Taiwan - Day 6 (Jiji Township - Peat bog - Sun Moon Lake

Our stay at Hongqiao Lodge did not include breakfast. Hence, we had breakfast nearby Jiji Township after we checked out from the lodge. We ordered beef and egg burger, Taiwanese pancakes, fried radish cake with egg, mini sausages and fried chicken. My favourite were the fried chicken and Taiwanese ham, egg & corn pancake. Fried chicken was crispy and juicy. Whereas for the Taiwanese pancake, it was a perfect combination of ham, egg and corn pancake. Great breakfast to start the day.

Breakfast restaurant

Taiwanese ham, egg and corn pancake

Taiwanese egg, cucumber and corn pancake

Fried radish cake with egg

Pancakes

Mini sausages

Fried chicken

Beef and egg burger

Milk tea & soy milk

We dropped by several main tourism spots in Jiji Township before heading to Sun Moon Lake for a boat cruise. First stop was the large camphor tree nearby Heping Elementary School "和平國小". This old tree believe to be around 700 years old. There's a Chinese temple next to the large camphor tree.

700 years old camphor tree "大樟樹"

Address:

Old Camphor Tree "大樟樹"

Jiji Township, Nantou County,

Taiwan 552

Next was the Jiji Station, one of the oldest railway stations on the island. It's located just 3 minutes drive or 8 minutes walk from the old camphor tree "大樟樹".

Jiji Station

Address:

Jiji Station

Jiji Township, Nantou Country,

Taiwan 552

Wuchang Temple became famous after the 921 earthquake. This temple collapsed its lower floors, leaving the roof mostly intact. It's just 5 minutes drive from Jiji Station.

Collapsed Wuchang Temple "武昌宮" in Jiji township following the 921 earthquake

Newly built temple opposite the collapsed temple

Address:

Wuchang Temple (武昌宮)

No. 181, Bazhang Street,

Jiji Township, Nantou County,

Taiwan 552

Approximately half and hour drive from Wuchang temple, we reached Redwood Cottage and Peat Bog. This cottage offers local tour of the peat bog next to it. Entrance fee is NT$ 100 per person. Before entering the peat bog, they showed us a short documentary. Pet bog is a wet spongy ground of decomposing vegetation. It's fun walking on a peat bog. It's like walking on a trampoline! There's a wooden plank trail and you just need to walk over it. They will provide you a rubber boots and before wearing it, you need cover on your feet with plastic bags for hygiene purposes.

Redwood Cottage & Peat Bog

Road heading to Redwood Cottage

Redwood Cottage

Rubber boots

Peat bog

Walking on a peat bog

Address:

Redwood Cottage (紅木農荘民宿)

No. 76, Pinghe Lane,
Yuchi Township, Nantou County,

Taiwan 555

Xiangshan Visitor Center is just 7 minutes drive from Redwood Cottage, overlooking Sun Moon Lake in Yuchi Township, Nantou. There's a reflecting pond right in front of the cafe. You can sit back, sip a cup of coffee and enjoy the lake view.

Cafe outdoor seating

Enjoy a cup of coffee

Reflecting pond

Address:

Xiangshan Visitor Center

No. 599, Zhongshan Road,

Yuchi Township,

Nantou County,

Taiwan 555

We had our late lunch at Shyang-Shi Restaurant "翔喜餐廳", 7 minutes drive from Xiangshan Visitor Center before going on a boat cruise. There's many restaurants along the road but we ended up at this restaurant. We ordered their set lunch and they served seven dishes with one soup, more than enough for the eight of us. We parked our car at the Zhongxing parking lot and right beside the parking lot there's a public toilet.

(Total lunch bill: NT$ 1,500)

Dead branches in front of Zhongxing parking lot

Shyang-Shi Restaurant "翔喜餐廳"

Pork

Mushroom

Vegetables

Taiwanese three cup chicken

Fried dry shrimp

Tofu

Steamed fish

Soup

Address:

Shyang-Shi Restaurant (翔喜餐廳)

No. 126, Zhongshan Road,

Yuchi Township,
Nantou County,

Taiwan 555

Sun Moon Lake is located in Yuchi Township, Nantou. It's the largest body of water in Taiwan and one of the most popular tourist attractions. After our late lunch at Shyang-Shi Restaurant, we head to Shui She Wharf, just 4 minutes walk from the restaurant. We queued at Pier 2 and 10 minutes later the boat came and took us across Sun Moon Lake. Within 10 minutes we reached Xuanguang Temple. We spent around 45 minutes exploring the temple before hopping on another boat to Ita Thao village.

While hanging around Xuanguang Temple, we had herbal tea leaf egg and fruits. I'm not a big fan of herbal egg but I quite enjoyed this herbal egg. It has mild tea flavour with a hint of saltiness. Besides that, we bought one red banana and a sugar apple. I've never tried a red banana before and was curious how it might taste like. Well, it tastes similar to a yellow banana but smaller and plumper than the common Cavendish banana. On the other hand, sugar apple is nothing new to me because we had a sugar apple tree in the front yard when I was growing up.

Boat operating hours: 8am to 6pm

Sun Moon Lake shuttle boat ticket - NT$ 300

Sun Moon Lake hand stamps for admission

Shui She Wharf

渡船遊艇商業公會

Performance by the native of Taiwan

Herbal tea leaf egg stall

Herbal tea leaf egg

Staircase heading to Xuanguang Temple

Sun Moon Lake

Xuanguang Temple

Qinglong Mountain trail

Red bananas

Red banana

Sugar apple

Yi Da Shao Wharf is just 10 minutes boat ride from Xuanguang Temple pier. There's many food stalls along the Ita Thao shopping street. We had grilled mochi and it was nice. It's chewy, soft, coated with roasted peanuts and sugar. We also saw a living statue (a street artist who poses as a mannequin) on display in Ita Thao village.

Yi Da Shao Wharf

Ita Thao Visitor Center

Living statue

Ita Thao shopping street

Different types of grilled mochi

Grilled mochi coated with roasted peanuts and sugar

Address:

Ita Thao Visitor Center

No. 127, Wenhua Street,

Yuchi Township,

Nantou County,

Taiwan 555

On our way back to Jiji Township we dropped by "Pengshu" black tea "膨鼠紅茶" to try out their red tea. The shop is just 5 minutes drive from Shui She Wharf.

History of Squirrel black tea

Squirrel black tea

Shop ambience

Address:

膨鼠紅茶

Lane 2 to 6, Wenhua Street,

Yuchi Township,

Nantou County,

Taiwan 555

Tel: 049 - 289 7127

We were still too full to have our dinner. So, we decided to eat some light snack before heading to Fengjia Night Market in Taichung. This Taiwanese meatball stall is 40 minutes drive from "Pengshu" black tea "膨鼠紅茶". It's one of our friend's favourite meatball stall. Compared to the one that we had in Hsinchu City, this meatballs taste better. No wonder our friend had two bowls!

水里肉圓

Taiwanese meatball or also known as "bak wan" in hokkien

Pork balls and tofu

Address
水里肉圓

No. 2, Chuzhong Street,

Jiji Township,

Nantou County,

Taiwan 552

We reached Fengjia Night Market around 8.40pm, approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes drive from "水里肉圓". This market is located next to Feng Chia University. we tried variety of snacks and my favourites were the potato balls and fried quail eggs. We stayed at Diary of Ximen in Ximending that night which is approximately 2 hours drive from Fengjia Night Market.

Note: NT$ 1 = RM 0.1460