adventure

Taiwan Day 3: Sun Moon Lake & Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

By kyela - 2/27/2017 05:48:00 PM

Sun Moon Lake & Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

8:25am - Pick up at Westgate Hotel

9:11am - High Speed Rail to Taichung

10:15am - Arrival at Taichung station

- Stop over lunch / pastries shop

12:00nn - Arrival at Sun Moon Lake

- Boat Tour

2:30pm - Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

5:00pm - Theme Park closes

6:00pm - Bus call, travel back to Taichung Railway Station

Train mishap

Traveling with a large group has perks and downsides. On the morning of our tour to Sun Moon Lake, we were a bit late to the bus call and therefore came late at the train station. Our guide was freaking out and sounded a bit upset already because she kept saying "This is no joke, we will miss our train.." Anyway, long story short, half the group made it to the train on time (I was here, luckily) and the other group was left because they kept waiting for each other. I had a pocket wifi so I was confident that despite not being on the same train trip, we will eventually see other in Taichung. Our guide called me immediately and instructed me to gather the first group once we reached Taichung Station. Good thing they were able to get the next trip which meant we only had to wait less than 10 minutes for their arrival. Train trip duration: 1 hour 4 minutes.

Lesson learned: Taiwan trains are prompt. Forget your Filipino time. If you're not there before the door closes, you'll have to take the next train as a chance passenger, which means you may not have a seat for the duration of the trip.

We arrived at Sun Moon Lake and had to take a short walk from the parking lot to the small port where our boat was waiting. There were so many tourists heading to the same place that morning. The street was lined with food vendors but since we were pressed for time, we couldn't really afford to stop and check out the food.

The cable cars as seen from our boat

The famous Tea Egg! It was delicious!

Our guide, Airy, emphasizing how important it is to be at our meeting place at exactly 6pm.

Cable car to the theme park. We refused to walk because we lacked time.

Our guide, Jonathan, was telling us that the trees along this path were actually cherry trees and they are in full bloom around February each year. More reasons to come back, I say.