day 2 - 4 Nov 07

The next morning, we woke up at 4.15am-4.30am as we wanted to catch sunrise. We had to get to the trail which was called mao ? ?..hehe..anyway a store keeper told us the direction. We were the only 2 girls walking and we saw an old man and an old woman talking away and thought okay at least there are signs of people around at this hour. In our haste to catch the sunrise as we thought it to be ard 5am, we did not capture the map with our cameras at the start of the trail and so we thought we were lost when we saw that there were barriers at the top and signs of construction ongoing. We asked a bunch of teenagers and they said to move along those construction works. But I didn't feel good so when we next saw a Caucasian man on a scooter, we stopped him and ask him if we were at the right spot. However he also didn't sound certain about it so we thought okay let's head back a little to the spot that seemed like the place to catch sunrise...after ten minutes or so i gave up and i said,"Let's head back and try our luck again tomorrow!" At that time I thought we probably didn't go in the correct direction so we were at the wrong place. We walked down the trail dejectedly and met a friendly Taiwanese man who seemed like a tour guide, guiding a bunch of people up the trail. I think he was the one who spoke to us first and so we told him that we were lost and couldn't see the sunrise we wanted to see. To our surprise he said," Follow me, I will show you the way!" Along the way, he explained to us that the vacant buildings used to be the lodgings of the Japanese in the past but was now not in use anymore. At that time, i had another worry in my mind, I was thinking that we had to catch our bus to Formasan Village at 9.15am. I told him my worry and he said that we could make it in time so we followed him then. He took us via a shortcut to the place we thought we could have seen the sunrise and we were correct. haha. However he took us further by walking past the construction/renovation works and we were moving higher and higher. He said he would bring us to the top and we walked with him excitedly. Along the way, we saw red leaves that had fallen on both sides of the trail. It was a pretty sight. It felt like Autumn. I picked one of the red leaves to bring back to Singapore. We were panting a little as we went higher..hee. When we reached the top, the wife started to do qigong and I wasn't keen on it. hee But the view was pretty. However I checked my watch then and whispered to Diana that we had to excuse ourselves to get back down already as it was 7am then. We exchanged our emails with the kind hearted man. He gave us his name card and said to look for him at night at the hotel where he worked and we said okay before bidding him farewell. We walked back to our hotel happily and took our breakfast. The breakfast was a shock..it seemed very simple. There was the sunny side-up, the pork floss, porridge, the preserved vegetable and cabbage. We both took a liking to the cabbage. I liked the pork floss but Diana didn't like it as much. During our walk back, we had come across another accommodation which was only priced at 1200NT so we decided that we would stay the night there. Then we checked out of our hotel and moved to the homestay right across the same street. Haha! Next, we board the bus that took us to the Formasan Village(Jiu Zu Wen Hua Chun).

When we reached the entrance for vehicles, we had to walk 5 mins before reaching the entrance to the village. We took the cable car ride first to the top of the village where we saw most of the performances by the different tribes. I noticed that though they had different tribes, most performers were the same. I guess it's really meant for tourists but it's interesting. The finale was the participation of their dance and learning their dance steps. That was so fun!

Since earlier the day we agreed to call on the friendly man, Blue "san", we went to Dellago Hotel and we were shocked to see him wearing a suit. Wow so he was not a tour guide, he was a PR chief manager. There he was sitting with a couple, enjoying tea right at the reception area. He introduced us to the couple and to our surprise, their son was studying in Singapore currently and so they were very excited when they knew we were both Singaporeans. We chatted a while and drank some tea. Then next Blue "san" took us to the deck that was facing the lake. We enjoyed the night breeze and drank tea made from a type of flower which I can't recall now. Then we chatted some more and took pictures. He wanted to treat us dinner. Initially, we tried to reject politely by explaining that we had our dinner already but he said it was okay, we could still eat some more. Hence, we went to a restaurant and we tried their local delicacies..it was there that i discovered yet another vegetable which i dislike, called "shun3 zi4". We drank their local whiskey but I felt it was too strong for me so i sipped bit by bit with discomfort. It was a pity that they didn't have the habit of mixing whiskey with any fizzy drinks. Then Blue "san"
shared his tales that taught us a lesson each. He told us how he never once scolded his children and subordinates but instead he would teach them all a lesson by telling them stories. It was very meaningful. Diana and the lady copied down the titles of the tales he told so that we all could remember these tales and tell it to others in the future^^.

He also told us that we could take a bus to Er Shui so that we could take a train directly to Chiayi and thereafter save more travelling time and money. The alternative was to travel backwards to taizhong so that we could take a train from there to Chiayi. We managed to do it and we ended at Chiayi at 11am, much earlier than expected the next day. That's another story to be told.

day 1 - 3 Nov 07

Took jetstar airplane and reached taoyuan international airport at approx 5.20pm.
While we were queuing up, Diana took any pamphlets/brochures that were available.
Next after passing through the custom, we went to the counter to sign up for free as friends of taiwan. Only people in their twenties are allowed. Think max age is 30. We were thinking that the pass would allow us to get discounts later on in our trip. Hee! Next we had to get onto a bus that would take us to taipei, zhongxiao fuxing station there and the bus set off at 6.20pm sharp. Phew! Diana almost couldnt make it back in time as she went to check out food. haha Both of us were starving. By the time we reach our stop, we had to figure out where the bus counter was to get our bus tickets to sun moon lake. A couple and a policeman helped us find our way. heh! Next, we had a quick dinner which was disappointing. My order was ma you mian xian. I mistook ma you as the black sauce. What a shock i had when i saw my dinner so we went to a convenience store to get snacks to comfort ourselves. I had my fav jap brand of strawberry sticks and tried out for the the first time their chocolate milk tea.The drink was nice and it only cost 20/25NT. Next we hastily rushed back to the bus counter and minutes later we set off on the 4 hr bus ride to sun moon lake. the bus had sweat smell mixed with cigarette smell..it was so unbearable initially. Luckily I got used to smell and could sleep in peace. However I was woken up by the pain from my knees..think they couldn't take sitting in the same position for too long. Finally we reached our destination at 12midnight. We were the last 2 people and the bus driver stopped right in front of our accommodation. He tried to look our for the name after i showed him the printed Chinese characters. I couldn't read them. The hotel room turned out to be quite good when i thought all along that it would be lousy since we only paid 1500NT for 2 person for 1 night.