Sun Moon Lake and TaiZhong

We started the trip at 7:00am, when a driver came with a 12-seater van to pick us all up. It actually had three rows of bucket seats, where the middle two buckets each has a fold down section that could be a table and cup holders, or fold up into a seat. It was a long ride and Michael and Jeremy weren't happy with just the books and cars and dinosaurs we brought. Fortunately, we also had their swimwear.





We stopped at a rest stop for breakfast, and it was crammed with restaurants selling excellent food. The first stop to visit was the ZhongTai Chan Buddhist monastery. The building is massive and their treasures are amazing. I felt a little funny when a woman gave us a flower to place in front of the Buddha statue and said, in English, "make a wish." Do we respect them, by doing as they do, or do we refuse on the grounds that we aren't Buddhist? In the end, I placed the flower without making a wish. I do like their four tenets, however.



After viewing some of the treasures and statues, we enjoyed the gardens with the many types of trees and plants. The had quite a few potted bonsais that I found especially interesting. Michael had the most fun ringing the bell.

ZhongTai Chan Monastery

Click above for the album.

Afterward, we had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant. It seemed that many of the monks ate there, so it must be in respect of their beliefs. It was interesting to try the "beef" dish and the "pork" dumplings that were each made to resemble meat in taste, look and feel. The food was very good, but I enjoy meat in my dishes.

Our goal was Sun Moon Lake and we drove about half way around it to Ita Thao docks. It was one of two villages on the lake and obviously survives on tourism. We weren't very interested in the knickknacks they were peddling, but if you ever need to buy souvenirs of Africa or Thailand, but are stuck in Taiwan, that's where you can find them. When we made it down to the docks, Michael suggested a boat ride. We didn't want to take too long, but it was supposed to be 45 minutes and cost less than $10 per person. We invited May's family to join us, and we all enjoyed ourselves. It was nice and cool and we got to see different parts of the lake. We also stopped once and got out to climb up to a temple with representations of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. Finally, we cruised around the one island in the lake, that is probably only 100 square metres. Trina said that the Japanese, during the occupation, had built a dam, which increased the depth of the lake from six metres to 27 metres, covering all the other islands. This one has two trees on it.

Sun Moon Lake

Click above for the album.

The drive to the Resort & Hotel was supposed to take 40 minutes, but ended up closer to two hours. Fortunately for everyone, the two boys slept. When we arrived, we went to dinner: Joseph and May at the fancy restaurant and the rest of us at the buffet. I was unimpressed because the live music was way too loud, but all was forgiven when we found that the food was very good. It was western food, so there was roast beef, tomato and mozzarella salad, home fries, cake, ice cream, and much, much more. Fortunately, the band took a break after two songs and only came back on ten minutes before we were finished.

Then we discovered our room. Michael was so excited about the "swimming pool bath" in our room. It was about six feet by four feet big and three feet deep, filled directly from the hot springs. Michael enjoyed making a "waterfall" with the spring water because instead of a faucet was a horizontal opening. He swam around it quite a bit during the evening, after which Trina and I turned on the hot water, filling it close to the top, and just relaxed. The next morning, Michael and I swam in it for at least another hour. Here is the hotel website, prominently picturing the bathtub (and a female bather): http://www.freshfields.com.tw/eng/index.htm

Michael and Jeremy also spent a lot of time in the children's games room downstairs. It was very large and clean and had many books and toys, including a kitchen and a garage and a train table. There was also a large ball pit.



After checking out, we had a shuttle to the high speed train, which traveled at 300 km/h to take us back to Taipei in just one hour. Michael still talks about the "big, fast train". It's a really nice way to travel.

From the train station, we rode the bus home. I'm glad there was a bus that went directly from the main station to our doorstep. That way we didn't have to fight with the luggage and the boys to make changes. It was hard enough, with both boys wanting to climb up and down and change seats. Here's a pictures (near the beginning of the ride) of us boys sitting on the ledge at the back of the bus. The sign behind Jeremy's head says something like "Please don't climb up here".