~ 20th March 2014 ~
After we were done exploring Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, the only way out was the same as how we entered. Another round of ropeway ride. Another round of shaky feelings for Pinky. Thank God for the human-size bear for the season. My friend told me that there's no more bear when they were there a month back. Without the bear, both of us would be as frozen as she was. It was quite a ride going up and down and up and down the mountain and the valley. For that, Pinky was all grateful for the bear who has been very patient with her deadly grip.
Thank you, bear. You have served the purpose of sitting in the cable car. Such a great companion you are. The Sun Moon Lake Ropeway management should consider leaving the bear in the cable car for those who has fear of heights. Such a great huge companion would make it possible for those who fear height to go all the way up and come down with less accident physically and mentally. It can be a good source of entertainment for children, too. I was entertained by my camera but a child with short concentration would not find the ride interesting.
The last dip down to the station. I should have asked Pinky to look down. It would give her heart a great and mighty leap. Aww... I know that would be very unkind of me but I just enjoy disturbing her at times. It's like swinging a life cockroach in front of someone who has such great fear of cockroach. Evil to the max~! Oooppssss.... sorry dear, but you should look at the beautiful view from the top.
You know we Google-d about Sun Moon Lake until we could partly memorize the history behind the name. According to the tourism board of Taiwan regarding Sun Moon Lake, there was no history behind the name being mention but just that there were eight scenic sites surrounding the lake that would be tourist attractions. We didn't manage all eight. We did miss out a lot but at the same time, we didn't miss out that much. Some places were not worth visiting and some places were not of our interest. Then, according to Wikipedia, Sun Moon Lake got its name because the east side of the lake looked like a sun while the west side of the lake looked like a moon. Or was it otherwise? Okay, I couldn't remember so it would be good that you search for it to get confirmation. To me, whether the east or the west looked like sun or moon, it doesn't matter. When you were on the cable car, you wouldn't know where's the north, south, east or west. I just saw that from the cable car and I didn't know what it look like. It was just the corner of the lake with some land feature that Geography lesson has taught us and I couldn't remember what. I learn Geography in Malay language so was it called 'tanjung'?
We walked through the small town of Ita Thao. There were some things that we missed when we first arrive. I'm still wondering why do the pumpkins look so orange and plastic-like. The pumpkin must taste really sweet?
And then we came across a boat up on a roof. Was it use as a balcony to dry clothes and to rest? Was it just a person's home or was it a homestay? What on earth was written on the boat? The name of the boat or the name of the place? Oh, my... pity me who can't read a word except for the first word which means 'big'. This whole scene gave me a big headache.
We arrived early at the pier waiting for our ride to the next destination. Even though the tourism board listed eight scenic places but the tickets that we bought through the homestay only cover three places. One of the places was Shuishe where we boarded the ferry from. While waiting for the ferry, we did what we do best. Photography session with our comfortably 'dressed' feet. We started doing this when we were on board the Puffing Billy train in Melbourne. We do not enjoy taking selfies so we had 'feetfies'. We had one with our feet hanging above the lake water. I was hoping we wouldn't drop our shoes or we would be in deep trouble. I might dive in to retrieve our shoes. Sometimes, in some situation, the brain would not be put to good use. Let's call that immediate reaction. Shoe drop, then pick it up~!
So, what happen to my sudden discovery of how Sun Moon Lake got its name, backed with photos as prove. Forget about the shape of the lake in the east or in the west. Usually, direct translation is the best. It's a lake where you get to experience the presence of the sun and the moon both at the same time. You need to get the timing right. We were lying down on the pier, yeah lying down like we were in a 'clean' hotel room. We just lied down there and I saw something which I only realized now while going through the photographs.
Sunset in Taiwan was around 5:30p.m. when we were there. The time would differ slightly according to the four different seasons. When we were looking at the sky, we thought we would catch a glimpse of sunset then I could strike 'sunset' off from my invisible bucket list. But it was not so. We saw something else.
The moon. The moon appeared before the sun set. There.... it's as simple as that. Sun Moon Lake is a lake where you get to see the sun setting and the moon appearing both at the same time. Isn't that easier to explain rather than to look out for the shape of the lake? We had nothing better to do, so that's the only time we had so much time to waste, let's not say waste. We spent our hour usefully to figure out why was the lake named so. I'm happy with my finding.
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