2005 09 15 ~ 17 Midland of Taiwan [Part III]

Time：2005.09.16 AM10:30

This day, we get up pretty late. (Actually, it's almost the same as usual...) It's almost 10 in the morning, and we began to move on our destination today, the Sun-Moon Lake.

We didn't plan much about today's trip. Just see if there's anything interesting. The Sun-Moon Lake lies on the middle of Taiwan. Geographically, it is the center of Taiwan. We drove for a long time, finally we saw the sign says "Welcome to Sun-Moon Lake." We found the free parking space first. Looks like there were not much people here today. The parking space is empty, it should be hard to park here during the holidays. The time now is over noon. Therefore we decide to find something eat first. We found a restaurant, which has the signboard says the "president fish". We feel very excited to see this sign. What kind of fish could be said as a "president fish"? We traveled far away to be here, we must take a try! We ordered the president fish meal.

Maybe it's late at noon or it's not a holiday, there are very few customers in the restaurant. However, the dishes are pretty good. We were all very hungry, so we didn't spend much time on lunch. Finally, we now trying to keep our trip.

Steping out from the restaurant, we walk along the lake. We walk and walk and walk, finally we saw an old street, which is the path to Swei-She dock. Before the trip, we checked this place on the internet. We could continue our trip by boat.

While we get close to the old street, we saw a five star hotel. Seems like they are having some activities about Mercedes-Benz. Anyway, we stayed at the hotel for a while, and took some pictures over there. With the lakes and the mountains, it's really beautiful.





Along the old street, finally we found the ticket office of the ships. At first, we want to compare of the price, since we don't have much money to waste. However, we asked many people, they all offer the same service and cost the same price. There's no big difference, therefore we just pick one at will and paid for the ticket. At first, I feel it's too expensive, it took us about 300 NT dollar, which is about 10 USD. However, we don't have chances to kill the price.

We Took some pictures of the dock. Seeing this view, I feel relaxed deeply inside my heart. Man, this is having a vacation!



There are fish in the lake. I wonder is it the same fish as we ate at noon... Seems like the lake is really clean. We live in the city, rarely have chace to see fishes which are alive. Wow...

Lin and Lee

And it's me~:P

They are so sweet that we could have a cup of coffee while we are waiting for the ship. Anyway, this is how they make business, right?






We are so lucky that the weather is just great. With the sunshine and the blue sky, the heat of the air had made us tired. After 15 minutes, an old man came and asked us to get on board. No way, we are giving our lives to that kind of old man? We tried to convince ourselves, he must have more experience... This is our ship, Mow-Shen No.1

After getting on the ship, we were thinking that do we need to wear the life jacket or something. Actually, there are some life jacket on the ship, but you'll never want to wear them. They looked old and dirty... The old captain is pretty nice, even he's old, we still get to our destination.

Not knowing why, there's a dead fish in the lake, it's really strange to see this in this lake~



This is a sign on our ship, which is "Have fun in Sun Moon Lake" in English. While we were discussing about the trip couple days ago, we never imagin that we are right here, right now in the lake!







Sailing in the lake, moving little by little. Now, we are close to our first step, the little island in the lake. This is the island of the legend of the people lived here hundreds years ago.





















This is the island. We got to take a look and see how it become so famous.



This is the introduction of the Sun Moon lake. However, after the wind blow and sunshine for years, some words were unread able, we can see what it's talking about~





It is really special. The island is very small, and there are two trees and some stairs and stones. Outside the island, there is the artifical dock for us to walk on it. In the legend, old people here will offer sacrifices their ancestors on the island.











So far, we've seen the island inside the Sun Moon lake. Next, we are going to a place called Yi-Dashao village. It is a village of people live here in the past. Maybe we could see something surprising over there!

Here we are, the Yi-Dashao village. Actually, this is another dock. It's looks like another old street, there are stores and houses here. Many people still live here.

The captain lead us to a shop directly, and told us we could buy something here. However, we didn't buy anything here, but we took some pictures here!









Later, the captain told us to take a wald around, and arrange the gather time. We found a field here and some people are setting the stage. There's a party here tonight. Also, there will be firework tonight. Wow, we are excited about tonight~

This man is good! The weather is hot, and he wear the heavy dress and paint all over his body with dust. I could see the sweat droping from his head~ Of course, we gave him some tips.

Before we go, we tried some wine which made by people live here. It's good! Better than those made in pubs.

