Sunday, December 21, 2014

Day 02 - Taichung to Nantou

 Good morning peeps!
this morning, we woke up late and skipped our buffet breakfast and headed straight to our coach. Saw some streetscape of Taichung on our way to Wen Wu Temple.

Wen Wu Temple 文武廟
 I'm looking at all the beams above. Our tour guide tells us that every beam has a story drawn on it. Our tour guide told us about the earthquake which struck this temple and hence it is still undergoing fund raising to return back the money which was borrowed from the banks for its construction.





Beautiful day isn't it!!! Many people tell me that december is a rainy day season in taiwan, but for the 8 days that we were there, only 2 evenings it rained and the other days were all sunny, clear or partly cloudy!!!
Opposite Wen Wu Temple is Sun Moon Lake 日月潭, after visiting Wen Wu Temple, we will be taking a cruise over the Sun Moon Lake.

Above: hubs wanted to take a photo of me with Sun Moon Lake but only managed to catch a glimpse of my arm. Ok. I guess i have to convinced everyone that "that's me!" in the photo.

 behind me is Sun Moon Lake!!
 picture of us. over exposed. but the effect turned out quite well!!!





rights. and we are off to our coach which will bring us to the jetty to take a leisure cruise around Sun Moon Lake.
we are waiting for our tour guide to get our boat ready. So it's feet taking time. The foot path here is very interesting! it's tiled in a fish scale pattern.




While waiting, our tour leader is helping all families to take a photo with this stone which has the Sun Moon Lake name crafted upon. Been there done that bucket list. Check!
The cruise took about 30-45mins, explaining about sun moon lake - the largest water body in Taiwan and also a tourist hot spot. There is a really nice hot spring resort hotel here and we are staying there tonight!! haha!!

although the temperature was not very cold but as the boat cruises along the lake, the winds are definitely COLD!!!

Sun Moon Lake surrounds a small island called Lalu island and there's a small white deer statue there. The boatman was giving a short description of the origins of this white deer linking back to the aboriginals who stayed here.

after the short and frosty-wind, chilly cruise, it's time for lunch!!! although refreshing it was, the wind was like slapping me awake! woohoo. I'm hungry man.
 Lunch was sumptous! What I love about ASA tours is that everything is being catered for. Like about 80% of the meals, good flights (SQ and silkair), tour guides who knows their stuff and can tell stories on the way (most of the time, it makes me sleep very well on the coach, like bedtime story telling!), includes all coach rides, train rides, admission fees and you know what i love most? Is that they try to provide 1 person meal so that we don't have to "fight" over those big chinese tables where you share your meals with strangers! For the past 8 days, I only had 2 of these big chinese table meals which i probably can live without complaining.

so for today's lunch is buffet shabu shabu!!! and they have free flow of Yakult!!!


 i like the Yakult but hubs like the bottled cola more.

hubs - the temporary tour guide

After lunch was a visit at the Aboriginal Cultural Village where we took a cable car ride up to the hills and walked down to the foothills. We managed to catch some tribal shows and continued our stroll downwards. It was quite a good way to walk off our fats which we really over ate during lunch. The weather was terrific too, cooling and I really did enjoyed our time together.
 The cable car ride up was very scenic and peaceful.


 and we took some photos with the mascot at the huge european styled garden at the foothills.
 imitating the mascot.
not bad huh!



Tonight we are staying at the Fleur De Chine. It's a hot spring hotel where you soak yourself in the hotel room and not having to share a communal one in the common facilities. Actually this hotel wasn't a hot spring hotel. Well it wasn't until the big earthquake. After the earthquake, they had to rebuild the hotel once more and while digging and laying the foundation, hot spring water sprung out!! and So it became a hot spring hotel!!!

our tour guide calls this 因祸得福。
i couldn't agree more.
The room was very spacious, clean and it was really good. I mean like to have your own individual hot spring tub facing the sun moon lake is so shiok!!! Plus the WC was warm when you sit on it, the vanity was long and modern. The tv had so many channels until hubs was so impressed and super entertained.  The dinner buffet was a huge seafood spread with suckling pig craving counter stations!!!

 here's the seafood station

we ate like 3 hours here...trying almost everything until we gave up and went back to our rooms to watch movies till like 1am.
nite folks and stay tuned for Day 03 of our Taiwan holidays!

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