We started on a warm day. Breakfast at minsu was delivered from elsewhere and the morning mood started quite frustrating. The children were starting to fuss about the local food and kept wanting to just drink milk only. The hot weather didn't help to soothe the feeling so while we reached Sun Moon Lake as first stop, nobody was hyped enough.
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| sun moon lake |
It was a pity because Sun Moon Lake was 4th in the world having the most beautiful cycling trail. I remembered a young colleague of mine, she went cycling around Sun Moon Lake while she was there. After the obligated tourist photo taking, we were driven to their information centre which provided some relief with the air conditioning.
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hot spot for photo taking
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| they did this after seeing my annoyed face |
We stayed for a while in the cafeteria which sells one of the award winning coffee bean. But then, I wasn't in any mood for a cup of coffee, I held an ice honey drink while Jonathan ate his chocolate ice cream. Seriously, this boy fussed so much about the food that I was annoyed at later half of the trip.
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| at the pier |
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| end of our ferry ride |
We then proceed to take their ferry ride in Sun Moon Lake which the boys enjoyed a little with the breeze. After which, the driver met us at the end of the ferry ride and treated us to this cold dessert which was basically a mixture of bean curd and assortment beans.
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| Old street @ Sun Moon Lake |
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| cold dessert |
We then proceed to 文 武庙 and 孔雀园.
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| back gate |
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kinda luv this shot
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| group pix |
Over at 文武庙, the boys ran around wildly and we were behind hushing them. There were amulets which you could purchase to write your wishes and the boys literally 画符。They scribbled and smudged pen ink everywhere that it hardly resembled any type of sentimental amulets you see on screen.
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| peacocks |
As for 孔雀园，the premises were going to be closed at the end of October. The site would be redeveloped so in a way, we were quite lucky to visit the place in time.
Lunch was at 酥妈妈汤圆。The 鲁肉饭 was really fantastic. The shop only has one outlet that is in Taichung. It used to have another outlet in Taipei but closed down because the owner wanted to maintain its standard. The 鲁肉饭 was not the highlight here. The dumping rice balls had savoury flavour which was made of meat instead as sweet treats. While we were having lunch, Matthew just napped on my lap. I wasn't able to move too much hence a lack of photos to show off the yummy food I had to compensate earlier lousy mood.
I am not a fan or pork belly but this 鲁肉饭 was really too good. I didn't taste any fatness here and it was so good that I wanted to buy back their frozen pack. But due to logistic, I had to forgo this idea. 酥妈妈汤圆 is my 2nd "must return" place.
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鲁肉饭
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| 鲁豆腐 |
After lunch, we stopped by
廣興紙寮 . This place was meant for the children to learn about paper making, the traditional method and also a chance to make their own paper product. But Jonathan was too tired and he went cranky and in the end, the father brought him back to the car to sleep while Matthew was now awake, went on to do the handicraft. The weather was really hot that day, even the staff at the paper factory commented that it was so unusual for the weather to be so hot during this period.
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| learning to make a paper fan |
After this stop, it was all the way up to Qingjing. The cooling weather at Qingjing was much welcomed by us. The minsu at Qingjing was also high up in the mountain. You probably think now that the weather was cooling, our mood should be better. Yes and no. I booked a loft minsu and the boys kept running and jumping up and down. In the end, guess what... someone got into trouble. So lesson learnt here, never ever get a loft accommodation. Somehow, it turned the boys into monkeys.
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| bottom level |
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| top level |
After a long and hot day, we finally all settled down to sleep and the cold weather at Qingjing ended our Day 4.
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