Taiwan Trip 19th Sept 12 to 26th Sept 12; Day 2 Part 1 - Sun Moon Lake

Was so tired after the last post. Wanted to finish blogging all about Taiwan at midnight. Then, logged into facebook and ended up chatting the night away..

So, yup, our adventure on Day 2 :)

Buffet Breakfast at the B&B

This is the buffet spread that greeted us on Day 2 morning. A typical Taiwanese breakfast. I love the milk tea! Taiwan, like China is famous for its tea. And Assam Tea i guess, is Sun Moon Lake's special produce. Kept helping myself to the tea. There is also porridge and bread.

My breakfast! Still having a little bit of phobia from eating 3 eggs the previous day, so no eggs for me!

Caroline with her breakfast. Yes, she took an egg. Oh and also a brownie for her birthday. Haha. She couldn't finish it the day before.



Wenwu Temple (文武廟)
After we had our fill, we made our way promptly to the amusement park. The area right outside our B&B is a bus stop also, but as the terminal was just right up ahead and we were full, we decided to strolll to the terminal instead.

This is what you see when you reached the bus terminal. Instead of ask iris, you have the manual bus timings printed on the post there. 

Bus finally arrived! We tore the bus coupon down for the bus driver that we have purchased yesterday. He then gave us 2 bus tickets that say unlimited rides. We are to present that to the bus driver in all buses we take for the whole of today. 

So, as we set out pretty early, the only other passengers were a couple, which I believe to be Singaporeans.

I like how announcements are made within every stop. They are also available in 3 languages - Mandarin, dialect and English. Perhaps that's one reason why Taiwanese retain their national identity? 

In between the stops, there is also an audio recording that offers to introduce some form of history of the places we pass by.

And finally, the temple! If you are worried that you are unable to catch what the audio recording is saying, you can always ask the driver to call out to you once he reaches your destination.

Okay, the reason why I want to go to this temple is that, because of the package we bought yesterday, we are entitled to a souvenir if we are able to collect a blessing stamp, as so they call, in this temple. 

So, we searched around for the stamping corner.

And we finally found it.

It was a self - service corner. So we took all the chops and stamped all around our package card. The fu lu shou looks so cute! I like the cai sheng ye as well. 

Then we proceeded to explore the rest of the temple.

There is this I-don't-know-what-you-call-that in the temple, which I believe is asking for donations? Like you can insert a NT$ 10 coin and it will be absorbed just like how Coin Dozer does? Hehe. Pretty interesting concept.

There is also the wishing cards corner there. Each colour represents a different category. For example, if you want to find your true love, take either the red one or purple one hehe. Each person is entitled only to one! But I think I took 2 hehe.









I got the green one. hehe. My wish? Secret.

There was this wishing well where we have to make our wishes. If you are able to throw your coin into that pot, you get to make the wish. I only managed to get it in after the second try :)

Caroline must pose first before she can throw one.

I really like how Taiwan is doing their part for the environment! They have recycling bins even in their MRTs! Okay la, for us, our government is also putting in efforts in recycling. Hehe. But I guess  it should be more extensive.














To the Cable Cars!

We waited for some time for the bus! Then finally, off we go to the cable cars... Got to walk a long way up there.... And it was less cloudy.. Slightly hot that day...Thankfully I brought along the Energizer fan i got from Safari Zoo Run!

Oh ya, the gifts I got from Taiwan Tourism Bureau were amusement park tickets! And other discount vouchers such as buy one coke, get the other free. However, it was not stated explicitly that the amusement park tickets are inclusive of the cable car rides up also!  We took the amusement park tickets to the cable car ticket offices and she passed us the cable car tickets immediately.

Both of us felt it was a total waste of money getting the package. But things took a turn later. haha. Shall follow the sequence here first. So yeah Taiwan Tourism Association, you should state clearly on the admission tickets. I hope Singaporeans who are able to redeem those take note!

This is how the cable cars up to the Aboriginal Village look like..

 This is my second time taking the cable car! The first was when I was Lijiang and all I see was snow. For this trip, I could feel the whole tranquility of Sun Moon Lake. It was fantastic.

