While we were planning for other things to complete our trip in Taiwan, we noticed Sun Moon Lake, and then saw the double fireworks show set for New Year’s Eve….that was the moment that the die was cast for our NYE celebration.
A Beautiful Mountain Lake
We had been in Taiwan for a week and a half when the time for this short side trip to one of Taiwan’s 13 National Scenic Areas came up. We discovered this place was bizarrely weird in a wonderful way. Here are a few things we discovered while we were there. There’s no swimming in the lake. We’re not keen on cold water so this wasn’t a problem for us. The lake is oddly shallow for a mountain lake, with an average depth of less than 30 feet. It is the largest body of water in Taiwan and is considered an alpine lake. Some of the boats that ferry you around the lake have large horse figures on top of the wheel-houses. The number of 7-11’s around our hotel was four, which is a lot even for Asia. The lake is named for a Sun and Cresent-shaped shoreline.
Getting to Sun Moon Lake:
Dragonfly Sculpture Taichung train station.
We left from the first capital of Taiwan, the wonderful city of Tainan. This was one of our favorite cities on the island. We hopped on the train and headed to Taichung City, another city we enjoyed later in our trip. On this part of our journey, we were in Taichung City only long enough to catch a shuttle bus to our hotel in the small lakeside tourist town of Shuishe. The shuttle bus pass we bought included tickets for several attractions and admission fees at Sun Moon Lake. They have different packages for whatever suits your plans the best.
Aquaculture ponds.
Train rides are a great form of transportation and always a good time. The ride along the coast was remarkably scenic….passing countless aquaculture ponds, fruit orchards, and vegetable plots, with the ubiquitous rice paddies scattered about. It was exhilarating as a passenger since often the train was hundreds of feet up, with the highway, and then the sea straight down far below. The new Taichung train station was a pleasure to pass through and after a little confusion and some translating help from a wonderful gentleman who had lived in N.Y. City, we found the shuttle pick-up point after a short walk. English was not so common in Taiwan, but any time we were having trouble, people would fly in to help…happy to have a chance to use their English. The bus ride was pleasant enough once we got out of town and onto smaller roads… curving and climbing up to the lake’s 748m / 2,454 ft elevation.
New Year’s Eve Celebration
On New Year’s Eve, the Shuishe Pier was filling, and it looked like it was shaping up to be a big time for all. There was a stage with live music, along with many food vendors and craftspeople setting up when I went out on my reconnoiter of the area with the best view of the fireworks shows. I found a set of steps that the other tourists didn’t seem to know about. There, I discovered the perfect place to set up. Two different resorts were having displays across the lake, so there were no worries about seeing something from that location. It was packed all along the promenade by showtime. And let me tell you, the Taiwanese know how to put on a fireworks show. We had amazing seats to a mind-blowing array of pyrotechnics that left me wondering “How did they do that?!” I guess I might have to take up making fireworks as a hobby.
Little flour dumplings with different fillings.
Just starting, music as well!
Little pastry cups
Exploring Sun Moon Lake:
Our shuttle tickets included vouchers for boat rides around the lake, and they definitely have their system figured out. Don’t worry…. they will guide, or rather herd you onto the proper boat, and then you can just sit back and enjoy the ride. As we moved around the lake, we were quite the object of curiosity. We only saw one other western-looking couple while we were there…a young man with his girlfriend. As a funny coincidence, he was from Charlotte in my home state of North Carolina and I had seen them the night before where I got takeaway and briefly spoke. They also were on our shuttle back to Taichung.
City pier
Xuanzang Temple:
Nice walk up the mountain.
Our first stop the next morning was the Xuanzang temple. It was good to be out legging it around, with the weather cool and meh – grey skies and misty rains. The walk up the hill to the big temple was a pleasure. We saw a few of the giant bird-catching golden orb spiders suspended far off the ground.….they are as big as your hand spread wide.
Master Xuanzang
Top of the hill.
Now, let’s talk about the famous monk whose pieces of bone from his head are housed in this temple as relics. Xuanzang was a Chinese Buddhist Monk, translator, and scholar who began his 17-year overland journey to and throughout India, beginning in 627 AD at the ripe age of 27. When he left, he was known throughout the Tang dynasty for his ability to memorize text after two readings, as well as for his oration abilities. These skills behooved him on his long trek to India along the famous Silk Road. He was forced to sneak out of China because they were on a war footing with entry and exit outlawed at that time.
