Taichung and Sun Moon Lake - Wet, wet, wet

Well, it had to happen, with wet weather setting in as we moved from Taipei to Taichung. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we took off to see what Taichung had to offer, with an eye on the sky as there were periodic torrential downpours throughout the day. First stop was the Miyahara ice cream/dessert shop, which provided us with a nourishing lunch. 

After that we were off exploring, which involved wandering through some markets, and along the Taichung river walk, stopping along the way at the cartoon character alley. We were lucky that the rain stayed away until we were under cover, at which point a huge dump of rain saw us scurrying into a tiny little backstreet market, complete with its own Buddhist temple(shrine?). It was fascinating to see, and has been a feature of the various markets we have visited so far. 

An afternoon of wandering in sticky heat found us heading back to the hotel, with the impression that there was not really a lot for tourists to see in the city. We decided to find a local place for dinner, which well and truly made up for our disappointment to that point. We have been trying not to make this all about food, but the restaurant we tried ticked all the boxes for our ambitions in taking this sort of trip. We walked in with no one there that spoke English, armed with google translate. On the way to our table, we saw a fantastic looking fish dish on one of the occupied tables, and with educated guesswork we were able to order it ("pepper fish" was the google translation). It was fantastic and fitted our aspirations to the rewards that can come from diving in to an unknown situation. 

 

After Taichung, it was on to Sun Moon Lake, a popular tourist destination up in the mountains - with locals as well as international visitors. We got off the bus at the tourist centre which was the last stop, and after arming oursleves with the information we needed for our visit decided the virtuous thing would be to walk the 3km along the lakeside path to catch the local bus to our accommodation. By the time we got there, the rain had set in properly and we were pretty wet on arrival at our bed and breakfast. After settling ourselves in, we went for a wander around the (what else) street food market of the local village, Ita Thao. Happily, it provided us with a whole new range of treats we hadn't yet tried, including steamed rice and millet wrapped in chicken skin and deep fried. Awesome!

Waking up the next day, it was clear that our plans for a cycle around the lake would have to be revised, with torrential rain in the morning. A total reliance on public transport and shank's pony meant that James was particularly reluctant to get outside, but by midday the rain had slowed down to a drizzle and we headed out for an explore. It became clear that the weather had given us only a temporary reprieve, but once in motion we decided to get on the ferry and head across the lake to one of the other towns. Umbrellas from the B&B were invaluable. With a touch of irony, we stopped at a local cafe with a view to escape the rain and have some lunch - it turned out to be ordinary, at best. A disappointing plate of fried treats that looked like a kids meal at a country pub in Australia. Undeterred, we went for a wet wander, exploring the local area before heading back to the ferry to visit one of the local temples on the other side of the lake. By this stage, the weather had come back with a vengeance and all views were severely curtailed, although we had hints from the previous day of what it could look like. We decided against the 1km walk up to the top of the peninsula to see the big pagoda (allegedly, we couldn't see it through the clouds!), and ended up back on the ferry towards our own home for the night. 

By the evening, the rain had finally stopped and we headed to a little restaurant that we had spotted the previous day, which had an indigenous menu - from the local Thau people. Talk about fantastic! It was a properly fancy meal (complete with dry ice decoration), and featured wild boar and a local fish soup. Once finished, we were tempted to order the whole thing over again. It certainly helped make up for the rain-shortened tourism for the day. Back at the B&B, a couple of drinks from the local convenience store finished off the day.