來到了三星吃卜肉！

阿旭獅：（望向一片綠油油的農田）「怎麼好像回到巴伐利亞鄉下來了......」

小緯兔：「哈哈...... 有想過退休搬到鄉下住嗎？」（竊笑）
（阿旭獅和小緯兔都是城市出生的孩子，度假時還行，要兩隻活蹦亂跳的城市動物搬到鄉下，可能比登天還難......）

阿旭獅：「如果兔子要搬去鄉下，那兔子就要一個人住了！」

兔子一家，除了小緯兔擔任人肉翻譯機，兔媽能說些基礎英語外，兔爸只能說有些語言苦手...... （連『也沒遠』這樣的台灣國語都說出口了嘛，哈哈！）那大家可能會想，兔爸和阿旭獅單獨在一起時到底該怎麼溝通呢？

阿旭獅和兔爸單獨在餐廳樓下抽菸（令人嘖嘖！）

阿旭獅：（指著一旁賣著三星蔥油餅的攤販）「那個是什麼？」

兔爸：（用著極度粗糙的英文）「啊就蛋...... 蔬菜...... 一起做......」

阿旭獅：（露出極度困惑之眼神）

兔爸：（大手一揮）「啊呀！台灣的披薩啦！」

事後聽到這句翻譯的眾人笑到差點跑卜肉吐出來，但路邊攤蔥油餅也成為阿旭獅最愛的台灣食物之一了！

圖片來源：自行攝影

Then we had been to Jimi park next to the YiLan station.
Lion: "You see? I know Taiwanese love colors!"
Rabbit: "Yes! I think it makes everyone more energetic!"
Lion: "And you guys love taking photos..."
Rabbit: "Well... my mom and my dad are experts..."
Rabbit's dad: "Yong Xu! Come! Stand right there, I will take one photo for you!"
In order not to starve ourselves, we stopped by SanXing for lunch!
Lion: (Looking at the extremely green fields) "How come I feel like being back in Bavaria..."
Rabbit: "Are you thinking about moving here after retirement? hehe"
(Lion and rabbit are both city-born-child, countryside is just enough for vacation. To live? I think it's more difficult than climbing up to the sky...)
Lion: "If rabbit's moving to the countryside, then he must live alone!"
So far rabbit's mom can speak basic English with lion Xu, but rabbit's dad is just not good with languages... (He cannot even speak mandarin without taiwanese grammar...) Then you guys might wonder, how rabbit's dad and lion communicated with each other, once they were alone...
Lion Xu and rabbit's dad were smoking outside of the restaurant (tztztztz)
Lion: (pointing out those green onion pancakes) "What are those?"
Rabbit's dad: (using poor English) "ah... eggs with... mm... vegetables... together..."
Lion: (expressing a really confused look)
Rabbit's dad: "Never mind! It's taiwan pizza!"
Yes, we almost let our meal out of our mouths, when we heart this perfect translation, but, "taiwan pizza" does become one of Lion Xu's favorite taiwanese food!

圖片來源：自行攝影

[難怪小緯兔那麼會吃！原來台灣人都很會吃！]
"No wonder rabbit Wei can eat that much! Taiwanese are talented to eat!"

