FEATURE
What and Where Is Sun Moon Lake? In Taiwan’s central mountains, this is Taiwan’s largest f reshwater lake, located in a basin surrounded by peaks. Its beauty has given rise to such names as “Pearl in the Mountains,” “Honeymoon Lake,” and “Lovers’ Lake.” It has also been called the “Heart of Taiwan,” not for romantic reasons, but for its role as a ma jor hydropower generator. When the Japanese ruled Taiwan (1895-1945) they kick-started Taiwan’s modern industrial development by blocking the basin’s water exit with a dam and building a large power plant, raising the water level signif icantly, almost drowning today’s Lalu “Island,” the peak of what was then a sacred high hill around which the lake’s Thao indigenous people lived and on which were sacred burial sites. Today’s Ita Thao Village is where the people of the settlement ended up.
How to Do the Lake On my most recent trip I combined all modes of movement you see in this article’s title, and had my best Sun Moon Lake trip yet. I recommend visiting in spring and autumn, when local kids are in school and temperatures are more moderate; summer biking and hiking can be tough indeed on folks f rom cooler lands. I also recommend weekday visits, when the area is much, much quieter.
Bus Touring So let’s head out. I hopped off my Taiwan Tourist Shuttle bus in f ront of the attractive Visitor Information Center in Shuishe V illage (see Getting T here section below). Shuishe, on the north side, is the largest lake settlement. Go into the center to get all the help you need, in English. The well-paved
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Travel in Taiwan
Boardwalk near Chaowu Pier
two-lane road (about 33 km) circling the lake is regularly plied by around-the-lake tour buses which stop at/near most ma jor attractions, including the popular cable-car “ropeway” to Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village and to a number of hiking-route trailheads. The staff at the visitor center will give you all particulars. Get on a bus at the center, get off at any stop, stay however long you like, and hop on the next arriving bus. Service is 9 to 6; a one-day unlimited ticket is just NT$80; bicycles are allowed on board. Two stops this service is especially usef ul for accessing is Xuanzang Temple and Ci’en Pagoda, located on a hilly peninsula. The temple is at roadside, and you can reach the pagoda atop the peninsula via Qinglong Mountain Trail. At the 2.5 km trail’s bottom end, by the lake, is Xuanguang Temple, where there’s a tour-boat wharf. Xuanzang Temple – Built in Tang Dynasty style, featuring an unusually calm and pretty white exterior and attractive landscaped grounds, this temple enshrines a parietal-bone relic of Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang, of “Journey to the West” fame, along with a golden statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha. C i’en Pagoda – This soaring structure, completed in 1971, was built by Chiang Kai-shek – cut off f rom his China homeland – in memory of his mother. Sun Moon Lake was one of his favorite getaway spots; he had a villa on Hanbi Peninsula by Shuishe Village, originally built for Japanese off icials and royalty, where the giant The Wen Wan Resort now stands. Climb the pagoda for superb views, and bang the great drum at top for good luck.
Photos/ Maggie Song, Sunny Su
Enjoying a day out at Sun Moon Lake