Alarm sounded at 515am to wake me up for sunrise. The view at the balcony showed a cloudy scene, not too hopeful for a good photoshoot. Sure enough, after an hour of waiting at the balcony, not much improvement made me jumped back into bed.
Alarm sounded off at 8am again. This time we overslept and had to moved a little faster since it was a day back to Taipei and much traveling was anticipated. Proceeded to 8th floor for a simple breakfast buffet with a panorama view of the lake.
After checking out, we proceeded to the jetty to board the ferry back using the complimentary ferry tickets given by the hotel. This time, the stamp on the hand was blue in colour, not that it mattered as this was the only ferry trip we were taking. It was amusing listening to the commentary as you get to hear new stuff with different captains.
Back at Shuishe, went to take some photos from a viewpoint on the right hand side of the jetty before going back to the visitor center to wait for the bus back to Taichung. Got to purchase some tea leaves for NT400 each for Assam and honey red tea.
At the center, we had to frequently checked back with the ticketing or the bus drivers to ascertain which bus to board. Although shown on the front of the bus was the our destination, the drivers actually said that they were going there. Until when it was almost time, checked with the driver before boarding the bus. Nap time.
Got off at Taichung HSR station to place our luggages at the deposit lockers. Those at the main station were full and we had to go over to the one at the train station, while helping 2 old Japanese tourists at the same time. Although the bus did allow for disembarkation at Taichung Railway station, we didn’t want to tug the luggage around while doing our foodstuff shopping.
Took the train to the Taichung main station by buying the tickets through the counter, NT30 for 2 and boarded the incoming train.
The first foodstore to visit was the popular ice cream cafe Miyahara. Already there was a line of ice cream lovers digging into their waffle biscuit bowl of ice cream along the corridor of this store. At the store itself, it wasn’t too long a wait. Scoops of ice creams were going for NT90, right price for quality ice cream. There were 3 fridges long of choices and so we just got to the cashier for recommendations, one of which is mango. There were also 3 choices of toppings which we had raisins and 2 other pastries. It was delicious.
Went back around to the front was another store under the same company, designed beautifully and kinda reminded me of wizardry shop in Harry Porter, that sold local foodstuff packed in interestingly designed boxes. Of course these come with a price but would make good gifts.
Left the store and the goodies after paying to collect later. We went to look for another popular store for the Sun biscuits. When we reached the supposed road, we found that there are multiple stores with similar names! We didn’t note which was the store signage while doing our research. Went into one of them with certain uncertainty and bought 2 boxes. Returned to the previous store to retrieve our purchase and got back to HSR station to repack. Got onto the HSR for NT1590 for 2 with reserved seating, to arrive at 1536pm in Taipei.
Walking to our accommodation at New City Inn was pretty short and within the underground shopping mall, it was easy. The only difficult part was the climbing of steps to the floor level with my luggage. The hotel itself was located in an older building on the 5th floor, accessible through the old buildings lift. Checking in was also easy, and the room was on the same floor. Spacious and modern design with a huge TV and wifi. The only available windows were in the toilet though.
Took a long break in the hotel before we decided to head to Rao He night market and Wu Fen Pu. Shopped around the underground shopping corridor that we hadn’t been before, Eslite. This location looked newer and also had a more expensive feel than the older and longer mall parallel to it. It wasn’t long enough before we took the train to Songshan station for Rao He night market for our dinner. This was the first time we were taking the train (stumbled onto without knowing about this option till the station assistant advices) to Rao He as we took the MRT the previous time. It was only one stop away and even closer than the MRT.
On arrival, signboards were everywhere to guide passengers how to get to Rao He Night market. We followed till we got till the ground level and from there, we could see the temple which was just next to the Rao He Night Market. Then it was lining up for food and shopping before the next location.
After having our fills at the market, we walked over to the Wu Fen Pu, just across the street within 15mins walk. Great to revisit again and it was not crowded. However many trucks and motorcycles plied the right streets in between stores. Bought some stuff before we got tired and decided to return back home, also taking the train and purchasing the tickets from the counter.
Rested for the remainder of the night.