晚間的生日聚餐，我們去了大家應該都很熟悉的陶板屋。除了因為來自德國的特殊嘉賓讓兔媽不惜在陶板屋眾目睽睽之下又叫又跳，也讓德國人挑起了「食」的話題。

史蒂芬：（翻著菜單）「所以是裡面挑一兩樣吧？」

小緯兔：「蛤？！哪有？是每一種要挑一樣。」

馬庫斯：（驚）「怎麼可能吃得下？！」

小緯兔：「一定沒問題的啦！」（拍胸脯保證）

阿旭獅：「你們兩個上次沒去自助火鍋趴，都不知道兔子的台灣朋友多能吃！整整四大盤就堆在桌子上！」

晚餐後，我們回到家中續攤。

小緯兔：「大家要喝什麼？」（已經全自動地把冰箱內的啤酒與白酒庫存一一搬出）

史蒂芬：「可是剛剛吃很飽，喝啤酒的話......」

小緯兔：（裝作沒聽到直接塞了一罐）「然後，這一罐是馬庫斯的。」

史蒂芬與馬庫斯：「......」

兔爸：「來！這裡還有牛肉乾！」

兔媽：「這裡還有餅乾喔！我再去拿小米酒！」

阿旭獅：（看著同鄉人）「現在知道小緯兔為什麼能吃了吧？」

圖片來源：自行攝影

 For the birthday party of rabbit's mom, we went to Tao Ban Wu. Beside of the drama when rabbit's mom met the special guests from Germany, there was a discussion of eating in Taiwan.
Stefan: (Looking at the menu) "So we just chose one or two from all of them, right?"
Rabbit: "Of course not! You have choose one from each of them."
Markus: (shocked) "We cannot eat all of them!"
Rabbit: "Ah! We will be just fine!"
Lion: "You guys didn't go to hotpot last time... You can't imagine how much they taiwanese can eat..."
After dinner, we went back home and continued to celebrate.
Rabbit: "What do you want to drink?" (Already bringing all beers and white wine out of the freezer)

Stefan: "We ate that much, if I drink beer..."
Rabbit: (Pretending not to hear and gave him one) "So, another one is for Markus."
Stefan and Markus: "..."
Rabbit's dad: "So, there's still beef jerky here!"
Rabbit's mom: "There're cookies as well! I will open that bottle of rice wine too!"
Lion: (Looking at germans) "Now you know, why rabbit Wei can eat THAT much!"

[實地才能感受!]
"You have to come here to feel it!"

生日聚餐的隔天，我們首先來到了菁桐。

阿旭獅：「好古色古香的車站！小小的，還是木製的！」

小緯兔：「我們現在要搭的就是台鐵平溪支線的小火車喔！」

阿旭獅：「那這張傳統車票我就帶回去作紀念。」

我們一路坐到了十分，沒想到即便天氣不佳，旅客還是絡繹不絕。

阿旭獅：「哇塞！這麼多人！該不會又都是大陸人吧？」（一臉擔憂地深怕又被大媽擠）

小緯兔：（側耳傾聽）「不是全部啦...... 還有日本人跟韓國人。」

阿旭獅：「那些飛在天空中的是什麼啊？！」

小緯兔：「天燈啊！我們等下也可以來寫一個。」

在阿旭獅第一次體驗到用毛筆寫字後，我們站在火車鐵軌的一旁，等待正確的時機。

阿旭獅：（望著站在鐵軌上與天燈留影的民眾）「這樣感覺超危險的！火車來怎麼辦？」

小緯兔：「車班時間是固定的，應該還好吧？」

阿旭獅：「兔爸又衝去旁邊拍剛駛過的火車了......」(一副無法置信的臉色)

當我們望著剛施放上天的天燈時......