We get on board on time. However, only three of us were on time. Lin saw the captain's hat is on the boat. Then decided to take it and take some photos. It's really a lot of fun~



After the ship, we were tired out. But we will not let the great time goes by. We will see the fireworks tonight, but we have no idea about where to go this afternoon. After a small conversation, we decided to go to some places else. As far as I know, there are some beautiful places except Sun Moon lake around here.


ps Wow, it took me so long to write this. Anyway, Please wait for the Part IV, thanks~

2005 09 15 ~ 17 Midland of Taiwan [Part II]

Time: 2005.09.15 PM4:XX

We packed our stuffs, and decided to put our packages to Lee's place. An old saying said that we all need to rest in order to continue the long term fighting. With Lee's marvelous leading, we went through Chang-Hwa City. He lead us to some strange small road. He said while he was in high school, he'll need to ride his bike through this small road everyday. I really admire him a lot. The road is not only small, but going up and down. I might get tired out riding bike on this road for one day, no mention to ride bike for three year high school life. Going down hill is great, the wind blew through your face would be perfect. However, there's down, then there will be up. I don't even want to think about the altitude of the hill. It's terrible~

After a few curves, Lee spoke something with a proud tone, "The building in front is the funeral parlor of Chang-Hwa City." I don't know why he's so happy... Later, he explained. "My home is just behind the parlor." What can I say?!

After the funeral parlor, we turn left into a strange small alley. It's hard to describe, but it's never like a road. I kept asking him if we are going in the right way, 'coz it looks like a wild place. Few minutes later, some incredible view came out. Looks like we've entered a holiday resort. There's a gate at the main front door. The police stop looks just like a ticket window. When we drove inside, the buildings in front of us are all look the same. You can see it's a mapped out village. Living here must be great, you'll have the feeling that we're having vacation everyday!

There are three floors in Lee's house. It took us a long time to take a look at his place. At first, I thought it will just be ok, and I am ready to sleep on the floor. It's perfect, it's better than living in a four star hotel. I mean it!

However, after some rest, we began to think about where to go next. We talked for a long time, because we don't have any idea about places to go. Then, Lee's mom gave us a suggestion. "Why don't you go play golf?" Only I have took some courses of golf, the other two have never touch golf in their life. Therefore they all agree to take a try. Talking won't do any help, so we began our golf trip right away.

When we arrive the golf practice field, I found that it's pretty cheap to play golf here in Chang-Hwa. We borrowed two sticks, and we began to play. I am pretty ok, I didn't disappointed my golf teacher. After my warming up, I pretended to be the coach to teach Lin and Lee.

It's pretty good for them for their first time. As I don't know how to teach them, one old man came by. He kept talking to us and teaching us how to make our hitting more powerful and precisely. His hint works and I feel great to take his advisees. I feel the deep human touch of people of south Taiwan, I really appreciated his teaching.

We kept playing and playing, till two of them got vesicle on their hands. It's great to have some exercise. I feel entire alive again.

Time：2005.09.15 PM6:XX

We followed our plan, drove our car to Tai-Chung City for dinner. We've been to the famous Feng-Chia night market. Wow, there are so many things to eat. Most important of all, there are spicy girls there. It's just like heaven there~


We've ate a lot of stuffs, till we could not eat anything more. Then we go back to our car, and think about where to go next. Finally, we decided to go to Tai-Chung City park to see the night view of Tai-Chung City. The view is great, and the atmosphere is perfect for lovers. My photo taking skill is bad, otherwise I will defiantly make a better picture.

I found another one from Google image, maybe you can just take a look~

Nevertheless, people around here are all couples. It's a romantic place, we three man here are extremely strange. So we decided to go back home earlier. We talked and laughed all the way, we arrived Lee's place soon. When I parked my car well, Lee began looking for something in my car~ He said his cell phone is missing~

Well, I don't know what to say. He seems ready to take the blame from his mother and is ready to give up looking for his phone. Oh~ Lin and I tried to call his phone, maybe We could hear the ring and find it. Maybe, it's some where here. Under Lin's and mine resistance, we decided to go back to Tai-Chung City park to look for his phone. One the way back to the park, we kept miss our direction. The road all look the same to us. However, we found the road at last.

When we arrived the park, Lee called his phone again. This time, he said disappointed to us, "Non response... Someone must took it away." While we were down and going back... I found the ring!

Then we realized that the problem of the missing ring is he dial the wrong number...-_-

The phone looks fine, just a little bit wet with some dew.

We go back home right away, it is PM11:30 now.

