Woke up at 6:15am to pack up and go for breakfast. The breakfast provided by the hotel...i must say it's not really nice. But then i guess the type of breakfast served is sort of the standard must-have in most of the hotels in Taiwan i.e. porridge plus vegetables, and (toast) bread with spread. Taiwanese apparently likes porridge for breakfast. The food is not to our liking. Even the pork floss tasted different.
After which we checked out from the hotel and heading to board the Renyeou bus to Sun Moon Lake (SML - also known as 日月潭). The bus ride will take around 2 hrs. However, the moment we stepped out from the hotel, a cab driver approached us and asked if we're heading to SML. He said he only charging us NT150 or NT200 each and the ride will only take 1hr instead. We're pretty hesitant at first but then after discussing we feel that it's better to reach there earlier so we dun have to be so rush to tour SML for we're heading to hualien in the afternoon too. We prayed hard that we dun get conned by the cabbie. Haha...
Indeed, we managed to reach there by 9am when it was stipulated in our itinery to reach at ard 10:30am. The moment we stepped out from the cac, this auntie from the ferry ticketing booth was like rushing us to get down faster and faster unload our luggage, buy the tickets from her and then rushed to catch the boat ride at 9:15am. Lol~ She was literally rushing us. And we hurried over to board the boat.
This is the view of the jetty where we set off for the boat tour:
The color of the lake is very clear and nice - those emerald greenish color. The first stop was Lalu Island. It isn't an island lor! Just a floating platform and they dun allow us to go up cos too many pple. Think it will sink. lol! Dunno why they called it an island cos i forgot the origins alr =p
Xuan Guang Si (玄光寺). It was actually a temple for Tang Sang Zang (唐三藏). For those of you who watched A Journey to the West, yes, i'm referring to the monk, Sun Wu Kong's master. It was pretty crowded there. Here's some pictures:
And we had to climb steps to reach the top. And Tom is so afraid of steps throughout the rest of the entire trip! U'll noe why later!
There was a super long queue to take photo with this stone. Apparently there's many tour groups from China on that day.
This is a picture of the temple. Inside is a statue of Tang Sang Zang.
This is another stone located in the same place.
The next stop is the island of the Ita Tsao Tribe (卲族). We explored around the area, bought some muah chee and the rest ate the BBQ 山猪肉:
Some tribal pple singing a medley of Teresa Tseng's songs and promoting their self-recorded albums.
The pavilion
Personally we felt that this picture is like narrating the story of 'How Bukit Merah comes about'. Remember the swordfish story?
The streets.
The stall where we bought the muah chee.
The stall where they bought the BBQ Pork.
This place is famous for producing this A Sa Mu Red Tea. We sampled it and it’s somewhat like the Lipton Tea in Spore although the taste may be a bit stronger. I got one box for myself =)
Then we walked further up and came to this Xiao Mi Jiu Museum (小米酒博物馆). Nth much inside. Just panels of information, telling us the process of making the 小米酒.
After which we went back to the main jetty, 水社码头 where we’re supposed to meet 陈叔叔, who will be fetching us to Hualien (花莲) later. Since we’re earlier than expected, I made a call to him and asked if he could fetch us earlier so that we could have more time to tour later too. He said can and after resting for a while, we explored the area for a proper lunch. Me and Tom also got some key chains there for souvenirs.
水社码头 signboard
The place where we rested…
We went to this eatery where Tom had Braised Meat Rice (鲁肉饭). Its very cheap, abt $1.50? Though a small bowl, but its nice. David and HP shared Beef Noodles and I had Dumplings Noodle.
After that we met up with陈叔叔 and we’re on our way to Hualien! An unexpected and exciting plus treacherous mountain road journey is awaiting for us. You never know what’s next!