Sunmoon Lake Camping trip

fore

#1 Jeff - (our tent is the orange and purple one behind him. A 4 person tent in Asia is the size of a two person tent at home. )
#2 Gemma (in the hat) and Sharne!
#3 Sam and little Holly.
#4 Michelle enjoying some bamboo steamed rice for breakfast. Duncan in the background breaking into his own bamboo rice.


The weekend of March 24th a friend was celebrating her birthday and planned a camping trip.

We both love to camp and have missed our Anglin, Candle and Clearwater lake trips alot. So we were all up for a weekend at the water's edge. We also still had a brand new four person tent that we purchased last year when my sister Patricia came out to visit, but had never used because of a little typhoon near Taiwan that made camping impossible at the time.

Our friend Sam had a car! woohoo! Road Trip! Could't wait for it.

Sam drove with Duncan , Jeff, myself and possibly one of the best dogs I've ever known, Holly in her car. Our friend Sharne drove the van with Gemma and lots of camping gear. We decided to have a late start and headed off around noon. Found the maps and hit the road.

Decided to stop for coffee along the way and it couldn't have been better timing. Moments after getting out of the vehicles everyone noticed the hissing sound coming from under the van.....and the puddle underneath that was increasing in size before our eyes. The owner of the shop, who had come out to greet us immediately came to our aid. Within 15 minutes there was a mechanic under the hood (well acutally under the front seat as it's a little VW van) and a hot latte (iced for some) in our hands. The mechanic checked it out and gave us the verdict....fan belt had broken - luckily we stopped quickly as it could have ruined the engine. As it turns out he can fix it, $1000NT dollars. Now, that's only $35 Canadian. Did I mention he said he'd fix it right there in the parking lot - no need to tow it - he can just bring his tools here. (did I mention I love this country)....oh yeah - not only did we stop just in time for a cup of coffee and save the van from possible major breakdown, but we got a cup of coffee....and...wait for it....wait for it........in the coffee shop you could shopfor clothes! .....and there was a sale!!! (Did I mention I love this country)....(did I mention we stopped just in time). It was a good start.

So, car #1 headed off while the van stayed behind for major but seemed like minor repairs. We had intended to originally go to a small camping site in Puli..but none of us knew where the campsite was, none of us knew how to speak Chinese, and Sam and Duncan already knew exactly how to get to the camping site at Sunmoon Lake. It was already 4:00 and it starts getting dark at six - so we didn't have a lot of time if we wanted to set up the tents in the light. (p.s. the sun sets and rises at the exact same time everyday of the year....now that took some getting used to) We arrived, got a site, got the tents set up and we settled in for the nite. Sharn and Gemma arrived not long after.

We spent the remainder of the weekend eating great food, drinking good wine, taking in the tourist sites and enjoying each others company. Oh - we also had to take the shelter of the back of the van when it started to rain. But don't worry -our new tent withstood the rain - no leaks (we were the only ones).