travels with pem: Welcome to Sun Moon Lake!

Sun Moon Lake is a very popular vacation destination for Taiwanese, so we were totally not alone here.

Rads picked an awesome hotel

With a gorgeous view!

Yes, that was the view from our balcony!

Dinner was great, mostly because of the companionship! We laughed the entire evening

Maybe because of the French Fries Ball.

But probably more likely because of the Taiwanese beer we shared.

In the elevator the next morning, we ran into an English speaking couple who called us "the Happy Girls," because we were laughing so much. I think that's just how we roll.

Who can turn down a photo op with an aboriginal tribesman cut out?

Not Rads!

Not me!

So with our hotel suite, we also got bikes! After a great Taiwanese buffet breakfast (hello spring onion pancakes!!!! And 5 cups of espresso), we ventured outside to check out the bike paths along the lake.

I picked a bike with a vacant kid's seatpost, but the kid's handlebars are still there, because I thought it was going to be a sweeter ride. But turns out, the gear ratio may be the same, but the rotational radius was severely stunted. This, I figured out later, was because the missing child would have been kneed repeatedly if it was a normal bike.

I did eventually figure out that I could bike easier since it had gears- but only after standing up to pump up a small incline. But man, I really use 100% of my hamstrings (or maybe I use quadriceps?) when I bike. Oi.

A professional photographer was doing a shoot with these two ladies. I am totally not bold, so if I was alone, I would have taken a stealth photo of the ladies. But Rads goes right up to the camera guy and asks him to take a photo of us all together. Definitely makes a more memorable shot and way less stalker-ish.

Look we are so happy! But without giant bows in our hair!

The bike ride around half the lake was very nice and relatively easy (but it would have been easier on a standard bike, she complained again), so I was able to take a couple of videos while riding. In the midst of one of these videos, Rads pulls over suddenly when she saw these guys!!

I like turtles!

Evidently, Rads gave me the heads up she was pulling over, but you know how difficult it is to talk to someone on a bike when theyre behind you. Our conversations were similar to this:

Rads: <turns her head and says something>

Me: I can't understand you!

Back to the turtles.

The turtles were hanging out in a log under this bridge. What a cool bridge!! Makes me think about my Statics course. But just for a moment. And then I return to my thoughts about turtles.

Around the lake, there were several information centers. This center had the most wonderful architecture, complete with a reflection pool.

How nice is this? Not sure this will work at home.

At this same center, they had a couple of photo opportunities with cutesy statues.

The lady with Rads had already had her picture taken in 10 different poses. When she saw us waiting for her to finish, she took the opportunity to direct Rads through 7 different poses. Later, we saw her friend and her in a field outside and she was still having her friend to take a bazillion pictures of her. Rads said she asked us to come take pictures with her, but we kept on biking, otherwise we would have been there forever. How interesting can those pictures be?

My bike and me! We did eventually sort it out and become friends.

Photo ops in a sun moon themed rest area.

Yes! Rads is super cute!

And I'm uncomfortable with too many pictures of me.

In Taichung, there was a vending machine that had these sticky hand or foot thingies. I saw them and was like:

I. Want. Gar.

My Childhood. All that was missing was a Gremlins lunch box or Buttercup from My Little Ponies.

I spent almost 10 minutes trying to get the hand to be in the bird position. There was much resistance. The jelly hand won. :-(. Sadness.

No post about a natural setting is complete without a picture of the local flora.

I almost didn't take a picture of this sign, because I was in "haha, look at that!" Mode, not "haha, I should document that!" Mode. But Rads was like "haha! You need to take a picture of that!" Ergo picture.

No overnight engaging of activities whatsoever on houseboats.

Get your minds out of the gutter people!

Back to the show!

So, I made a new friend who was really great at communication. (What's not pictured is that this chubby fellow has a phone in his belly.) Bah dum duhhhhh. Ching.

Because it was such a nice day and we wanted to see more of the area, we bought a round trip across Sun Moon Lake to two different docks.

Our boat!

No engaging of activities on the horseboat!

Stop 2: small <add name> temple with tons of people.

It was just after this picture that the skies opened up and the rain started to drizzle, then pour down.

We escaped the rain to find shelter and ended up having the bejeez scared out of Rads when she didn't notice that this guy was not a statue.

This is how I warned her.

Me: that's a dude.

Rads: yeah. <thinking : of course it's a dude, it's not a girl statue obviously. >

We had a small umbrella to share between us. It was not cutting it, so on the way to the cable cars, we bought two huge umbrellas, (They are now our best friends!! ) and stopped into a small cafe to get something to drink, where we met two new expats from the US. They actually offered us a ride to Taichung, but since we already had a bus ticket, we continued to the gondola. This interchange kind of begs the question "Are Americans friendlier outside of America?" I don't think I'm unfriendly, just reserved, until I know you. Then I'm like "wham! This is what you get!! Baaaahhhhhhhhh!! Haaahaaaa!!"

And finally, the gondola ride to the Formosan Aboriginal Center, where we took a bus back to Taichung, then the HSR back to Taipei. Whew.