Entree Kibbles: Day Five of The 8 Days 7 Nights See Iconic Taiwan Anew Tour Package via Chan Brothers

Saturday, August 17, 2024

Day Five of The 8 Days 7 Nights See Iconic Taiwan Anew Tour Package via Chan Brothers

Detailed Postings for the Day

Time: 6.32 am. Bad thing about travelling with my dad; he wakes up very early. Good thing about travelling with my dad; he can get me to step out earlier to enjoy the fresh morning air, since I am quite the light sleeper, and an insomniac!

So here I was, immersed in the quietness of Ita Thao at Sun Moon Lake. Since the restaurant at Einhan Resort (日月潭映涵渡假飯店) had yet to open, we decided to walk down to the pier.

Thought it would be a great opportunity to take the time-lapsed video of the rising sun but the compass showed that the east side was ride behind us, and not the above view!

Random photographs as I was waiting for the time-lapsed video.

The above was a hotel said to be built 100% with cypress wood and also known as the largest building in Asia. Called The Richforest Sun Moon Lake, I guess guests would have a good night sleep given the aromatic properties from the wood!

This photo of a Christmas tree at Ita Thao sent a strong reminder that my trip to Taiwan was more than eight months ago, and my blog is only covering day five of the trip, with three more days to go...

Photographs of dad!

Birds that we don't commonly see in Singapore. Nowadays, it's really just crows and pigeons that we can find in our little red dot. I might not enjoy the racket but the population of the red-breasted parakeet has increased exponentially in recent years.

Strolling back to Einhan Resort (日月潭映涵渡假飯店).

View at the Starry Sky Observatory in Einhan Resort! I super regretted not checking out the directory of the hotel the last night as I bet the night view would likely be quite nice!

Checking out of the resort and walking towards the direction where my dad and I walked to earlier in the morning. Of course I knew what we were going to do as our tour guide had pre-informed us; a cruise around Sun Moon Lake!

Sun Moon Lake Presbyterian Church; while a majority of Taiwanese believes in Buddhism / Taoism, Christianity takes up about 6-7% and about 20% indicated themselves as having no religion.

Ita Thao Visitor Centre - it looks like a ship right?

Cute green frogs near the jetty; the more famous frogs in Sun Moon Lake would have been the Nine Frogs Stack! Placed on the lake bed, the only time you can see all nine frogs would be when Sun Moon Lake is facing a drought!

Some photographs taken on the cruise around Sun Moon Lake; including the world's most useless lighthouse, a hotel with the "tallest gold plated mast" according to Guinness World Records, Lalu Island etc. Click here for more pictures!

Water clarity at Sun Moon Lake.

Technology stupefies humans sometimes; why do we need a real time display to let us know the availability of toilet cubicles? Why not invest simply in a door that is open when no one is using?

Efficiency to the max; the whole family can partake in the toilet activity at the same time! In unrelated news, I read before that someone installed a urinal in their HDB apartment as the males in the family has a tendency to pee all over the toilet seat!

Mandatory Shopping at Aboriginal Specialty Product Center where we were "educated" on the benefits of lingzhi, and persuaded to fork out exorbitant sums of money! I didn't bother.

Hitting the road again, with the coach!

One hour later, we arrived at 羊來了草莓園, which is literally the sheep has come strawberry farm! Wait, the sheep in this case, is referring to us?!

Whatever the case, it's backbreaking having to bend down to pick strawberries! p.s. we were allowed to pick a limited amount for free consumption and boy were mine juicy and sweet!

Lunchtime at Fan Wang Seafood Restaurant! Loving the sashimi!

Knowing fully well that I love taking photographs, our tour guide, KK, kindly informed me to prepare for the view right in front of the coach. It helped that I was seating towards the front given that my dad has hearing issues.

Absolutely spectacular with the panoramic view of Taichung City!

Guess it also helps to be on the elevated highway. Wait, I was wondering why we were back at Taichung City. Weren't we in Taichung in Day Two of our Taiwan trip?

Apparently, we were back in Taichung to check out Gaomei Wetlands (高美濕地)! I am honestly more impressed with the dozens of wind generators and the strong wind, than the wetlands. Another thing I remember well was the heat that day which was the hottest throughout my eight-day trip!

Glad to get back into the air-conditioned coach.

That's a lot of silver drums on the roofs.

Are they water tanks?

About an hour ride later, we reached the city centre of Hsinchu! Known as the Wind City, its significance was also reflected in the numerous windmill installations, as above.

Free and easy time at Big City Shopping Mall, said to be the largest shopping centre in Northern Taiwan! Wait, Northern Taiwan includes the capital, Taipei right?

Anyway, we were supposed to settle our dinner in the mall and I couldn't decide what to have! Let's start with an appetizer first; the vegan italian gelato from Nice Cream !

I know of Lady Gaga but what's Gaga Monster? From the videos I searched online, it's like a kids activity involving slime or a foam like matter. For a moment, I thought those different colored dispensers contained sweets.

Settled our dinner at Chun Shui Tang (春水堂); known as the founder of bubble milk tea! It's obvious I would get their signature milk tea, in addition to deep fried chicken, braised beef noodle soup and siew mai!

Earlier when I walked past, this stall had a long queue and I was wondering what the hype was. Since there's no longer a line, I guess I could maybe try this for desserts. Signboard indicated 66 cheesecake.

Queue died because they were already sold out! Of course! And I noticed from their menu that the items sold were not our usual cheesecakes. I saw something similar in Bangkok at Emsphere just last month!