How do you make aboriginal culture "amusing"?

Having a long weekend is always welcome no matter where you are, but especially when you're the kind of person who works six days a week.

I constantly think of places I want to go but it would take more than a simple day to travel, do the things you go there to do, and then come back home. 

It sucks only having one day a week to yourself.

So we all took full advantage of the three-day weekend. 

One of my roommates went to Kenting for the Spring Scream Music Festival with the regular crowd of Gloria friends. Another went to Hualien with her boyfriend who was visiting from Hong Kong where he's studying abroad.

I opted for a chill weekend at Sun Moon Lake with Leila because I knew that if it weren't for a long weekend, I simply wouldn't make it there.

Sun Moon Lake is the largest fresh-water lake in Taiwan and it's smack in the middle of the country in Nantou County. 

Being that it's hidden away in the mountains, it is a destination that is a tad on the expensive side, but I'm proud of myself for how little I managed to spend. 

It's also where you find plenty of beautiful views.

Now if you've ever been to Taiwan, you would know that Tomb-Sweeping Weekend (the holiday responsible for our blessed three-days of grace) is infamous for terrible weather.

Before the weekend Leila and I had toyed with the idea of going to Peng Hu, but finally stuck with the Lake. And while the weather at the lake wasn't perfect, it was still pretty good. 

Cloud and a little dreary at first, but we certainly managed. 

We honestly didn't do much hiking, which was the original plan. I don't know about Leila, but I was feeling a little lazy and just kind of wanted to look at the pretty things.

Both evenings we promised each other and ourselves that we would wake up super (ridiculously, really) early and hike up the Maolan hiking trail to see the sunrise over the lake.

Here's how that went on Sunday morning:

Alarm goes off.

Leila: I kind of want to keep sleeping.

Me: Yeah, me too.

Leila: OK, I'll set the alarm for 9 a.m. and we'll shoot for breakfast around 10 a.m.

Me: Sweet, *roll over and pass back out*

Sunday night we swore we would go on Monday morning since that was our last chance.

Alarm goes off.

Me: It was POURING down rain about an hour ago.

Leila: Seriously.

Me: Yeah. I don't know about you, but I'm not looking forward to that.

Leila: OK yeah me either. I'll set the alarm for around 9 a.m. so we can catch the 10:30 a.m. bus.

Me: K, *roll over and pass back out*

Now I suppose Monday morning was a mix of my lack of stick-to-it-ive-ness and the fact that I seriously hate mornings and most the time 4 a.m. is the time I'm going to sleep not waking up.

Se we never made that hike.

However, we walked around the lake a bit and we went on the brand new cable cars (Gondola) up the mountain and over to the Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village.

Yep, it's an aboriginal-themed amusement park and it's easily the most fun I've had since I've been in Taiwan.

I love amusement parks. They remind me of when I was little and we lived in East Texas. We used to drive into Arlington every summer so we could go to Six Flags Over Texas as a family. I loved those days.

Anyhow, we didn't do a whole lot, but it was a fairly relaxing weekend, at least until we had to come back.

We spent literally the entire day Monday trying to get home. Note to self: Any time you're traveling on a holiday weekend, book your way there and back in advance.

If you're interested in seeing more photos, I set up a Flickr page that you can check out. I'll try to add extra photos now and then. As soon as I can I'll put up photos for old trips (Hualien, The Philippines) and fun times in Taiwan.