Shitou and Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

Taiwan is a beautiful island blessed with many attractive sights all around. The family decided that we should spend a couple of days together, away from the cities. Shitou is a popular mountain retreat that is in the Nantou province in central Taiwan. The last time we visited Shitou was more than 30 years ago and it was certainly wonderful to come back for another visit. Especially, this time with Christian.

Just beautiful!

the government-run Youth Activity Center where we'd spent the night

waiting for check-in

on-site convenient store

found our cabin right here

exterior of our cabin--there are four units in this cabin and we took up all four for the 9 of us

each unit comes with a bedroom with three beds

a huge bathroom

(entry way to the unit)

and a spacious sitting area

not luxurious but a comfortable set up

Dinner was at the on-site cafeteria and included with special arrangements, otherwise it cost $250NTD pp (less than USD $10) for this meal.

It came with the main courses--fish, chicken, and pork chop in a bento box...

and all the sides are self-service.

Breakfast was also served buffet style in the same cafeteria.

Exterior of the cafeteria

After spending a restful night in our cabin, we took a walk through the park the next morning.

not exactly good weather

"Skywalk"

Not an easy walk to our destination--the thousand-year old tree.

(Update: In September 2016, this thousand-year old tree had toppled over and injured three people nearby, one critically. Apparently, the trunk was badly hollowed inside through the years.)

We left the park before noon and enjoyed a delicious lunch on our way back.

'Wild' local vegetables

This seemed to be a very popular tourist stop.

the restaurant--Fu Lin

BIL decided we should stop at Sun Moon Lake on our way back for Christian's sake. We were here last year but not Christian.

It was raining and very crowded this day.

the misty Sun Moon Lake

Passing through the township of Shuili, BIL found the famous "meat-ball" place for a snack. These meatballs are quite different from the usual ones. They were steamed and not as greasy as the fried ones. Excellent!

A nice ending to a wonderful weekend in the mountains.