Taiwan: Day 7

Good morning!

We will be traveling again. By this time I already miss home and got tired of moving and I'm sure you are getting tired of reading long posts too. So after we had simple breakfast bought from 7-Eleven, we took the coach we booked for a one day tour. We departed at about 9am and the journey took 2 hours from Taichung.

Arrived at Shueishe Pier. Tickets for shuttle boat round trip was NT100. It took just 20 minutes to reach to the other side. You can check out the ferry schedule here.

It's such a nice boat.

Lots of expensive 4-5 star resorts surrounding the lake. The colour was unedited.

Arrived at Ito Thao Pier. The traditional ferry behind me was even more awesome.

 Whoa! Would you just look at the pure turquoise water.

 No-edit and no kidding it's so blue!

Seeing this much tourists again made me feel pissed but what the heck I'm a tourist too.

We were greeted by this aboriginal band.

Lol at the uncle posing behind me!

Going downhill.

View from somewhere mid-hill. Those grass patches on the water were so cute.

 View of the beautiful Sun Moon Lake from another angle.

Another I have no idea what's written.

Last picture before we board the ferry back.

We were hesitating whether to sit the cable car for NT300 to go up to Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village with entrance fees of NT700 per pax. We got the time but some of us think it wasn't worth the money. However, I urge all of you to go to this theme park because there's so much to explore. Visit Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village website.

 We arrived on a pier at the other end which I have no idea where.

 We walked straight ahead and saw this cute aboriginal village with cute shops!

 OMG so cute!

Yours truly got thirsty and she bought the yummiest soya bean dessert ever! It has many layers but only one sweet layer which was brown sugar so had to mix everything.

 Another sweet doll house shop. I love this village so much!

 Isn't it the country deco sweet?

 Postcards.

 A postbox.

 Found a place to stamp but since I do not carry a stamp book like most travelers do, I stamped my arms. This shop also sells pretty souvenirs. Bought a very pretty luggage tag for hubby.

 Almost every stall sells rice wine alongside herbal stuff. Is that a boar's head?

Looks like a Japanese product stall. That mascot looks like water chestnut though.

Our group just randomly went into a noodle restaurant and each of us ordered this. Just costs us around NT35 but as bad as it looks, it tasted even worse. It was like hot water on a bunch of noodles with pathetic amount of kucai, bean spouts and a sad piece of pork. Officially this was the worse meal of our trip...period!

We later arrived at this shop and decided to hang out here for tea because the shop owner was very friendly. He gave us samples of those rice wines on the counter and it was heavenly! Okay maybe it's just heavenly for me because I dislike anything bitter. You can't feel the alcohol but just pure sweetness. So I drank the wine assuming it was apple juice and got a bit drunk.

 The tauke prepared tea for us while we had a good chat.

If you see this type of urn no matter big or small, do smell before you buy. It's very expensive depending on the type of wood and size but it's sort of a souvenir you must buy from Taiwan. This huge one should work for our washroom.

After a little drive, we arrived at Peacock Garden. Entrance is free and opening hours from 8am to 5pm. There are more than 30 peacocks and over 150 other rare birds in the Peacock Garden.

There are over 100 other species live in this park besides peacocks.

 Yours truly and a peacock beside. Quite a boring place.

Saw another German Shephard opposite Wenwu Temple. Taiwan sure has lots of canines.

A beautiful misty view of the lake from a higher ground.

Wenwu Temple is located at the shoulder of a mountain on the north of Sun Moon Lake. It was built in 1938 when water from the lake was a threat to flood Longfeng Temple and Ihuatang. 

Our driver took us to this biscuit shop because we requested to find a good cookie shop.

Biscuit mold made an interesting wall deco.

The biscuits were so yummy especially the rounded ones that tasted like honey and maple syrup. We bought so much that it had to be sent to our minsu in Taipei. About two huge carton were all souvenirs for colleagues and relatives.

Further down, we came upon Puli Brewery. Opening hours 8:30am - 5pm and entrance fee is free.

Puli Brewery Factory has come to be known for producing excellent quality Shaoxing wine featuring a bright yellow appearance and a vigorous fragrance.

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Take the escalator to the museum at 2nd floor. Note that the wine shop in the museum does not offer free wine tasting however free samples are available at shops downstairs. Some of the shopkeepers on the first floor were friendly and one of the shops offered unlimited free samples of different wines, whiskey, and brandy. There were also other wine products such as face masks and serum.

I have forgotten what mascot is this.

Hubby with an interesting collection of old wine bottles.

We were still in Puli when our driver dropped us awhile at this special chocolate shop called 18 degrees. Eighteen degrees sells delicate chocolates which will melt at temperature above 18°C as stated on the name. They even limit the number of people in the store to maintain their temperature.

Here's a counter where you can buy their non-custom packed chocolates. Every purchase you made must take a number like in banks and government offices. The staffs will offer free chocolates every 10 minutes to customers who are waiting outside.

Variety of chocolates for you to choose from.

Beautiful gift boxes of chocolates for your friends and loved ones but I doubt can take back to homeland.

There's a comfy patio for you to enjoy hot coffee along with your chocolates.

Christmas was a month away but they already put up decorations.

We bought a box of dark chocolates to enjoy in the train on our way to Taipei. A dry ice pack was provided on top of the box containing chocolates.

 We bid goodbye to our friendly driver as he dropped us at Taichung THSR.

 We went "WAH!" when we got into the station. Taichung is not the capital but the train station is huge!

 I bet this is even bigger than Penang International Airport. Love the high ceiling.

 Our tickets from Taichung to Taipei which costs us NT665 per person.

 For dinner, we had bento box which consisted of BBQ pork ribs, pickles, broccoli,  an egg, a piece of ham and a piece of fried shishamo. All for RM8 only.

 Goodbye Taichung! We are going back to our "home" in Taipei.

 Back to our Colormix minsu in Taipei. This time it's yellow and red room.

 We were on our way to Ximending again and saw lots of people hanging out at Chatime.

Saw a group of people crowding around this phone booth. My guess was a place for you to top up your prepaid or something.

 Watched a street magic show performed by an angmo. He timed himself 2 minutes to unlock from the bondage.

Somewhere at the end of the street, we saw a very cute stall dat sells egg muffins or we call them "kay nui koh" in Hokkien back home. The price is listed on the board.

Nice display but sorry I can't read Chinese so appreciate if you could translate it for me. We bought 4 different flavours to try.

 Pulling the cheese!

Saw a smart looking collie in a restaurant. Okay we got so tired we had to sleep. Goodnight and see you tomorrow where we will be touring around landmarks of Taipei.