There’s lots of natural, scenic beauty in Taiwan. It’s a fairly small island and most of the island is mountainous and pretty inaccessible. In world terms not many visitors come here, and really there aren’t that many world-class scenic attractions to see, but it is an interesting place.
Most visitors confine themselves to three things. The first is a hefty dose of Taipei to get a sense of the history of the people here, and a bit of a clue about why it is one of the world’s major flashpoints. The second attraction that most people go to is down the east coast of the island at Taroko Gorge which we visited on Wednesday. The third most visited attraction is the Sun Moon Lake on the west coast of the island, and that’s what we’ve come to see today.
Caught the bus from the local Puli bus station to the lake early this morning so that we could beat most of the tourist buses. Worked a treat. We arrived to the fairly deserted town of Shuishe on the edge of the lake and wandered into Starbucks for breakfast. Starbucks is built on the edge of the lake with a balcony overlooking the lake and the mountains, and it was really a lovely place to just sit and enjoy the scenery and a decent cup of coffee.
After we finished breakfast we went for a walk around the side of the lake closest to the main town along the boardwalk. A quiet wander through the lush foliage.
By the time we got back to the town, the tour buses were pulling up in a regular procession. All the arrivals were being herded straight onto a ferry to get across to the other side of the lake, as we were about to do, but luckily each group had chartered their own personal ferries, so we weren’t impacted unduly.
All ferries run to the same three points on the lake in the same counter clockwise direction. The first stop was the Xuanguang temple where some indigenous singers were trying to scoop up your change on the dock. Climbed the stairs to the temple which was OK, but after all the temples that we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks it seemed fairly pedestrian.
Back on the next ferry to the second point which is the second largest town of Ita Thao. Wandered right around the lake shore past the cable car (ropeway) and found the underwhelming 9 cement frogs perched on each other in the lake. It’s probably there simply to get the visitors away from the main town for a few minutes. Decided not to climb all the way up the steps to the top of the mountain where Chang Kai-Shek had built a pagoda for his mother, but we did walk past the pavilion on the edge of the lake where Chiang Kai-Shek used to sit and admire the view, and the old leaky wooden boat in the grass next to it which supposedly was the boat that he rowed himself around the lake in.
Upon our return to town we got some lunch at a local vendor, and eventually hopped back on the ferry for the final journey back to a starting point at Shuishe.
The bus back to Puli township was uneventful, and later on we headed out for our last local meal of the trip. Wandered through the market place on the way, which gave a whole new meaning to drive-thru. Everybody rides motor scooters in Puli, and there was a steady stream of people riding their motor scooters into the market through the doorway, down the aisles to their favourite market stall, buying their fresh chicken, loading it onto the floor of their scooter, then riding out the door and home with their legs in the air. Love to see that at Woolies.
What a breakfast view!
Our Ferry
Indigenous singers
Xuanguang Temple
Walking around the lake
Frogs