Taiwan2011 Day 3 - 161211

Day 3 - Taichung > SML > Taipei

0700Hrs - Woke up and had a great view of Sun Moon Lake.  This is one of the reasons why we chose this Min Su and room.  It costs NT$3000 per night and I think it is still worthwhile.

View from our room.

 The name of our hotel : Shui Yang Min Su.  Quite a decent hotel I guess.  Not very well-known but the environment and cleanliness is okay.

 Decided to take a stroll around the hotel as breakfast is available only at 0730Hrs.

0730Hrs - We had a traditional Taiwanese-style breakfast which consists of tapioca porridge with a lot of dishes like egg, salted vegetable etc.  They cooked specially for us as we were the only guests around that day.

0800Hrs - We set off for our 1-day trip around Sun Moon Lake with our cabbie Mr. Zhan who arrived on time outside our hotel.

Our first stop was Ci En Pagoda which is the nearest attraction to our hotel.

 You need to stroll up the Ci En Pagoda.  It is around 500m.

 Finally a peep at the Ci En Pagoda.

Very tall.

View from the 2nd floor

 I climbed up the Pagoda to get a view of Sun Moon Lake.

Not much luck at the top.  Could barely see the lake.

 We took turns to hit the bell thrice before making our way down.
















The next stop is Wen Wu Temple.

I love these architectural designs! 

Very beautiful temple and you can spend some time appreciating the architecture of the temple.

 A view of Sun Moon Lake just opposite Wen Wu Temple across the road.

 Some food stalls nearby and my favourite was the Cha Ye Dan (Tea egg).

After leaving Wen Wu Temple, Mr. Zhan brought us to several scenic spots to take photos but it was too foggy by then.  Therefore we were unable to take good photos of Sun Moon Lake.  Mr. Zhan suggested that we leave Sun Moon Lake as there was nothing much to see since the weather was so foggy.  We agreed and let him arrange the itinerary for us.

First, he brought us to Shui Li County and we went to CheCheng Train Station.

 Arrived at CheCheng Train Station and there wasn't much fog like in Sun Moon Lake.  Mr. Zhan explained to us that CheCheng Train Station is at a much lower altitude than Sun Moon Lake and that's why it is less foggy and more windy at CheCheng Train Station.

 A dam at the far end of the photo. I have never seen a dam before.

Part of the old-fashioned train.

 Mr. Zhan told us that CheCheng Train Station was used by the Japanese to transport timber down the mountain.  Before transporting them down, they did some processing which the museum in CheCheng introduces.

 There are some shops selling hand-made wooden gifts like wooden model houses and stationery boxes.

A closer view of the dam.

HAHA! A pair of Yuan Yang.

 This is a real train and many Taiwanese schools brought their students to CheCheng Train Station as an excursion and they are now boarding the train back to Jiji Station which they came from.

 You can see that there are indeed many Taiwanese schools doing the excursion.

It is a very educational attraction here at Shui Li county and I recommend tourists with young children to visit this place and give them a feel of how trains are like, especially for Singapore children as the train rails are torn down.









We went back to Sun Moon Lake and took a cable ride to Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village.

 It is just too foggy at the top!

NaLuWan Theater

 Naluwan Theater is under renovation and all of its performances were moved to Ji Dian Hui Shuo which is just down the road. You can't miss it.

 Performance started!

After the performance, we went to the nearby tribal villages to have a look at different villages.

Tribal rifle.

 Though we did not set aside time to play around in the theme parks at Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, we did walk there to take a look at the theme parks.  However, only one of them was open and it was a big disappointment!  They should have made announcements that their theme parks are under renovation and they should have adjusted the price of their tickets.

View of SML from the cable car.

The next stop was Puli brewery.  Unless you intend to buy alcohol, I strongly recommend that you give that a miss as it was a waste of time. Some pictures below:

The next stop was Chung Tai Chan Monastery.  We did not hear of this place before the trip and it was Mr. Zhan again who proposed that we take a look here before sending us to Taichung HSR.

 It is a prestigious Buddhist school where Taiwanese families try their best to send their sons to this school.

 Only 1 hall was open for public and this is the Big 4 in the interior.

This is the exterior of the hall.












It was a good recommendation from Mr. Zhan as this place is majestic but this place is too restricted for us as we cannot explore further other than this hall.

1800Hrs - Mr. Zhan drove us back to Taichung HSR for us to head to Taipei.  Mr.Zhan is a very patient and friendly cabbie, driving skills is a big plus as he drives very smoothly even at the winding roads at SML.  Highly recommend him to everyone going to Taichung/SML though he also does cabbing for the whole of Taiwan.  I will definitely engage his services when I return to Taiwan again!

1900Hrs - Reached Taipei HSR and had a 'great time' finding out where we were in the huge Taipei Main Station filled with people as it was a weekend and during peak hour.  We finally found our hotel after asking several Taiwanese on the location of our hotel.  Our hotel was King National Hotel and many Taiwanese did not know where it is!

2000Hrs - We checked in our room and to our horror, the room for 4 was so small.  I think it was a 2-man room converted into a 4-man room.  We had problems walking in the room.  We went down to ask if they gave us the right room and their explanation was horrible.  They explained that they had no choice but to give us the smaller room as we arrived later than the tour group.  Hence they gave the bigger rooms to them and left the smallest for us.  I feel that this is not right of them as we have already paid and reserved the room.  They promised us that they will give us the biggest room the next day when the tour group checked out their rooms but we were still very disappointed with the hotel.

2100Hrs - The hotel room has spoilt our mood and we just ate fast food in Xi Men Ding and slept.