Chinese Taipei Day 2

30.12.2009

08:30 Walked to the nearby shop for a typical Taiwanese breakfast.
Set 1 (NT50) ：Fried Egg 煎蛋, fried dumpling 锅贴, ham 火腿 and a cup of milk tea 奶茶.
Set 2 (NT45) ：Fried Egg 煎蛋, hash brown, hot dog 热狗, and a cup of red tea 红茶.

10:30
After checking out from hotel ‘幸福之旅‘, the hotel guy was again kind enough to drop us off at 朝马 bus station. On the way there, he also offered to help us get a local prepaid phone number registered at the nearby 7-eleven. Again, friendly and helpful people in Taiwan.

11:00
We took a free shuttle from 朝马 bus station to the High Speed Railway (HSR) station, where we could get bus tickets to our destination of the day. We took a bus from 台中 HSR to 日月潭（新社）. The journey took 90 minutes. Round trip tickets: NT330 x 2 pax.

13:30

Great scenery along the way. Our destination is called Sun Moon Lake 日月潭. It is a huge lake, surrounded by picturesque mountains. People come here to see the view, the temples, the nature and get some fresh air. We bought 2 all day bus passes that enable unlimited bus rides 日月潭环湖游园车 to tour the lake (NT80 x 2 pax). We thought of renting bicycles, but the rental people discouraged us due to the slippery roads from the rain in the morning. Anyway, if you happened to be there on a good day, these are the charges for bicycle rental - They charge different rates for different bicycle models, ranging from NT200/400/800 per hour, maximum charge up to 4 hours.

While waiting for the next bus, we had lunch at a nearby noodle shop. Nothing to shout about the noodle (NT145 for 2), but in the cold weather like that, hot soup is always good.

FOOD: Boar sausage 山猪大肠包小肠 (NT50)
Souvenir: Fridge magnet 文武庙磁铁 (NT100)

16:00
After lots of walking in the freezing wind, we decided to grab some coffee and snacks, and just chill by the lake. Ahh....... :)


17:15
Return to 台中. The bus stopped at 朝马, so we walked about 15 minutes to Feng Jia night market 逢甲夜市 for more local delicacies. Instead of food, T bought a pair of Mizuno Wave 4 running shoes (NT2050).

21:00
Our Taiwanese friend, Charline, took us out for dinner - Ginger soup 姜母鸭汤 steamboat. One of the special things in the soup was called 'Blood Rice' 米血. The name is pretty gross, and being a not so adventurous person, I dared not try it initially. Our Taiwanese friend insisted that we try because local people like it a lot. Those are actually sticky rice mixed with chicken blood, then frozen into sticks of rice before being boiled in the ginger soup. I did try. It does not taste like blood at all, and it's quite chewy. I ended up eating 2 sticks hehe.


23:00
Being a great host, Charline had offered for us to stay over at her place. She lives in Qing Shui Town 清水镇, and her place is simply cute and lovely. We stayed at her guess room, where she hosted many other friends from other countries. We cannot thank her enough for the great hospitality.