Sun Moon Lake (日月潭)

After a peaceful night at Cingjing, we went to Sun Moon lake (日月潭) the following day. We also pre-booked a 共乘车 at NT$350/person. The problem with such a transportation is that there are chances that they will be late or you may have to transfer to another car in the midst of the journey. But it is more convenient as compared to taking public buses. 

Upon arriving at Sun moon lake, we bought the pier hopper ticket which cost NT$250 for students. You can board and alight at the three different piers as many times as you wish and the frequency of the ferry is about 15 minutes on weekends. 

The pier that has more things to explore would be Ita Shao Pier (伊达邵码头). The streets here are quite lively as there are many food stalls. We tried 石板猪肉, 小米麻薯, 红茶冰淇凌 and 竹筒饭. Basically, we tried most of the must tries recommended on the brochure. haha. There are cultural performances which you can watch here as well. If you wish to go to Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village, you can take the cablecar which is also located at this pier. 

Taro flavour is the nicest!

bamboo rice. It actually taste like glutinous rice
dumpling except has the fragrance of the bamboo

These group of performers are all aged 80 and above. They are holding
on to bamboo poles and knocking it against the floor to make music. 

There was a huge crowd at 玄光码头 (Xuanguang Temple Pier). So after buying 阿婆茶叶蛋, which was said to have 50 years of history, we found a place that was away from the crowd to enjoy the view of the lake and eat our egg. However, to our disappointment, the tea egg didn't have any tea taste at all. It tasted like a normal soy egg... We didn't go up to the temple as we were not very interested in it. 

By 3pm we headed back to Shuishe pier (水社码头) so that we can each catch our buses back home. Recommended stay at Sun moon lake is about half a day. Nothing much to see except at Ita shao Pier. 

Train adventure (this part is not related to Sun Moon Lake)

I took the 3:40pm Nantou bus from the visitor centre of sun moon lake and arrived at Taichung Train station at about 5:20pm. To my horror, there was a huge crowd queuing for train tickets. I topped up my 悠游卡 (Easy Card) thinking I can use it to take the train. After checking with the staff, I realised I cannot use Easy card and I didn't have much cash with me. Fortunately, I had enough to buy the train ticket. After queuing for about 10 mins, I managed to get my tickets but I was shocked that my train was delayed by 16 minutes!!!!. This means that I won't be able to catch my last bus from sinying station  (新营). Hence, I asked if my host was agreeable to pick me up at sinying station and he was really kind to say yes. But the next thing I know upon arriving at Sinying was that I couldn't alight! I thought the crowd that was standing along the isle are queuing to alight from the train. But I saw some people coming up the train and I realised I should squeeze through ASAP before the train door closes. True enough, as I reached the door, it closed on me... I panicked and even tried to open the door... the people around me told me it was too late. But they were very nice and even helped me to check which station and the timing of next train that would head back to the sinying. Luckily I managed to reach sinying safely after all the drama. 

Moral of the story: 

• Train delay happens quite often in Taiwan especially on weekends. 
• Get ready to alight 5-10 minutes before your stop
• If you ever get stuck on the train, find the next available timing for a train back at the other platform.