Taiwan Holiday [Day 5]

We started the day early as we had a bus to catch to Sun Moon Lake. However, we woke up 40 mins after the time we were supposed to wake up and really rushed to check out the hotel and make our way to the bus station! Thank God it's only across the road from our hotel! Then it was a 4.5 hr bus journey up to Sun Moon Lake.

We managed to check in earlier to our minsu, Laurel Villa, thanks to the very kind Wang Mama. I would strongly recommend to stay at this minsu when you visit Sun Moon Lake. You can't get a view of the lake from your hotel room but the moment you walk out of this B&B, you are at the harbour and the beautiful lake is before you. The place is also very clean and the service impeccable. The home-cooked meals were mouth watering and we felt very well-taken care of here.



We also enjoyed a very delicious lunch at one of the small shops along the streets. The stewed minced pork rice is one of the best I've tasted! And the food was cheap too! Definitely better than the food at the food courts!

We then proceeded to take a walk along Shueishe Wharf and the nearby area.





Plum Lotus Garden aka Mei He Garden

Christian Church aka Ye Shu Tang - supposedly where President Chiang Kai-Shek and his mother will worship when vacationing at Sun Moon Lake

And now we are off to a boat ride around the river!

First stop is Syuanguang Temple. One of the highlights of this stop were the "Granny's tea eggs". The eggs are special as they are cooked in assam tea (which is the specialty tea grown at Sun Moon Lake) and mushrooms. The lady selling the eggs have been selling the eggs there for over 50 years, from a young girl to a granny already!

Next stop was Lalu Island, which is a very small island. We were not actually allowed onto the actual island. We just stopped at the floating dock surrounding it. According to the tour guide, if you wish to be pregnant, you can touch the wooden structure of an owl. You can see from the photo that I am trying NOT to touch the owl!!

Last stop was Ita Thao Village. The aboriginal Thao people are the original inhabitants of Sun Moon Lake and they live mainly at Ita Thao Village. There were some stores selling the specialties of SML like assam tea and rice wine.

After the boat ride, we went back to the minsu for dinner and had an early night. But we did go out for a short walk and the wharf was nicely lighted up!


You can read more about the rest of my holiday here~