We took our first trip on Taiwan’s ultra-modern high speed rail network to get from Taipei to Taichung. Like the shinkansen trains in Japan, this mode of transport is more comfortable than flying and almost as fast (trains can reach speeds just short of 200 mph)!
We did not book tickets ahead but just walked up to the counter and asked for two last-minute tickets in the reserved car (to guarantee we at least had a seat and did not have to stand). The ticket agent warned us "there are seats but they are not together". The guy was right -- middle seats for both of us, Kevin row 13 and me in row 1! Next time we'll probably book in advance, on the left side of the train where there are just 2 seats, a window and an aisle.
Our hotel in Taichung was very centrally located, so we took a walk around town after lunch to see some of the iconic Taichung sights. First up was the Miyahara Ice Cream shop. The line to get one of their famous ice cream sundaes was out the door with a long wait. So instead we popped into the affiliated sweet shop that is in the same building, just next door. This store was originally an optometrist’s office in the 1930s and the company has really leaned into the theme (the current name of the store in Chinese is still “Miyahara Eye Clinic”; I’m surprised they don’t translate it in English as “Miyahara Eye Scream”, but maybe that would be weird.)
Mr. Miyahara opened the eye clinic in 1927. You might have noticed that his surname is Japanese; Taiwan was a colony of Japan during that time period and Miyahara had emigrated here to establish his very successful shop. After WWII, the Japanese occupation of Taiwan ended and Miyahara closed the clinic and returned to Japan. The building transferred hands several times over the years that followed, ultimately ending up abandoned after damage from an earthquake and a typhoon. In the 2010s a confectionary company bought the building and restored it to its former glory. The interior really is gorgeous - photos don’t quite do it justice.
After purchasing a couple of beautifully packaged cookies, we walked a few blocks to the Fourth Credit Union. We weren’t there to hit an ATM; this is another refurbished building (formerly a bank) that is a sister shop to Miyahara that serves the same ice cream. And more importantly—there was no line! We each chose a fun flavor (salted caramel for me, black sesame for Kevin) and then let the clerk recommend her favorite -- ruby tea. Definitely an unusual flowery, tea, sesame, sweet caramel sundae! It's possible that the weird flavor choices influenced my opinion but I will say that for an American palate, the ice cream was not as rich as what you’d get in the US. I would describe it more as ice milk than ice cream. But it does look pretty and photograph well!
When we first arrived in Taichung earlier that day, we had noticed a group of people setting up tables under white tents in the park next to our hotel. We went to check it out and discovered it was a festival called "Taiwan Cocktail Camp". We saw teams of bartenders participating in a fast-paced cocktail mixing relay race and knew we would need to come back to investigate once the whole event was finished setting up.
So after we finished our Miyahara ice creams, we headed back to Taichung Park to find the Cocktail Camp event in full swing. There were live performances, DJs, and you could buy tickets to sample cocktails from any of the booths. We were planning an early start for the next morning but it looked like such a good time that we figured what the heck and bought ourselves a ticket packet.
Most of the cocktails were whisky-based, which made Kevin pretty happy. And for me, there was one booth that had Aperol spritzes -- delicious!
The event continued into the later evening, but once we finished our round of drinks we headed back to the hotel since we had a long day trip planned for Sunday.
When we were originally planning our trip to Taiwan, there were at least two must-sees that kept appearing in all the articles and travel guides: Sun Moon Lake and Alishan Park. To get to Sun Moon Lake you can either book a guided day tour or you can DIY and go on your own. Rather than being stuck on someone else's schedule we went ahead and booked on our own. The bus station was right next to the hotel so catching the 8am bus was very convenient. This isn't their first rodeo with non-Chinese-speaking tourists, so a lot of the information posted at the station was in English, which was helpful. Sun Moon Lake gets its name from its shape. Apparently the east side of the lake is shaped like the sun while the west side is shaped like a crescent moon. Honestly... I don't see it, but maybe I'm lacking in imagination!
After a two-hour bus ride, we arrived at Sun Moon Lake. The main things to do here are scattered all across the lake, so we bought tickets for one of the many ferry boats to take us across to the first point of interest - Xuanguang Temple.
The ferry was not crowded, and it turned out to be a narrated tour of the lake by the captain. The only unfortunate part was that it was all in Mandarin! We tried using our Airpods with AI translation with our phones, but unfortunately the technology just isn't quite there yet. The garbled nonsense of the translating app did make for interesting listening as we took in the scenery though! I did gather a few tidbits about the lake: first of all, it used to be TWO lakes -- a sun-shaped lake and a moon-shaped lake. A dam built in 1919 merged the two lakes and gave it the shape it has today. So there's a reason I failed the Sun Moon Lake Rorschach test. Secondly, it is home to the Thao indigenous people (a bit more about them later). And thirdly, it is the largest lake in Taiwan but the water levels are alarmingly low which explains why all the dock ramps are very steep. We docked near the temple and noticed that many people were eating tea eggs from plastic bags. The line for the tea egg vendor wasn't too long and it moved fast, so we got one to try. The brown color isn't very appealing to look at but it was very good! Just like a hard-boiled egg but with a subtle afternote of tea.
It was a short ten-minute hike up some stairs to get to the Xuanguang Temple. This not-very-old Buddhist temple was built in 1955 to house a relic of a monk who traveled from China to India in order to transcribe Buddhist scriptures. His story was the inspiration for the novel "Journey to the West" which is an important work of Chinese literature. To me the temple seems pretty tiny for such an important relic.
The temple does have a nice view onto the very tiny island of Lalu. Before the 1919 dam, this island used to be bigger (obviously). It has had many names over the years: "Pearl Mountain" when Taiwan was ruled by the Chinese, then "Jade Island" under the Japanese, and finally they brought back the indigenous name of Lalu. The island is considered sacred to the Thao people, so it's closed to the public and can't be reached by ferry boat or other watercraft.
We hopped back on the ferry to head to the small town of Ita Thao. This is where the majority of the Thao people live. The Thao are the smallest indigenous tribe in Taiwan, numbering less than 1000 people. They have their own language and belief system. Many Thao people lost their homes in a devastating earthquake that hit Taiwan in 1999. But even prior to that their traditional livelihoods of farming and fishing were already threatened due to a lack of protected property rights. Without land to farm, the tribe shifted focus to tourism. Ita Thao village is a thriving marketplace for food and local handicrafts. There's also a very nice visitor center right at the dock.
Because we're on such a long trip, we opted not to buy any handicraft souvenirs but we made up for it by buying many snacks, including millet doughnuts, local teas, a delicious gua bao, and a spiralized plum-flavored potato on a stick.
From Ita Thao you can also take a gondola up to an Indigenous-themed amusement park. The gondola ride does give you a pretty good view of the lake below.
We were actually more interested in the cherry trees blooming below us than in riding the rides at the amusement park so we just took a round trip gondola and came back down to catch the ferry back to the bus stop. We didn't have reserved tickets for the return trip, and we knew it would take at least two hours plus any time spent in the queue, so we wanted to make sure we got back down to Taichung in time to get something to eat for dinner.
We ended up getting back in plenty of time to have a great meal at a little Japanese restaurant that was a one-man-show. One guy, cooking his heart out, taking orders, bussing tables, and running the cash register while keeping a wary eye to ensure nothing burned. It was amazing to watch, actually. We got there early enough to get seated (there are only seats for about twelve people) and by the time we left there were quite a few people waiting. Walking back through the park to our hotel at night was a nice way to end our stay in Taichung.
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