Another eBid Cap 'n Tee trip on the cards?

[Oldandintheway]

Message of thanks to Bill from Bro.

Yes, and thank you Bill for the recommendation - it looks a top spot.
Unfortunately we don't have the time to go there, which I now regret.
We have started to go north back towards Taipei as we intend to now go around to Hualien on the east coast and in to Taroko Gorge .
If we ever come back we'll visit there for sure.

[Oldandintheway]

Hi all - well we did get a report today after all. The Sun Moon Lake Trip X Bus, Boat & Gondola! - Enjoy!

8th March
An early breakfast today and then a fast walk to the departure point for our bus to Sun Moon Lake.
About two hours on the road takes us 'up hill' to the Lake, situated at an altitude of 762 metres.
It was quite cool in Taichung but downright cold at/on the Lake. Foggy also.

On the subject of fog: many of our photos taken in Taiwan show what looks to be polluted skies.
Some of it no doubt is, but in the main it's actually fog.
Even the photos taken from Taipei 101 appear to show a big City with an air pollution problem.
Nah, couldn't smell it or taste it - just the usual cloudy skies with added fog, even later in the day. Weird.

We had two boat journeys on the Lake, both of which were interrupted by heavy fog - if they can't see where they are going they don't sail - and fair enough too.
We did make it to the Cable Car Station though and enjoyed a lovely ride to & from the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village.
A shame about the weather and it must be stunning on a sunny day.
We still enjoyed the views in any case and fog makes for a dreamy atmosphere - all good.

After testing our patience waiting for the fog to lift for the third time we caught a "Surrounding Lake" bus to take us back to Shueishe Visitor Centre from where we caught a different bus back to Taichung - another 2 hours on the road.
Glad to be back inside out of the weather and looking forward to a good nights sleep in the King Size bed supplied in our room - v. comfy!

Reloading at buffet breakfast

Arrival in Shueishe area Sun Moon Lake

Shueishe Pier #4

Top set-up for boat rides!

Shame about the cloud/fog

Lake crossing to Suyanguang Temple (ST hereafter)

ST1

ST2 - Bromeliad?

ST3 - inside Temple

ST4 - ditto


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[Oldandintheway]

Sun Moon Lake continued.

Suyanguang Temple area

ST5 - more Phals. as offerings

ST6 - looks chilly

ST7

ST8

Pea souper wait for next boat

Now off to I tashao village (opposite side of lake to Shueishe village)

Aye, aye Captain!

Pier at I tashao view to shore

View back to Lake


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[Oldandintheway]

S.M.I Cable Car & Formosan Village Tour

On way to CC station

Along the way (AW hereafter)

AW1

AW2

AW3

Made it to CC station

Up, up & away!

Words of wisdom - re the ankle biters!

Rain AND Fog - ya can't help bad luck!

Touchdown - Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village


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[Oldandintheway]

I tashao tour continues - then home to digs!

Formosan Aboriginal Band

Part of Formosan Village area

Glass bottomed Gondola return trip! (hang on all)

My Cap makes a break for it

Meanwhile - it's still raining back at the S.M.I. station

Waiting on a bus for the full Lake circuit tour - then 2 hrs. to Reloading Hotel & warmth/dryness!


till next adventure!

[Oldandintheway]

Morning/Evening all - Today we move north east to Hualien by HSR railway to new digs, a B&B run by very nice owner/operators by all reports! - Enjoy!

9^th March – Hualien County, Taiwan

The clock is ticking so it was time to move on to Hualien on the East coast.
This is the area that suffered the 6.7 magnitude earthquake a month ago.
With very kind assistance from the Manager of the Reloading Hotel in Taichung, we organised two trains for today:-
Firstly, the 11.32am HSR (High Speed Rail) train to Taipei.
This took almost exactly one hour, showing a maximum speed of 284 klm/hr at one point.

At Taipei Main Station we travelled down one level to the TRA (Standard) platform for the two hour trip down the east coast to Hualien.
The route ran along the coast adjacent to the ocean for some time - this looks like a tourist area of the future (if it isn't already).

We also went through quite a number of lengthy tunnels as well as the usual very lush, green forested areas and wooded hillsides.
Having now seen a bit of the highway that runs north from Taipei and then across and down the east cost, I'm certain that a motorcycle tour through here would be a winner - assuming you packed warm clothes and wet weather gear!

Hualien looks to be another largish city with my first impression being "where the mountains meet the sea". Not very original I guess.
Tomorrow we aim to go by bus to Taroko Gorge - should be great.

Ciao.

Taichung HSR Platform Board - 2B or not 2B is the Q

On the platform

I think this is the spot

Scene from the elevated platform

Scene reversed

On the choo choo!

In our HSR car - all those under 40 had their mush in a device!

First selfie with new Nikon

Train seat covers



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[Oldandintheway]

First impressions of Hualien & the B&B

Hard bed at the B&B

On the bedhead - Awww noiyce!

Chillun' on the lounge

The ablutions

Our balcony view - there's mountains there somewhere!

View1


till next time folks - Enjoy!

[meebo1]

I look forward to tomorrow

[Oldandintheway]

G'day all - Overnight Earthquake tremor - Taroko Gorge - bus to Tianxiang & then to B&B Hualien

10^th March – Hualien County, Taiwan


We were awoken at about 9:40pm last night by a tremor - a fast 'side to side' vibration through the ground rising like a wave and then receding.
It lasted for just a couple of seconds. A first for us and a bit freaky. No one at the B&B mentioned it.
Maybe they are too common here to be noteworthy.


This morning we made a last minute decision to take a shuttle bus north to Taroko Gorge.
'Last minute' because the brochure we had showed lots of tantalising photos but the text was in Chinese, meaning we didn't know which stops to get off at in order to see the best sights.

Down the road we went in the usual semi-panic - we didn't have tickets and only knew that they were available somewhere near the Railway Station.
In the end we were last to board the bus and it took off within seconds of us sitting down.


I was sitting next to an older Gentleman from Tianan and we chatted on & off during the journey.
He soon realised I was a numpty and offered to allow Des and I to join him and his family on the "tour".
We were happy to do so because we would have found it difficult to even find the bus pick-up spots for the return journey.
Plus they were nice people.

The photos will show the parts of the Gorge we saw - all marble walled and beautiful.


Whilst waiting for the return bus at Tianxiang we chatted with three retired Gents from Singapore who, remarkably, had all gone to school together 50 years ago and were still close friends.
We also met a very nice young Englishwoman (Hi Laura!) and chatted with her for most of the journey back to Hualien.

A great day and the weather was wonderful - we haven't seen that much blue sky since we arrived.
It made up for the not so good weather at Sun Moon Lake.

Ciao.

Taroko Gorge - Sasquatch!

TG for short hereafter!

TG1

TG2

TG3 - OK

TG4 - rock catcher/deflector!

TG5

TG6 - near Swallow Grotto

TG7

TG8


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[Oldandintheway]

Taroko Gorge continued!

TG9 - Falling off verboten!

TG10

TG11

TG12 - Falling rock damage!

TG13 - a "few" stairs!

Back to Tianxiang for lunch (TX hereafter)

TX1

TX2

TX3 - very nice Lotus blooms

TX4


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