Day 433: Sun Moon Lake (日月潭)

Jun 9 - Head to the mountains today. The western side of Taiwan is more or less flat for 20 to 50 km, then rises suddenly into a north-south mountain range. Virtually all the urban development is in the flat part. We see this contrast today as we take the two-hour bus ride east. The towns and rice fields give way to steep, gravel-filled canyons, lined by thick sandstone and conglomerate formations. They do not appear to be very resistant and are eroding at a fast rate.

Go through the town of Puli and turn south. We are on the 6670F bus, that goes all the way to the Xiangshan Visitors Center on Sun Moon Lake.

There isn’t a lot to do at the center, in retrospect it would have made more sense to disembark at the town on the northern shore of the lake (Shuishe), since the bus connection here is very infrequent. Oddly, there is no bus that goes all the way around the lake. In order to cover about 3/4 of the circumference, one has to take two different buses.

We rent bicycles and go north along a bike path to Shuishe, though, rather inconveniently, we will have to return the bikes here. The shore of the lake is hilly and vegetated, with relatively few structures built along the shore. The water has a turquoise hue and is almost devoid of trash. The only objects floating in it are logs (most of which are bamboo).

A few facts about Sun Moon Lake. It is by far the largest natural freshwater lake in the country. Naturally, it figured into the mythology of the local inhabitants, the Thao people. In the 1930s, when Taiwan was a Japanese colony, the occupiers built a dam to raise the water level of the lake and produced hydroelectric power. They built some hotels (which still stand today) and allowed only VIPs into the area.

There used to be a large island in the center, upon which was built a marriage pavilion in 1978. But an earthquake in 1999 sunk most of this island and now it appears only as a tiny feature with a tree on top. Happily, for the Thao people, who originally believed the island to be sacred, it now has reverted to a natural place.

Our bike tour ends at Longfeng Temple, just west of Shuishe.

We return the bikes to the renter near the visitor center, but there are no realistic options for getting around here on the bus (one hour wait). Instead we walk the part we just biked, back to Shuishe, then hit upon the idea to take a ferry across rather than wait for a bus here. A ticket stopping at two points on the lake shore, then returning to Shuishe, is T$200 (T$100 for Odette).

The ferry drops us at Xuanguang Pier. Just up the hill from here is Xuanguang Temple, and further up, about 1,200 meters, is Xuan Zang Temple. These are dedicated to the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuan Zang (602-664 CE). He is famous for his 17-year travels through India to acquire original Buddhist texts for Chinese Buddhists. The interpretations then available to people in China were not considered reliable, and these original texts cleared up much confusion. He made this journey despite an official ban on traveling out of China. Ironically, upon his return (he came back via the deserts of Western China), he was accolated by the government and asked to write an account of his journey.

Back down the mountain to the ferry, and a quick ride over to the town of Ita Thao. We originally wanted to do a hike here along the lake shore, but it is already 15:00 and we haven’t eaten lunch. Ita Thao itself isn’t much, just a few streets lined with tourist restaurants. We eat some tempura and get another ferry back to Shuishe.

Hang out at the stop for the 6670 bus back to Taichung. The stop is well marked, and I’m glad we show up a bit early since the line gets long and I don’t think everyone is able to get on the bus. The only departures from here later in the day go only to Puli and it would be necessary to get a connection onward from there.