阿旭獅：「以前我總以為，燈籠這種東西就是古代點蠟燭照明罷了。沒想到，你們還用這種祈福的功用，還真是大開眼界了！」

兔爸將睡倒的一行人載回台北後，我們又和兩位朋友去吃了港式飲茶。

阿旭獅：「我從來不知道港式點心可以這麼好吃耶！」

小緯兔：「對吧！在歐洲真的很難找到道地的亞洲餐廳......」

阿旭獅：「而且我終於知道為什麼你們那麼愛喝茶了！」

小緯兔：「為什麼？」

阿旭獅：「因為真的超好喝！」（又喝了一大口香片）「在德國，很多人都以為茶是生病的時候才喝的.....」

小緯兔：「是因為德國的茶太無聊吧......」

阿旭獅：「不過，雖然飲茶很好吃，還是要吐槽一點！」

小緯兔：「哪一點？」

阿旭獅：「燒鴨叉燒是冷的。」

圖片來源：自行攝影

Next day, we had been to JingTong first.
Lion: "This tiny old station is really cute! It's even made with woods!"
Rabbit: "That's right. We're going to take a special train right now."
Lion: "Then I will bring this ticket back as souvenir!"
Even the weather wasn't really good, tourists were still everywhere in ShiFen.
Lion: "Wow... Don't tell me that they're all chinese..."
Rabbit: (Trying to listen carefully) "No, not all of them... There're japanese and korean as well."
Lion: "What are those flying things over there?!"
Rabbit: "Lanterns! We can try to make one later."
After the first experience of writing calligraphy for Lion, we had been waiting the right moment to stand between the tracks and let our wishes fly.
Lion: "Isn't that actually kind of dangerous? What if the trains comes?"
Rabbit: "I guess it would be ok, they have fixed time schedule."
Lion: "Your dad is running to take a photo of the running train again..." (worried)
As we were staring at our lantern flying...
Lion: "I always thought that lantern is just a lightning thing in ancient time. It's kind of surprising that you can use it to make wishes!"
That evening we went to cantonese dim sum restaurant with two friends.
Lion: "I had never expected that dim sum can be this delicious!"
Rabbit: "Right? It's hard to find a real asian restaurant in Europe..."
Lion: "And now I know why you guys love to have tea!"
Rabbit: "Why?"
Lion: "Because it's super good!" (Another sip) "In Germany, most of people think that tee is only for, well, when you get sick..."
Rabbit: "haha... probably you don't have that many choices..."
Lion: "But, there's defect here!"
Rabbit: "What?"
Lion: "The duck is cold."

圖片來源：自行攝影

兔子點評：
Comments from rabbit:

台灣身為頗國際化的國家，接觸到歐美文化的管道也相當多元，因此部分企業為了拉攏部分客群，會一改一般的建築風格，頭城的伯朗城堡就是一個很好的例子。食物與服務品質實際上並沒有變化，然而因為建築具有一定的吸引力，愛嘗鮮的客人自然也會尾隨而來。個人覺得，如此引入不同文化特色的市場策略，是能夠帶來正面影響的。即便有人認為這太過重商主義，但反觀歐洲境內，除了中國城，又有多少亞洲文化被表現出來呢？台灣這樣多元的接納環境，我個人認為是利大於弊的。

另外，台灣其實不乏創新的人才，而是要看社會如何發掘他們，葛瑪蘭威士忌一例就能夠看出，台灣不是只有茶葉和高粱，非本土的產品，只要用心耕耘，依然能夠獲得國際肯定！（葛瑪蘭威士忌已經連續多年獲得了世界威士忌評比的大獎。）

As an international country, it's easy to get access of european culture in Taiwan; therefore, some companies would change building-style to attract more customers. Mr. Brown Castle is a good example. The quality of food and service isn't changed, but the building is already another spotlight. I personally think it's a good idea. Some probably thinks it's too mechanism, but if you've been to Europe, you can tell that there's extremely little asian culture to be seen. Embrace of multi-culture should be an advantage rather than disadvantage, right?
On the other hand, there's no lack of innovator in Taiwan, it all depends how the society is going to find them. Taking Kavalan as an example, there're more than just tea and GaoLian. (Kavalan Whisky has won so far many international prizes.)

從小到大，我們就被教導應該要勇於嘗試新事物，無論是另一條職業軌道，還是學習另一種截然不同的新語言，甚至是大口吃下異國食物！若遲遲踏不出第一步，那你永遠只能透過想像來經營自己的人生。就像是阿旭獅，若他沒有吃下那塊台灣披薩，或許他一輩子都不知道那三星蔥油餅的美好滋味，那他的台灣之旅，就還是有那麼一點點的不完整吧？下一個轉角，也許就有另一個驚喜在等著你呢！

We were taught to be courageous enough to try new things, no matter it's another path of career or another language, even trying different food! If you don't take that first step, you will always live in your own imagination. Like Lion Xu, if he didn't try that taiwanese pizza, he would never know how delicious it tastes, then there would be alway a hole in his Taiwan-journey. Just go for it! There might be another surprise behind the next corner!