Then, we've passed our first day vacation.


Thanks for your reading, and please wait for Part III

2005 09 15 ~ 17 Midland of Taiwan [Part I]

This is kind of my travel note. I wrote it in Chinese few years ago, and now I am going to write another English version. Hope you'll enjoy my story!

It was about three months ago. I was having my last vacation before serving the military. After graduated from college, I stayed at home most of the time. I didn't want to waste my time, and so do my friends. Therefore we decided to have a trip to the midland of Taiwan. We planned to go to many places and hope we could have greatest fun then.


Time: 2005.9.14 PM10:00

I must be crazy. It's pretty late now, but I rode my motorbike to my friend's(Lin) place. We took some time to discuss about the journey right on the next day. However, we didn't really discuss anything. We looked up the internet, asked a few of our friends, at last we've got a simple conclusion.

Anyway, we'll drive south all the way to pick up another partner(Lee) in Chang-Wha, and just let Lee guide us to places around his home. And we'll finish all the plans at his place on the first night. Quite simple, right? The conclusion is almost blanked. We didn't want to do too much plan and set too many spot to stay. We all agree to have fun without any restricts, just drive and stay whenever we want. The plan can't be easier than that~ Just take the trip the way it is!

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Time: 2005.9.15 AM10:00

Things happened the same as what I expected, I slept over time... I packed up all my packages as fast as I can, I leave my home to pick Lin up. I rarely drive in Taipei City during the day time. I didn't know the traffic could be this messy.

We drove real fast on the Freeway, as time goes buy, we finally arrived our destination- Chang-Hwa. After we found Lee, we had a small discuss about the route line for the rest of the day. We decided to have something special for lunch. We wanted to have some local food, therefore we decided to visit the famous temples here in Chang-Hwa- Lukang.

Actually, we didn't spend much time here. Maybe it's not a holiday, not much stores were opened. I didn't take pictures there, but I found the introduction of Lukang on the internet, maybe you would like to take a look![click here]

We didn't see what we expected, it's a little bit pity. However, we had lunch there and stopped the murmuring of our stomach. Then, we go to our next destination, The PaGu Mount Buddha Sculpture

As I mentioned before, Lee is our guide. Anyway, this guide seems didn't work. We drove the car in Chang-Hwa City, but it seems like it's a strange place to him. We just get lost again and again. It's kind of funny looking for the right direction~ Few hours later, we finally arrived our destination.

Right beside the Buddha Sculpture, there were many street vendors. Not knowing why, Lee get excited to see the roast squid, and the rest two of us just sit and wait for him.

This is Lin~ It's hard to believe that we've known each other for more than ten years...

This is what we are looking for... To tell the truth, it's not that big as we expected, but it's really something special for us. Around the sculpture, some places are still rebuilding. Maybe we're here not on the right time~ Our guide Lee said it's been different from what it looks like before. Again, we feel a little disappointed. There's not much to see here, and we need to pay the expensive parking fee while we came in.

While we get close the sculpture, we figured out that it is not only a sculpture. There's a gate on the side of the Buddha, tourists are allow to step inside the sculpture to see the Buddha museum. It's really hot in side. There's no airconditioner inside the iron container. Actually, to say it's a museum, I'd prefer to say it's a temple. Many people burning joss sticks there. All of this is inside the Buddha's stomach.

Then, we climb up the stairs. From second floor and above, they display the life of Buddha with some sculptures. The description tells us how Buddha become Buddha, what great events made by Buddha are remarkable, and how are we sonny to do to become a Buddha in the world.

However, the stories are not so real. Most of them are more like fairy tales. To sum up, what we should do is to help those who need our help, and never try to hurt anybody related to your life.























After the stories of Buddha, we could never stand the tough heat inside his stomach. Therefore we step out his body, and tried to find some place to breath fresh air. Here, we see another building which is more like a temple behind the Buddha sculpture. Maybe this is the real temple after all...

Out side the Buddha's stomach, we took pictures with Buddha, also hope that he could bless us more or less in the future.



We've been walking for a while, the time goes by, and it's about four in the afternoon. The temperature remains high. When we planned to go back home to have some cool drinks, we saw a vendor selling ice bar at the front door. That is the kind of ice bar we ate long times ago when we were little child. Each of us bought one. This is the best stuff we ate that day~

The places we arrived today is not like what we planned to see, but it's ok. At least we could have real relax vacation during the busy living, that's worth it.

/Part II coming soon~/