The famous Chinese novel “Journey to the West’ published in the 16th century is a highly fictionalized account of his fabled journey along with his travel companions, a Monkey, a PigMan named Pigys, and a weak-minded monk called Sand Monk.
This guard kept me from ringing the bell.
Xuanzang’s journey came 100 years after the Chinese Buddhist monk and translator Faxian‘s 13-year odyssey which Faxian started when he was 60 years old. Xuanzang ‘s dictated the story of his journey in his later years known as ‘The Great Tang Records of the Western Region’. It covers his complete trek. If you’re a history buff like me, both Faxian’s and Xuanzang’s exploits read like almost unbelievable adventure novels….with shipwrecks, kidnappings, and close calls.
Oh how I wanted a go.
Considered a Prophet during his time in India Xuanzang became quite famous, but didn’t espouse riches or fame and returned to China bringing along 47 Buddhist Scriptures. After his triumphant return, he gathered 100 translators, and over the next 19 years created 1300 ’ Volumes of Wisdom’, in Chinese. At his death, he was mourned throughout the Dynasty along with over 1 million mourners in his funeral procession.
In 1942, in the Chinese Capital city of Nanjing, a Japanese army officer discovered a stone box with inscriptions that indicated it held a fragment of Xuanzang’s skull. His bones were thought to have been destroyed during the destruction of the temple that held them. This bone was broken into three pieces with two remaining in China, while the third was taken to Japan. The two that stayed in China were supposably destroyed during China’s Cultural Revolution. In 1955 the Japanese fragment was brought to Taiwan with honors. Taiwan was chosen because the Chinese Buddhist Association was considered the official Buddhist organization and it fled to Taiwan along with the Republic of China government during the Cultural Revolution. Also, Taiwan was thought of as the “Free” China.
Beautiful detail and color.
Ita Thao Shopping District:
One of the admissions included with our shuttle pass was the Ropeway to the Formosan Aboriginal village and back. So we headed to Ita Thao wharf for a short, but pleasant walk to the cable car station. Passing a campground I was a bit envious since our hotel had turned out to be seriously cold and super humid. Something I later discovered I could have fixed with the aircon controls that included moisture control. There was no heat whatsoever though. This town also has a visitor center, and lots of shopping as well as food. Curiously, we saw lots of phallic souvenirs… an indigenous fertility thing with a thingy. We had considered biking earlier but were glad we chose not to as the place was very busy for the holiday.
Walk to Ropeway
Lakeside camping
Weeeeeeee!
I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m not too keen on heights as I’ve grown older. Considering I’m fearless in other things and have had to work up high, that is strange but still true. (I suspect my parents may have kept dropping me as a baby to cause this slight phobia.) As a result of my fear, my palms sweat when I’m up high, and on this day I discovered the soles of my feet do as well. My new sockless sandals exposed this to me as we were sizzling along several thousand feet up. I was also aware that the island was seismically active so I had my fingers crossed on no tremors while we were aloft. We had already been on the Ropeway in Taipei so my fears were tempered after our safe ride there, and the view of the lake was well worth my slight discomfort.
Indigenous Music
The sky ride was just an excursion as we didn’t save enough time for the Aboriginal village theme park. It seemed like an interesting place and now that I’ve looked into it more it might have been worth a visit. Especially since it’s tribal-owned and operated because we like to do things that support the local economies of the places we visit.
After our return ropeway trip, we hung out by the water in the large public area and listened to unique and beautiful tribal music. The mood sparkled with good vibes. It was a perfect way to slow down for a moment.
Headed back to Taichung City
We grabbed the shuttle bus the next morning, the pickup conveniently was just a few feet from the front door of our lodging. Our shuttle tickets allowed us to disembark for a few other touristy things, such as Tea plantations. However, dismal weather had arrived during the night, so unfortunately we opted out of the stops. We had been freezing our ying-yangs off in our hotel with our super-humid room, and at that point, we just wanted to get to our new hotel and check out its spring-fed bathtub. Taichung turned out to be a neat city that we enjoyed. That is something I’ll talk about in future content.
I would suggest a stop by this scenic area…it is quite easy on the eye. December and early January is a cool and wet season, so we were prepared for that. There are plenty of outdoor adventures in the area, that we didn’t have the time for on this trip. Another day or two with clear weather would have been nice.
So pack light and,
Remember…Leave Slowly, and come back quickly!