December 7th, Day 2 -- A Day for Culture, and Mosquitoes

We were supposed to be up at 5 to catch the Sunrise at 6 (so says the lady hotel owner) but the website said 6:30 so we said we would be up at 6. And then the elder & BF was a little hard to wake (which made the younger a bit sulky), and so we missed the sunrise.

We took a stroll, still, along one of the many paths around the lake. The main attraction of the path is the C.K.S. harbour, which used to be the harbour on which President Cheong and his wife would take boat rides from to enjoy the scenery on the lake. The harbour was exclusive, and is no longer in operation. But the lanterns that decked the dock were still there, and we could still see a couple of fishing boats about (to which I wonder what use they are for).

In the morning, the lake is extremely calm, mirror-like, even. As an internal lake, the waters are only broken by the operations of tour boats, which do not start till after 8. We were quite happy to have a look at the lake before "life came to it" (as they put it, or if I had my say "money touches it"), and enjoyed the brief stroll, before heading back to a breakfast shop near the hotel for the first meal.

The breakfast consists of several hits and misses at the breakfast shop, and we found out halfway through waiting for our order that breakfast is actually provided at the hotel where we were staying with (never the less, on the next day when we honoured our "rights", we did not regret at least having tried breakfast outside). I'm particularly drawn to the Onion pancake I ordered, pictured on the right, which was served with a bit of pepper and crowned the Taiwanese Roti Canai. It was crispy, and the spring onion provided a bit of sweetness and a little fragrance.

After breakfast, we promptly went to the bus stop to wait for a bus to the Formosa Aboriginal Village (as the cable car from Itatsao is closed for monthly maintenance). I wrote home a postcard while squatting on the side of the road waiting for the bus, which I posted the next morning.

The Formosa Aboriginal Village, quite like the cultural villages in Kuching and Melacca, aims to educate the visitors about life of the aboriginal people of Taiwan. I'm not much of a Geographer, nor a Historian; so I'm only quite interested to look, but now could not remember any specifics. One thing comes to mind, though, and for that I would ask you to take a close look at the photograph on the left. The poem on the plate in the middle (written in orange) translate roughly to:

The God of Wieners, champion of men, its characteristics are mild, harden upon sight of colour, for romantic men, it's roots of all trouble, to yield new generations, you are hopeless without me, men and women without children, please look to this gentleman. (The last two 6-word phrases are too high level for my comprehension)


More evidences of such abruptness (or shall I say honesty?) were reflected in the lives of the aboriginal people in the photographs below (both carvings near the main door to their huts) show that they are not ashamed of this issue at all.

The village also had a theme park and a 3D theater so we took a few rides and watched a movie (of the One Piece Animation). We took a couple of trains: one fake and one real. And I got stung by a million mosquitoes. We left the village about four something in the afternoon, fully intending to take the bus, but a cab driver outside begged so much we took a cab instead. He was willing to take us for a much lower price because it's sunset soon and he didn't want to go back downhill with an empty cab (which equals empty profit).

Back to the hotel, we had another rest and then out again for dinner and walk. We picked a smaller shop selling noodles that night, and ordered one of a few things and had a relay dinner as we passed the food around, each sampling a few bites of each dish. It was overall quite satisfactory, and much cheaper than the full table dinner we had last night. We walked a little further after dinner that night, to places that escaped my memory. But I totally remember stopping by 7-11 supper shopping before we were back for shower and bed.

December 6th, Day 1 -- Air, Land and Water Transport

We arrived Kota Kinabalu, Land below the wind, late last night; only because we're leaving again at six in the morning again. Sleeping in an air-conditioned room, I woke up with an extremely dry throat.

We got to the airport only to be refused entry to boarding hall because it was too early and they have not started working yet. And when they tell me they are not open, they ignored me when I asked what time do they open then. *shrug*

After much hum-drum, the flight took approximately three hours to arrive Taoyuan International Airport. Because it was too early, almost all of us ordered breakfast from the airline. I had the panda pillow biscuit: super yummy. Ma was afraid I wouldn't be satiated, so she gave me one of her sandwiches (typical Ma). Anyway, I hate airline food, just because it's expensive.

Upon arrival at Taoyuan International Airport, we laughed a bit at the English signs. And then took a bus to the High Speed Rail Station. At the HSR Station, we had our second breakfast as the elder & BF spotted their favourite Singaporean burger joint: Mos Burger. The younger's never had Mos Burger before so she made faces for me to snap (while almost insisting that it was nothing special). After the meal, we board the HSR towards Taichung, and got tickets for a bus to Sun Moon Lake.

The bus dropped us off on the roadside a stone throw away from the hotel we were staying. We were received by a very enthusiastic lady owner, who told us that we would have to rush, rush, rush if we want to enjoy to the maximum (time is very valuable, and you would soon learn why). We dropped bags in our room and went out, shopped for some bread to skip lunch, but ended up missing the 2:30 boat anyway. So, we hung around the Shuise harbour eating bread while waiting for the next boat ride, at 3:15. The elder & BF, worried that Pa did not have enough to eat, went back to the 7-11 store we passed to get a pot of Guandong zhu (various fish/seafood/flour/soy frozen products boiled in soup) which we later shared.

The boat ride to Itatsao was scenic, and the boat owner was funny. At Itatsao, we took the cable car and looked over the beautiful Sun Moon Lake from high up. At the top, we hung around a little bit for potty breaks and asked the younger a bit about Formosa Aboriginal Village (which was just next door) and made her rather cross for having to repeat things many times. We took the cable car back down and took a stroll along the little township trying out some food and drinks, including Double sausages and A Sa Mu red tea.

Back at the harbour, it's another boat ride to Xuanguang harbour. We hopped off to walk up a little and tasted the famous Ahpo Iron Egg, and took a brief look at the Xuanguang temple, where it was said that the first Shelizi brought back by Tangzeng from the West was positioned. About half an hour later from when we hopped off, we were back at the harbour for the last boat back to Shuise harbour. From there (at approximately 4:30 in the afternoon), we felt the sun set (The picture below was taken at about 5:00). No wonder we were warned that time is of the essence?

Upon arrival at Shuise harbour, it is already almost dark. We decided to rest our feet at the hotel before dinner (and also because the elder said she preferred to bath before dinner). About an hour later, we went back out to have dinner at a shop near the harbour because it seemed to be the most popular shop.

After dinner, we strolled briefly around the area and bought some specialty biscuits. And then we stopped by 7-11 and got junk food (TARO CHIPS!!!) and a can of Taiwan beer for supper (the young ones, Ma and Pa wouldn't play a part in it). Ended up hitting the sack near midnight.