I wasn't too scared in the cable car. Perhaps it's the position I was seated at. The return trip was much scarier. So halfway up on the sky, there is this Taiwanese uncle who was really friendly. I kinda heard that he asked if Car and I were sisters. I was snapping photo not sure if he was really talking to me. I think he thought we ignored him so there were no attempts to talk to us again hehe. Sorry.

Aboriginal Amusement Park!

Finally the moment we have been waiting for!

 They have an internal cable car in the amusement park one.

 I heard this toddler in queue, suddenly crying out to her parents. Said that she is afraid of heights. Haha. Then while we are on it, another kid was also too afraid to look outside. But we were surrounded by windows. So the only thing he could do was just to close his eyes. Hehe.

We took the internal cable car to the centre of the amusement park. It's actually amusement park in the midst or the aboriginal village. So we skipped those cultural performances and went straight to the thrill and the fun.












The first ride I took was this! I cannot remember the actual name. I
name it the UFO thrower. I remember in JC, Gai told me before her auntie or whoever took this in genting and the safety handle - the one that secures your body to the seat- was suddenly loose. She then held on to it for her dear life as this thing came tumbling down at full speed.

Haha, but I still went ahead with it. Car said her heart cannot take it! So she took photos of me while I took this with a group of students.

So this thing just keeps turning and ascend slowly. When I was up there, I asked myself why did I even take this. Then it just came down all the way and I screamed. My feet were shaking as I exited from the ride.




Next I wanted a ride where I can take with Car. We decided to hop on board this water-based roller coaster. Thankfully for us, the lady boss from our B&B gave us rain coats the previous night, so we managed to save a little as we donned our protective layers on and queued in line for Car's one and only ride in this amusement park.






All geared up! I had a hard time putting this on. This was also damn dusty. haha.

















 And off we go!

When we were up at the first peak, I again asked myself what am I doing here again. But it was slightly better since Car is with me. The cart suddenly turned around, and off it zoomed. As Car and I were in the last cart, it was extra scary. The students in front even raised their hands up to make this experience even scarier. But it was so dangerous.

Okay, the second peak was higher but there were people in front so I guess it is ok in a way.

People without the rain coats were drenched. There were even 2 bombs; meaning more water splashing just when all of us let our guards down, near the end of the ride.

After the ride, we gave our rain coats to a Taiwanese student who wanted to play the same rides too. So I asked him which other rides are fun and he told me roller coaster, in Chinese.. As well as some other rides which I cannot remember.

Map of the amusement park

Told Car to hurry up. One is supposed to stay in an amusement park for the whole day. But we only had like 3 hours, cuz we wanna rush to Taipei that very day, and we don't know how long it would take.

I wanted to play the roller coaster like Escape's Pepsi. I was scared too, cuz it has 360 degrees turn also. Persuaded Car a long time to take with me. But she didn't budge. :(


So we went to take photos with the decorations all around.

Giant fist

Angry Bird!

Okay, so after all this, I told Car I wanted to play that roller coaster again. Don't wanna leave with just 2 rides. So I proceeded to the ride below. ><

Very worried but still forced a smile

Car queued up with me and then crossed over to the exit area to snap my photo. I was initially waiting for the seats at the second row but didn't want to break up a pair of friends/brothers so I shifted in front to partner with the guy.

And I forgot, sitting in front is the most nerve-wrecking!

While it was going up, I planned for myself escape routes. Saw a lot of staircases there. Haha. I told myself I could alert the operator anytime.. Until.. It reaches the peak, and it went full swing all the way down. I screamed like mad. Never before have I taken such a scary ride before. I just could not open my eyes. Okay, maybe briefly in the cave, I saw laundry on poles. Other than that, my eyes were completely closed but my heart was thumping fast.

Then finally it slowed down. I was catching my breath in screaming. Hehe. The guy beside me is superb. No sound from him at all! My feet were shaking.. Even after I walked down the staircase. It was really an experience.

Caroline said the ride was too fast. She could not catch my face.

