Leaving the wonderful city of Kaohsiung, we headed towards Taichung, an equally wonderful city found on the western edges of central Taiwan.
Just before embarking on our long arduous journey, I was able to catch a glimpse of something quite interesting -- their bin collection day. Instead of the truck collecting the bins, it was up to the citizens to go to the bins and dispose of their trash.
Other than that insignificant discovery, it was just a long, uneventful drive to our destination.
Not quite sure if he knows where he is…
With lunch out of the way, we were in for a deep internal cleansing with these healthy? fungal concoctions at 締源山產文化館. Nothing new here. These sales pitch type visits were par for the course for guided tours (citation needed).
Now I’m not a fan of mushrooms and having it in a liquid state wasn’t going to change that. As expected, ingesting such poisons had me recoiling in disgust.
Fast forward some and we took a romantic boat cruise out on the gorgeous Sun Moon Lake (日月潭). Initially, I thought it was a point to point ride. So when we disembarked, I thought we were in a new area. Everything looked different... In reality, we were where we started -- it was just a lap around the lake. My stupidity aside, it was an enjoyable time. Wind through my hair, beautiful sceneries before my eyes, I couldn’t ask for more.
Sooo if you couldn't tell, I didn't pay too much attention to our guides. So it explains a lot in regards to this next anecdote. I thought the lake cruise was the end of that and we'd moved onto a new location. But you see, I'm a dummy and failed to realise that the next attraction was still at the lake. The location in question was the Wenwu Temple (日月潭文武廟) and faced the very lake we were just on. And at no time at all, did that register through my mind. I only realised when I was reviewing my maps timeline...
Stupidity aside (again), Wenwu's temple grounds covered a large amount of space and had its fair share of colourful and wonderful sights. The stone walls had magnificent carvings with incredible detail, especially the large gate found at the rear.
Typical 操nese ignoring basic common sense
Back on the road again, we were ready to hit up another shop desperate for our money. Still on the theme of drinks, we were in for something more tolerable this time round - tea. Seemingly out of the way, the tea shop 台埔茶茶 was conveniently en route to Taichung...
It wasn't anything special, but I had a wonderful time listening to the amusing pitch. Oh and having the products not taste like ass also helped. Cuter than anything in that room, however, was our salesperson. Along with the translator, they gave one of the most entertaining pitches I’ve heard to date. The dynamic between the two was great and they were highly engaging, even with my limited understanding of Vietnamese/Chinese (especially Chinese). What made me love it even more were the endearing attempts of Vietnamese made by the salesperson, which were then followed by crude, humorous mimes.
Unlike before, we didn't leave empty handed. With tea in parents' hand, we enjoyed not starving another day and moved on to the last activity of the day - another night market. Gracing our presence tonight was the Fengjia Night Market (逢甲夜市). Significantly larger than Liuhe, it had a fair amount of foot traffic just bordering on really packed. If the night market isn’t your scene, all is well as there are countless outlet stores and a tonne of great eateries bordering the market.
Wanting to satiate my sweet tooth, we ventured away from the bustling market and found a quaint little café just down the road. The café in question: 小島遇見他. Having showed up before closing time, there wasn’t much of a selection left (obviously). Prices were a smidge cheaper than what you might find here in Aus, but more importantly, they looked and tasted great. The place itself sets a lovely atmosphere and served as a great little hangout.
Regrouping with the tour family, we returned to our night's accommodation at 五都大飯店. Though far from populated areas, there was a decent amount of activity around and the facility was more than great. Not forgetting the greatest highlight of the hotel: butt cleaning toilets.
Quickly offloading any excess weight, I proceeded with the personal Taichung tour and wandered aimlessly through the streets, discovering more markets and basked in the night.
Sadly, my small taste of Taichung only lasted the day. The following day, we made our way northward to the capital - Taipei - where the tour reached its conclusion. Thanks for reading and join me next time for the next great chapter in this wonderful journey.