「吃飯皇帝大」，相信許多台灣人對這句短語一定不陌生！飲食在我們的文化之中，的確是扮演了一個相當重要的角色，這也難怪中式菜餚、法國料理與義大利菜會被稱為世界三大菜系了！在德國，小緯兔偶而會帶著台灣與德國友人去嘗試些亞洲料理，吃到飽火鍋自然也是其中之一。回想起阿旭獅當天看著其他台灣人一盤接著一盤拿的神情，小緯兔都還能夠在電腦前噗哧地笑出來呢......

台灣人的好客，有一部分是準備豐盛的食物招待客人。我們飯前不禱告，也不像歐洲人會說聲「祝你好胃口」，而是說句「快吃！多吃一點！」，還拼命地為人夾菜！連晚間散步遇到鄰居時，搭招呼都是句「吃飽沒」...... 小緯兔也不知道，是不是因為之前很難獲得溫飽的關係，讓台灣人覺得，世間上沒有比吃飽更重要的事了！或許是從小訓練有素，台灣人的胃應該是在全世界當中，數一數二的大吧，哈哈！

"Eating is as important as an Emperor", I believe many taiwanese are pretty familiar with this sentence! Eating does play an important role in our culture, no wonder that chinese, french and italian cuisines are named the three biggest cuisines in the world. In Germany, rabbit Wei sometimes brings german and taiwanese friends to try some asian restaurants, all-you-can-eat hotpot is one of them. I still remember Lion Xu's face, when he saw that all taiwanese people were taking another plate after another...
One part of taiwanese hospitality is providing rich and delicious food to our guests. We don't pray before eating, we don't say "Guten Appetit", but "Eat! Eat! Have some more!", and we help you with chopsticks! Even when we see our neighbors on the street after dinner, we greet them saying "Have you eaten already?"... Rabbit Wei doesn't know the real reason why we say so, probably it was difficult to get enough food in the past, so we taiwanese feel that having enough food is the most important thing in the world! Maybe it's the training we took all the time during our childhood, I think our taiwanese stomach should be one of the biggest in the world..., haha!

人們為什麼要旅行？若只是為了觀賞美麗的風景、品嚐異國的美食，那大可託朋友買張明信片、上網查詢或是找最近的異國餐廳點菜就夠了。旅行要享受的是那過程，事前準備的戰戰兢兢、迷路時的手足無措、雙腳走在異國大地的悸動，你能嗅到不同於台灣的味道、嘗到不同於故鄉的酸甜苦辣，更能將旅途中的點點滴滴、萬般思緒帶回家！若從來沒造訪當地，我們永遠無法了解，這樣不同的文化，究竟是如何產生的。就像阿旭獅，來到十分才瞭解天燈的美，品味到了亞洲獨有的茶文化才懂得其中甘甜，嘗試過後，無論之後是褒是貶，都會是人生中一個最獨特的經驗吧？
話說，叉燒和燒鴨，應該一直都是冷盤上菜吧？看來我得請教一下香港友人了！哈哈

Why do we travel? For the beautiful view? For the exotic food? If that's so, we can just ask for a postcard, surfing on the internet or just go for an exotic restaurant crossed the street. It's the process you need to experience, the tension of preparation and the touch once your feet standing on a different land. You can smell different flavor and taste different ups and downs, and in the end, you can bring all the memories back home! If you have never been local, you can't never understand, where these astonishing cultures come from. As Lion Xu, who came to ShiFen to get to know the beauty of lanterns and the sweet of tea. No matter it would be a compliment or a judgement, it shall be definitely an unique experience.
On the other hand, I thought the cantonese duck is always served cold... I should probably ask my friends in Hong Kong then, haha!

待續

to be continued