After this ride, it was around 11 plus I think or just 12. There was a long queue at the indoor 3D cinema, which I assumed is like that of USS's Mummy's Ride. But too bad, it starts only at 1.15pm. So we made our way back to the B&B..

The next bus will only be arriving in 15 minutes time and by the time we were at the bus stop, it was like 1pm already. Our B&B is accessible by walking from the cable car. Only 0.7 km. So Car suggested that we walk instead. 

Though it was slightly warm that day, I still enjoy the walk back in this scenic Sun Moon Lake haha. Opposite the bus stop, there was this butterfly park, which we read that the creatures were nowhere to be seen. Car was saying that the guy who reviewed could have just strolled along the trail instead. 

Greenery on the left, the lake on the right. What an awesome sight.

Halfway through, there were stalls selling drinks and food. We got our tea after we were offered a small cup.

Car suggested we pack our lunch first as the journey back to Taipei will take quite a while since we have decided not to take the High Speed Rail (HSR), but instead the direct bus. So we walked to the streets where we bought our food that night.

I am a big fan of chicken wings. So was attracted to this stall. They grilled the chicken wings over some charcoal. And I was finally clear-minded enough to bargain. 1 for NT$60, 2 for NT$100 :) Actually for such a small chicken wing, SIN $3 plus, also not cheap. But then it's a tourist area, so okay la.  

It's called glutinous rice stuffed in chicken wings. There were no bones inside. No meat either. Either they are masked by the taste of the rice or they took out the meat also with the bones. 

 I requested for mine to be extra spicy. But I think they put extra salty also.

After we have bought this, the guy next to this stall promoted his bird's nest to us. Think it's fake. SIN $15 for a box. To be cooked for 6 or 8 times. But his service is really excellent, kept refilling our cups.. Delighting potential customers such that they will be obligated to buy these products. But unfortunately since we are students on a limited budget ( yes I would still call myself a student), we rejected kindly and told him we do not need any refills. Hehe. I told him I would consider and come back later. Then we took another longer route and avoided him altogether, when we headed back to our B&B.

So we lugged our luggage to the bus terminal again. I had to squeeze my xb into the luggage haha so that it is easier to rummage through the stuff in my backpack when I need to. Here's a photo of xb for those clueless ones.

super duper cute

Shuishe Visitor Centre (水社遊客中心)
So, using the same bus ticket, we took the bus to Shuishe Visitor Centre and it was around 2 in the afternoon already. First of all, we asked the lady behind the counter if we could exchange the package card that we have purchased for the souvenir. She told us that we should have exchanged at Ita Thao; she doesn't do redemption there. *face palm* I think i did not check properly. Okay, so we asked if we could refund for the unused cable car ticket. To our surprise, she allowed! We told her we got the the NT $399 package and after calculating, the refunds that we could get from the cheaper package was more than our package? I raised this up to Car loudly and she heard. So she re-calculated again. And this time, we were able to get a refund of NT$94 per person. Really glad that we asked for the refund. Cuz earlier, Car kept saying it was impossible. Just trying luck mah. Better ask and rejected than never have asked at all. Hehe.

Then we asked for bus tickets to Taipei bus station. Unfortunately for us, the bus just left 13 minutes ago!!! The next bus will be here in 2 hours' time! Felt so bad for not checking the timing the previous day when we are here. Just at this moment, bus to Taichung is departing really quickly. So after attempting to do the sums, we decided to just hop on that bus.

At the Taichung HSR, just when we were alighting, I overheard I think someone saying that the bus will move on to the rail station next. So i confirmed with the bus driver. But Car was worried that if the rail does not lead us to Taipei, we may not be able to come back to the HSR station again. Car is risk averse. So after listening to her, we decided to alight at the HSR.

But in actual fact, you can take the rail back to Taipei Station!!! It is so much so much cheaper! Although it takes longer. But it's not as great a distance as Kaoshiung to Taipei. So I thought it was okay! Too bad for us :(

I think this post is really long. Shall continue in my next post :) It will be on Ximending, the hotel and Modern Toilet, the restaurant where we went for dinner :)

Signing off!