Goodbye Taiwan!

After a rather heavy dose of history at the Former British Consulate at Takow, we returned to Daren Road. By then the weather was turning bad. Dark ominous clouds were gathering in the skies. We decided that we should check out of our hotel and head to Kaohsiung Airport to avoid getting stuck in case Kaohsiung is again lashed with heavy rain in the aftermath of Dujuan.

A mural on our hotel wall showed the plan of Kaohsiung city...

Plus there were numerous Aboriginal tribal artworks on display. Perhaps on our next trip to Kaohsiung, we would get to witness Aboriginal culture first hand...

With our bags in tow, we walked down about 300 metres to Yanchengpu MRT station to catch a subway on the orange line...

Waiting for our train at Yanchengpu. At Formosa Boulevard, we transferred to the red line to take us straight to the airport...

Signage at the airport. Indeed I love Taiwan...

Checking in at the EVA Air counter. I am looking forward to this flight. I have heard EVA Air is pretty efficient and has an excellent service...

With immigration and security done, we had a lot of time to spare and we roamed around Plane Spotting and window shopping in the Everrich Duty Free shops...

A lovely way of stacking books...

Hello Kitty again!

Oh no!

As we sit, waiting to board our flight back home to Incheon, I can't help but look back with a lot of joy at the past 4 incredible days in Taiwan. We had a lovely stay in Taipei - the city has an incredible character, a unique mix of tradition and modernity and revels in these contracts. We got a chance to see the amazingly beautiful Taiwanese countryside at Taroko and Sun Moon Lake. Even though the last part of the trip to the Sun Moon Lake and Kaohsiung was made quite "interesting", thanks to Typhoon Dujuan, we nonetheless enjoyed a great deal.

And I can't wait to plan our next trip, back here to Taiwan!

Til then Goodbye, Taiwan!  

Finally At Zuoying...

Typhoon Dujuan is wreaking havoc!

From the Sun Moon Lake, when we reached Taichung HSR, we were shocked to discover that all scheduled high speed rail services between Taipei and Zuoying (in Kaohsiung) stood cancelled. 

Before we freaked out, we realised that all wasn't lost. There were 3 special trains running to get passengers across the island. We had already missed one, the first of the 3 special trains. And we didn't want to take a chance. We rushed up to the platform to catch the second special train.

And we were relieved to finally get on to our train, We had to make it to Kaohsiung - it is from here that we would depart for Incheon tomorrow afternoon!

Since this was a force majeure situation, all passengers with valid HSR reservations were permitted to board one of the 3 special trains. The second train was crowded. For a while we had to continue on with the journey standing - afterall this train is accommodating three times the normal number of passengers. Fortunately, the journey from Taichung to Zuoying takes only about an hour, at about 220 kilometres an hour. 

It was amusing to see that girl in the train talking all through the journey (See the video 1:50 onwards!!!!). The Chinese love to talk, they talk a lot... 

And finally we reached Zuoying HSR, the high speed rail station located in Zuoying, a northern suburb of Kaohsiung! We need to buy a mosquito repellent - we had heard that Kaohsiung had been facing an outbreak of dengue fever. And guess what, the FamilyMart had Hello Kitty all over!!!!

And some more Hello Kitty stuff... Wonder what's all about all this craze for Hello Kitty in Taiwan?

And we wait for our cab to take us to Daren Road in downtown Kaohsiung. We would have loved to take the subway or the Kaohsiung MRT, but we didn't want to expose ourselves to the fury of the Dujuan...

The line was quite long...

And finally we are at the head of the queue and we see the taxi coming in! And we need a hot meal followed by a well deserved rest...

A Pilgrimage To The Sun Moon Lake (日月潭)

A few years ago, I viewed a documentary on Taiwan on the TLC channel. Besides showing the urban sprawl of Taipei, they also featured a journey to the highlands of Nantou county, where the magical Sun Moon Lake.

The images from the documentary remained etched in my mind. My fascination about this water-body grew as I read travelogues about Taiwan on the internet. And then we made a failed attempt to visit Taiwan alongwith China in 2013, but a paucity of time made us skip Taiwan.

But this time, when we finally made it to Taiwan, we had to, we really had to visit the Sun Moon Lake.

And so we boarded a bus from Taichung HSR station to head to the Sun Moon Lake. The weather wasn't all that great. The winds were strong. Rain was heavy, but we had to make our pilgrimage to the Sun Moon Lake.

