Traveling in Taipei 1 / 台北城市生活旅行 1

喫一碗茶

耳聞紫藤廬許久，卻只有三過其門而不入的命運。說來奇怪，我這個人不嗜茶，但是對茶道有種莫名的嚮往，可能是因為我鍾情於古老美好的事物吧！

Drinking a Cup of Tea

I'd heard Wistaria Tea House for many times, but I never had a chance to really go in and sip a cup of tea there. Strange to say, I seldom drink tea, but I am highly interested in tea art. It must be that I cannot resist old and beautiful things...

上個星期我和閒閒的超齡美少女相約到紫藤廬，打算來個很東方的午後茶。一走進茶坊，我就知道這是我會喜歡的地方。店裡都是木造的設計和擺設，入口有小小的販賣部，古拙迷人的茶具安靜地躺在木櫃上。因為客人不多，茶屋更顯得明亮寬敞，來訪的多半是上了年紀的人，所以我們倆像是誤闖的年輕女孩，唧唧喳喳，大聲談笑。

Last week I finally decided to visit the tea house with Alison, who is as carefree as me during summer break. I would like a very Oriental afternoon tea and think back on the good old days. On walking into the tea house, I fell in love with it right away. It's a wooden house with everything made of wood in there. There is a small shop near the entrance. The antique-looking tea cup sets lay quietely on the display shelf. Everything was so calm and relaxing. There were only two or three tables of customers, and that made the tea house seem bigger and brighter. Most of the visitors were middle-aged people, so we two were like young girls that went into the wrong place. We talked and laughed as if no one had been around.

因為不諳茶道，我把泡茶事宜一概下放給超齡美少女，同時我就在一旁拍照，超齡美少女有些俠女的氣質，她低著頭泡茶的模樣很有古意，有一度我還真以為自己來到不同的時空。不過外面的大路上來往的車輛和現代化的建築把我拉回到二十一世紀，窗外庭園偶爾也會出現手持相機的人潮，對著小橋流水按快門。

I am a layman when it comes to tea art, so I let Alison do all the tea-making stuff. Meanwhile, I was busy taking pictures. Alison looks like one of those young heroines in kung-fu fiction. The way she lowered head and concentrated on making tea gave me the illusion that I was back in ancient China. However, the bustling road outside and the ultra-modern architecture took me back to the 21st century. Occasionally, tourists came took photos of the small yard outside the tea house. They were not stingy with their film when they saw the green vines, the poetic ditch and the stone sculpture.

我們就這麼聊啊聊的，我看著遠遠的天色從輕色的藍轉暗紅轉深藍，我們說的話含擴了一年半的時光，茶館裡的時間像是靜止的，如果沒有這些外在的因素，很難想像一分一秒就這麼流走。

We chatted on and on. The sky outside turned from light blue to dark red to indigo. Our conversations were about the past one and half years. Yet it seemed timeless in the tea house. Without the external reminders, it was hard to imagine that minutes slipped by so fast.

如果你有很多話要說，我們去紫藤廬吧！

If you have a lot to say, then, let's go to Wistaria Tea House...

﹝註﹞：「台北城市生活旅行」系列的靈感來自平澤摩里子的新書「一個人的京都漫步手帖」，裡面提到了京都古城許許多多舊的和新的景點，台北城雖然沒有京都古老和優雅，卻有無窮的生命力吧！

Note: The series "Traveling in Taipei" was inspired by this new book on Kyoto. (This time I really have to apologize to my English readers because no matter how I searched on the Internet, I couldn't find the author's name in English and even the title of the book. It was written and illustrated by a Japanese woman writer.) In the book, the author introduced many lovely old and new places in Kyoto worth visiting. Taipei is not as historical and elegant as Kyoto, but this city has amazing vitality.

在書中，平澤摩里子提到如何泡好茶，看來我應該先閱讀再去喝茶囉！

In the book, the author shows how to make tea. It looks like I should read the book first before heading for Wisteria Tea House!