Last night we had dinner at the hotel. We were the only guests. My guide book had stated that the food was only passable as a result I was not expecting much.
What a surprise - we had the most interesting meal to date in Taiwan
I had ordered a Bamboo Rock Garden Beef Hot Pot Special ! What a surprise when I was presented with the above - a black cauldron of boiling broth in which I was to cook dinner! The plate consisted of a small bowl of rice, beef and an array of vegetables - corn, corn on cob, cabbage, spinach, mushrooms and an array of vegetables that I could not recognise together with some prawns. Dessert was also on the plate - some fruit - kiwi and melon and a sticky sweet offering. All for me - CC had a peanut crusted cod, similarly reserved less the cooking!!
The weather was disappointing. Due to the low cloud overhanging the mountains, we were disappointed to experience neither sunset last night nor sunrise this morning.!
Breakfast was equally surprising ....
A buffet awaited us -juice, toast coffee together with hot soya milk, the latter appears to be a favourite with the Taiwanese, or so we thought!
However, from the kitchen appeared:
A delicious salad with yoghurt dressing and some fruit.
followed by - much to my amazement
delicious crispy duck, veg with an ususual boiled egg!
Breakfast !!!
Having breakfast was a young couple - a Taiwanese man and his Chinese wife - a pleasant couple who had a little English.
After breakfast one of the staff dropped us back to the Visitors’ Bureau in town (3km), where she arranged lockers for our cases. She then drove us to the pier, from whence the boat trip on the lake commenced.
We had purchased an ‘all in ticket’ from the hotel and the voucher included a trip on the lake, a visit to Xuanzang Temple across the lake and Sun Moon Lake Ropeway (Cable Car). In addition there were other attractions including a bus pass around the lake, which we didn’t avail of.
At the pier, we were entertained by the indigenous Aborigines, who people this area
The Temple was very interesting. As we climbed the steps to the Temple we saw the Falun Gong, a group who practise meditation and gentle exercise. The Chinese Communist Government regard them as a threat and there have been reports of organ harvesting, by the authorities, from among those detained.
One can see them outside the Chinese Embassy on Merrion Road, Dublin.
The Temple was most interesting - people prayed,
others honoured the relic of :
We quitted the Temple and took the boat to ItaThao, the other lakeside town, where we boarded the cable car. En route, a lady spoke to us. She was Thy and her English was excellent. She was on holiday here with her husband and son and said she hoped the typhoon would miss the island!!! She had just come from Tainan and was high in praise of the city.
We decided to be brave and chose a car with a glass floor in order to see the terrain beneath us.
The escape route had we had to evacuate our cable car!
The views were spectacular
On arrival at the summit, there was a replica Aboriginal Village. I thought it might give a history of its people but it appears it was a theme park!!
Back on terra firma once more, at a height of 762m, we returned to the town via a lush tropical walkway. Flowers are in bloom but it is the season’s end. Photographs illustrated the splendor of the area in season. However, a few flowers blossomed:
En route we also learned something of the lives of the Aborigines; their fishing techniques:
and
We returned Shuishe, where we just made the 13.40 bus, arriving in Taichung HSR at 15.00, as per timetable!!
En route, one observed the industriousness of the Taiwanese people. Their farming practices are so organised.
The countryside doesn’t appear to have had its usual quota of rain as many of the river beds were almost dry and the rainy season is coming to a close.
The Easy Pass cannot be used on the HSR so we purchased tickets for Tainan, the former capital and oldest city in Taiwan. The ticket agent had excellent English and informed us that she was originally from Tainan.
We awaited its departure at 15.48. The train had 12 carriages, each carriage twice the length of a Iarnrod Eireann train. The platform was so long that we arrived on the platform at Car10 and we had to walk c.2 km to reach Car 4, our allocated car!
When Taiwan purchased the HSRs, new stations had to be built on the outskirts of the city to facilitate these trains.
As usual, we departed on time and arrived in Tainan at
15.00 but had to await a TRA train at 15.49 to take us to the TRA station in Tainan city 30 minutes away! Our hotel, the Tainan Hotel, is here close by the station, from whence we depart in two days time for Kaohsiung. 
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