As we were leaving Taichung HSR, we noticed a couple of kids performing...

Their songs were melodious...

We took the highway as we made our way from the Changhua County into Nantou County...

Parts of the highway were scenic....

The clouds made it even more scenic...

As we approached the lake, the weather worsened...

The first sight of the Sun Moon Lake from our bus...

The Sun Moon trail...

The magical lush green hills of Nantou county...

And finally we reached the Sun Moon Lake...

Located in the Yuchi township of the Nantou county, the Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) or Zintun in the language of the Thao, the local aboriginal tribals, while the British called the lake Candidius, named after a 17th century Dutch preacher. The lake is the largest body of water in Taiwan, which make it an ideal getaway for the Taiwanese. The east side of the lake is shaped like the sun while the west side resembles a moon, and these features give the lake its evocative name. 

The lake also has a tiny island called Lalu, which is a holy ground for the Thao people. Legend has it that Thao hunters discovered Sun Moon Lake while chasing a white deer through the surrounding mountains. The deer led the hunters to the lake, which they found incredibly beautiful and abundant with fish. Today, this legend is immortalized as a marble statue on Lalu Island.

As most conquerors do, the Japanese colonials renamed Lalu Island the Jade Island. However Chiang Kai-shek's government renamed the island Kuang Hua (or Glorious China). However, increasing recognition of aboriginal rights resulted in the adoption of the original name of Lalu in 1999.

The weather was stormy. We ended holed up in a Starbucks overlooking the lake, unable to venture out...

And that's when we heard the news that the high speed rail service between Taipei, Taichung and Zuoying in Kaohsiung would be curtailed due to the incoming Typhoon Dujuan. The last train would operate from Taichung HSR towards Kaohsiung at 5 PM. We still could afford to relax a bit here and enjoy the rain pummeling down...

The mist on the lake looked magic, just like a veil waiting to be lifted...

Waiting for our coffees...

Coffee, egg tart and apple pie...

...by the lakeside. Indeed sipping a hot beverage in this weather is much like living through a blessing! 

The Sun Moon Lake has had more than its share of controversy than it actually deserves. In 2012, the Mainland introduced a new series of passports featuring a picture of the lake. This drew a lot of protests from Taiwan! 

Oops, our camera lens gets wet...

The wind is really strong...

After our coffee, we took one last look at the lake, wished the weather hadn't been this back, promised to be back soon and headed out to catch our bus to head back to Taichung HSR!

Goodbye, Taipei!

After a memorable time in Taipei, it was time to bid adieu to this bustling metropolis, that absolutely enthralled us, during our stay here.

So, we set out this morning for Taichung, to head to the Sun Moon Lake, and then we would be heading onward to the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. 

We wanted to experience the high speed rail and upon hearing that during the holiday season, tickets run out fast, we had reserved our tickets online couple of weeks back. The online reservation voucher had to be exchanged for a physical ticket - that could either be done at the railway station or at any of 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life or OK Mart convenience stores in Taipei. To save time, we collected our tickets last night at Zhongshan Subway station's FamilyMart. It was super convenient and there was no need to go out of the way to collect the tickets.

We checked out of our AirBnB apartment and took a taxi to Taipei station from where we were to catch the Taiwan High Speed Rail or the THSR train to Taichung. Built in 2007, the THSR was modelled on the lines of Japan's Shinkansen high speed trains, operating at a speed of 293 kilometres per hour, covering the 339 kilometres between Taipei and Zuoying, a suburb of Kaohsiung in about 90 minutes. On the way, the THSR stops by at Banqiao, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan.

We reached Taipei station an hour prior to the scheduled departure, giving us time to have a decent breakfast - sandwiches and fruit with tea from 7-Eleven, afterall these convenience stores are all over the city...

The ride into Taichung took about 40 minutes. The journey was so smooth that we feel into a deep slumber all along the way. But as we reached Taichung, we were crestfallen - it raining hard. Typhoon Dujuan is scheduled to make landfall over central Taiwan tonight!

Oh no! Our plans of visiting Sun Moon Lake seemed to be going awry... 

Our next task was to head downstairs to find luggage lockers to store our bags, as we headed towards the Sun Moon Lake. After securing our bags, we bought flimsy raincoats from the FamilyMart to protect us at Sun Moon Lake, as we headed into the basement from where buses to the Sun Moon Lake start. 

And there we are, waiting for the bus to take us to the Sun Moon Lake. We hope this detour doesn't turn out to be a disaster, with Dujuan coming in...