Dec in Taiwan still very mild lah.. avg ~ 18C at nite & if rain & ~ 24C day time..just like Cameron Highland temp.

Just came back from Taiwan last 2days, Kinda disappointed!!

Try Vietnam airlines.. Might be slightly cheaper.

Vietnam Air will reach Taipei (more likely), while Eva should go to both cities.

Vietnam air involves a transit in Vietnam, whereas Eva should be direct.

well, i would expect it to be better seeing that i'm paying 4 times more.

Formosa Aboriginal Village ( 九族文化村) & Theme park @ Sun Moon Lake

The 10-15 minute cable car ride brings you here, the Formosa Aboriginal Village.





I didn't do much visiting around here as my attention was caught by another cable car entrance leading to another place. Little did I know that it was a theme park at the other end. I couldn't forget the look the ticket seller lady gave me when I told her I wanted to enter even when she repeatedly told me that the cable car closes at 4pm (it was around 2.50pm when I was there). Anyway, she must be pretty amused and charged me children's price instead for the entrance ticket LOL (330NTD), normal price would be around double of that amount.

The cultural village. Performances by the aborigines can be watched here at different timeslots .





The theme park has One Piece theme all over it. This explains the abundance of the anime's poster & banting all over the cable car station. It seems like this anime is a really big hit in Taiwan that they even build a whole theme park based on the anime's characters.

After fully comprehending the whole situation I decided to attempt as many rides as I could under one hour. And I made a dash for the space shot first.



To be honest I feel Genting's space shot is better as this ride only bounces once after it ascends to maximum height and drops. My next ride was the corkscrews roller coaster or the Mayan Adventure in this context. This was when things started to go wrong when there's too much adrenaline rushing to your brain. Prior to the ride, I kept my camera into the locker. However, after the ride which was really intense, a lot of tight curves and corkscrews and loops which my head gone spinning for awhile, I mixed up the locker key and my bicycle lock key. I was frantically running all over the theme park looking for help to open my locker and to only realise I used to wrong key -_____- this wasted a lot of my energy and time and I had to settle for only 2 rides before leaving this place :/





After all that frantic running I even dropped my return cable car ticket. Luckily the guy manning the ticket booth allowed me to pass through without reproducing a ticket.  @_@  I will definitely be back here the next time. There are many more attractions that I've yet to try and it looks like fun. But having said that, I doubt there will be special discounted price for me anymore 

Cih-en Pagoda (慈恩塔) @ Sun Moon Lake



And finally, I have reached the last destination of the day which is the Cih-en Pagoda which is located at the highest peak of Sun Moon Lake. It was built by Chiang Kai-Shek in memory of his mother in 1971. By the time I cycled to the foot of the peak, I was almost completely exhausted and I didn't expect to climb another 700 metres uphill before I could reach the pagoda. I was contemplating on whether to continue or not but I pressed on, since I have cycled more than half of the lake to reach this place, it's a bit stupid to pull out now.





After parking my bicycle I then started my ascend. It was about 4.30pm then and the sun was still half way setting. Time was still on my side. The good thing about these steps is that they have distance markers, telling you how many metres more to go before you reach the pagoda.



The climb took approximately 15 minutes and it was a huge relief to finally see the magnificent pagoda. It's amazing how those workers manage to build this.



At 9 storeys high, it was another long climb for me to get to the best spot to capture the sunset. The view of the scenery from atop was indeed breath taking. The scene of the lake at one corner, and rows of mountains at the back of the pagoda. The weather on top was also quite refreshing, a good escape from the scorching Taiwan summer heat.







And so, I found nice to place to sit down and waited for the sun to slowly set over the horizon.........

since you mentioned it...    between 5.30-6.00pm

Sun Moon Lake Sunset Series @ Cih-En Pagoda

While waiting for the sun to slowly set, I was beginning to get worried as heavy mists were starting to materialise which clouded the entire area, including the sun





Thankfully about 5 minutes later the mist subsided and I was able to take pictures of the sunset.









I guess its pretty worth it after all to miss my ride back to my hotel and to witness this beautiful scenery and capture it on film/memory

At Fengjia, ladies boots selling at RM30

not worth..  if you really wan can go nearby taipei 101 area to buy..

http://zhishan90.blogspot.com/2012/08/taiw...pping-mall.html

http://zhishan90.blogspot.com/2012/08/taiw...taipei-101.html

if wan buy clothes can head to Wu Fen Pu or Shi Da Night market. should be around the same price lah.

Wu Fen Pu need to bargain kao kao. While the fashion is new and nice, the handwork is not that nice. Noticed some loose threads from the clothing bought there.

not exactly cheaper but the difference is quite negligible.. if wan cheapER branded stuff (cheaper doesn't mean its cheap!) HK is still the place to go. what brand ah.. giordano and other taiwan brands gua.. lol.. but electronics definitely not cheaper..

yeah rm10-20 can get decent stuff lo.. maybe fashion n design nicer gua..?

from jiufen take train back to taipei main station and take HSR to taichung then take bus lor. if wan go ching jing then cannot go sun moon lake lo. unless u just want to do half day trips.

Actually those tourist atteaction like paper factory and those funny themes places are not worth to visit as its like our berjaya hills resort or legoland normal only. Better visit night market everyday

just now i search for hotel booking , but other than hotel, i heard got place such as homestay which is cheaper than the hotel.

and where I need to find the homestay website.
thanks

where u stay at Taipei and Sun moon lake ? any cheap accommodation to introduce us ? 

Just a quick question the wufenpu and ximendiang is to visit during morning ? noon ? or night better ?

Ok i found my hotel now i need assistance to check if the itinerary is ok ?
Thursday Day 1
- Arrival 3pm, collect Youth Card & digital tour buddy and check in (what is digital tour buddy for ?)
- Taipei 101 at 6pm
- Shilin night market 7.30pm

Friday Day 2
- Xinbeitou hot spring and hell valley (gonna try also the hot spring how long expected to spent there ?)
- (What else can i do ?) ( if u want swimming pool whole day also can) if jz inside special room maximim only 30 min..

Saturday Day 3
- Yeliu Geopark ( nice view super nice to take pic..)
- (What else can i do ?)

Sunday Day 4
- Jiufen / Jinguashi ( nice food to eat .. Super nice lots of yuan ball to eat " like m'sia Penang kek lok si"
- (what else can i do ?)

Monday Day 5
- Danshui, Fisherman's wraft and lover bridge (my wife brithday what or where should i bring her to for a romance day out ?)
- (what else can i do or it already spent whole day ?)
- (or go back taipei 101 and spent birthday there ?)

Tuesday Day 6
- Bridal Studio chose wedding gown and discussion with photographer ( place u should not miss out )
- any night market near zhongshan north road ?

Wednesday Day 7
- Wufenpu & Raohe Street Night Market
- (what else can i do ?)

Thursday Day 8
- Full day photoshooting

Friday Day 9
- Chose photo for printing at noon
- (morning suggestion and night market suggestion ? nearby zhongshan north road?)

Saturday Day 10
- (suggestion please for morning)
- Depart back flight at 3.40pm
I know my plan sucks.. so please help me out gusy