Sun Moon Lake Rain

crazy kids do the Sun Moon Lake

The rainy season is well and truly upon us here in the East; I have never seen so much of the stuff. And to get out of the drizzly city feeling, 3 of my friends (the same that invited me to the dragon boat festival in the rain); decided that we should go to Sun Moon Lake. Eager to learn from past mistakes, i popped into a local shop to buy a giant poncho to keep me dry on my scooter-bright orange was the only colour they had; atleast it wasnt pink!

the crazy travellers prepare for the journey
So as the people of Changhua watched in awe of the 4 brave travellers venturing out in the torrents of rain; we set out up the winding roads across the vocanic mountains that divide Taiwan. The rain gave way on the tops, but only to what seemed to be pre-typhoon winds depositing an assault course of debris and rivers across our path. One hardy old local women was sat by the road with her pineapple harvest;she must have lashed herself to the roadside.. not wanting to miss out on potential customers!
After over 2 hours drive the lake came into view; a clear bright blue despite the fading sun and total cloud cover: must have a sulphur contamination. I was pleased to find I was still dry knee up and neck down; until I lifted my arm an sent a pool of water that had collected in my sleeve down my sides.
The lakeside village with ample scooter room Sun Moon Lake by moonlight
We stopped in an attractive little collection of giftshops, small hotels and eateries on the lakeshore. The first hotel we tried said they charged T$12,000 a night (that's 240 pounds a room); we thought they were joking; they weren't. The next place was 3,500; we said we only had 2,000 and started driving away in our soaking gear, when the lady chased after us and agreed to our offer.

View from the cheap hotel window
That night; cleaned and in dry pants, we went to a classy restuarant and spent.... 10 pounds! I'm not proud; but I justify it in 3 things; pate, authentic pasta and 'all-you-can-eat':

Classy hotel: too expensve to stay in, but the food! Probably the most expensive meal I'll eat this year!
The next morning; my crazy friends thought that we would go to a theme park in the mountains near by; Aboriginee Cultural Village:


well; having been to Hull Fair, I didn't share their enthusiasm initially; but it turned out to be a top theme park; it had a rolloercoaster that rivalled Nemisis, 90 meter shere drop, water rapids, log flumes: the strange thing was that expecting rain in their summer season, the Taiwanese have put all but the biggest rides in giant barns.

stupidly fast 3G roller coaster I posiively wet myself: Jurassic Cuise

Warning: balloon rides are not slow
The upper part of the park was dedicated to Taiwan's Aboriginee heritage; there were real mock villages, real Aborinigee performers who sang and danced the day away until 6pm, when they were ferried by minibus back to their apartments.

Aboriginals performing to throngs of tourists
The park was spanned by a cable car; far more terrifying than any of the rides; some 100 meters up, it provided beautiful views of the park and the valleys down below.

The drive back from the Sun Moon Lake was less terrifying.
Since then, (2 weekends ago) it's been business as usual... Sam (my flatmate) has bought a cute little dog which likes to leave mess wherever it goes... we've named her Hollie; Sam was pleased yesterday, because she weed on the newspaper (the dog not Sam); but when the floor is more than half covered.... we've been taking her round the shops in a waterproof cosmetics bag... I dont think she'll get much bigger.
At the weekend, I thought I'd buy some trimmers to save money on barbers; well, the settings over here must be different: gave myslef what i thought was a modest no.3, but no- 3 means 3mm of hair left...so I look like a Buddhist monk... the students find this very amusing- still it keeps my head cool when i'm cycling around.
For those who were wondering what I was doing for the world cup: well it's televised over here; On Saturday I went to a pub to experience it in the traditional way... however, there were only 4 English people in the place, you couldn't here the crowds at the stadium, there were no close ups, the commentary was Chinese and there were two commercial breaks in each half! Outrageous!
My Scooter has not killed me yet, but everyday has a close shave of some sort.
My next plan is to learn some Chinese; increase my independence!