Home is where you stay

Two day trip of cingjing and sun moon lake (July 2008)

It was the nonavailability of train tickets to Haulien that the venue of Sun moon lake got freezed for this weekend gateway.  It would also give me the opportunity to travel by the taiwan high speed train.

Saturday morning we journeyed by the high speed train to Taichung.  The journey was smooth  and fast at 270 KPH.  The taichung high speed train station is wonderful.  It has just enough number of coffee shops and restuarants.  All the high speed train stations have a complimentary bus to the respective city downtown area.    There is a bus which runs every hour from taichung train station to Sun moon lake via high speed train station and puli.  We caught this bus to Puli (took us around 1 hour).  On the way passed through many small towns.  The sight of the ping lang girls (betel nut ladies) in their skimpy outfits were a surprise for my wife.  From puli we took a bus to Cingjing Farm (1 hr journey).  I believe this bus can cross through the mountain and take you to the east coast (Haulien), please do verify about this.  The drive through the picturese mountain sides.  The roads are so steep that the driver turns off the AC.  You can visit  http://www.cingjing.gov.tw/index.php for more information.  This farm is perched at a height of around 6000 feet.  European styled mansions and guest houses can be seen on the way.  There are two point of interests here a small swiss garden and the cingling farm.  There are places to hike nearby too.  We spent a good deal of time watching the sun set.

The ideal time to visit cingling would be during the autumn / spring season.  Summer is too hot.  Cingling farm has a sheep show which should not be missed (But you get this only in the summer).  To see the intelligent dog round up the sheep’s and get them to their pens is worth a watch.  Having mostly seen this in movies, the live show was much more fascinating, we were awed by the dog and his master.  As we were in july we got to see the sheep shearing show too.  Being a weekend cingling was crowded like other tourist places in taiwan.  There is a bus which takes you from the cingling guest house to the farm and back costs 15 NT one way make sure you have the change.

We had a wonderful lunch at a vegetarian restuarant in Puli.  This one is right opposite the bus stop (The stop where we were asked to get down to catch the bus to sun moon lake).  Sun moon lake is a serene and beautiful lake.  We took a ride in the boat which takes you through the small island in the center.  Lakes have a way to make the person feel light and relaxed.  Sun moon lake brought in those feelings within me.  There is a bus which takes you around the lake to the various spots around it.  You can also rent electric bikes from the tourist information center.  We spent 4 hours there next time i would want to spent 2 days in this place.  There are places to sit and rest all around the lake nice landscaped gardens makes it relaxing.