Day 2: Sun Moon Lake - 8 Aug 2013

The day began at about 9am. We went to a nearby local street stall for breakfast. Then, we went to its local market to experience the way the locals do their marketing.

At about 1030am, we took a cab to one of the recommended place to go in Tainan - Anping. To be exact, we went to 安平古堡. It was a former Dutch fortress kind of place that had a nice little garden and some forts that were built within the compound. 安平古堡 was picture-worthy and like all tourists, we snapped away (mostly Papa and I) happily in order that we might not forget the place that we once visited years later.

We boarded the cab back to 1967 City Central hotel. In the cab while on our way back, we were just casually chatting that so far in Tainan, we didn't spot any 度小月 - a very notably famous noodle outlet in Tainan that has almost hundred years of history. The cab driver chimed in and told us that there were many branches in Tainan but near our hotel was where we could find the most authentic branch.

Without much hesitation, we asked the cab driver to stop us at 度小月 instead and savoured the best noodle in Tainan which we would otherwise have regretted had we not done so. Fully satisfied, we left and took a cab back to the hotel which we checked out and bade farewell to Tainan.

The ride to Sun Moon Lake was close to about four hours. We set off in a rented car at about 1245pm and arrived at our destination at about 4pm. The journey was smooth except for a slight glitch in the car; the car's engine encountered some problem and at certain junctures, it felt like the car was moving at 30km/hr. We reckoned that we would have arrived Sun Moon Lake earlier, had it not been for the fault of the car's engine.

Laurel Villa - the place that we stay - was nice. It was strategically located at one of the piers and there were small shops around the vicinity. We went for early dinner at Sun Moon restaurant under the recommendation of the villa's staff. It was local Taiwanese food and the dishes tasted pretty good and the price was extremely cheap - priced only at S$30 plus for a four-course dinner.

After dinner, we roamed around the vicinity. We chanced upon a stall that sells mango desserts but decided to walk on to see if we might find other dessert stalls. However, there weren't any other dessert stalls in sight.

We took some pictures near the pier. Then, we decided to make our way back to the mango dessert stalls which we walked past earlier. As we were nearing, it looked as if the stall was closed. As we were inches away, we concluded that the stall was indeed closed when we saw that the lights were turned off. It was then we saw the owners of the stall, locking up the place. A long shot - we asked the owner if they were indeed closed for the day. Initially, they replied that they could still prepare the desserts for us but only if it was takeaway. I guessed the disappointing tone in our voices might have moved them and they then decided to allow us to have the desserts in their premise. Praise God; we felt really loved by God. To top it off, the stall sells red tea satchets and after buying a container of 20 satchets, the owner made me a cup of iced red tea. I was like the happiest person at the end of the day.

We then went back at about 8pm and rested.