Day 4 - Taichung

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First stop today was Wade’s elementary school. We were on a mission to find a childhood friend of his. She appeared in several old pictures he had, and he seemed to have a good recollection of her. The school was able to give us some addresses, but she wasn’t at any of them.

After that we headed out to Sun Moon Lake, one of the most popular destinations in Taiwan. It’s home to the aboriginal Thao people, but these days all you see is busloads of tourists. The Lake gets it’s name from the two islands in the center of it—one round, one crescent-shaped (sun and moon). However, during the 1999 earthquake, the “moon” (Lalu Island) sunk.

Our first stop at Sun Moon Lake was one of the most famous (and expensive) resorts in Taiwan (and possibly in all of Asia): The Lalu. (Maybe they were honoring the name of the sunken island?) It’s a plush, ultra-modern hotel built up on a hill with the best view of the lake. Ba-ba knew someone who worked there, as the construction company he works for did a great deal of the electrical installation when the resort was built. When we walked up to the entrance, a valet/bouncer told us we had to leave since we weren’t guests, so we promptly walked in through a service entrance and found Ba-Ba’s friend, who let us in. We went up to one of the upstairs patios, where there was an indoor/outdoor restaurant and a few rich people from Hong Kong reclining in their chaise lounges drinking tea. The view was, in fact, incredible, despite the overcast weather. The hotel was even more incredible. While we were walking around we caught a few glimpses into some of the rooms, which seemed more like suites. The hotel was designed so that every room had a view of the lake. We walked out of the hotel right past the same thick-necked valet that wouldn’t admit us in the first place.

Lunch was next and included fish from the lake and some locally-foraged vegetables, whose taste and texture were a totally new (and delicious!) experience. From there, we drove around a portion of the lake, visiting a few temples and a peacock garden/nature preserve. Peacocks used to roam freely around the rural parts of Taiwan but they were pushed to the brink of extinction. This preserve is trying to restore the population of these beautiful birds, along with some other indigenous birds that had amazing plumage.

One interesting thing that we noticed was that during our afternoon in the mountains, we could actually breathe. Our coughing fits slowed down a great deal and I, personally, was coughing up part of the mess that was filling up my lungs. As soon as we got back to Taichung, all the respiratory drama returned.

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