Sun Moon Lake
After Taipei, we moved to the centre of Taiwan, to a very famous (at least in Taiwan) location called Sun Moon Lake. This is Taiwan’s largest natural Alpine Lake and is regarded as one of the island's most scenic destinations. Its unique name derives from its distinct geography: the east side resembles a round sun, while the west side resembles a crescent moon. It is the sacred homeland of one of the indigenous tribes of Taiwan - the Thao Tribe; it serves as a vital hydroelectric power hub, built during the Japanese colonial era; and it is a global tourism hub, famous for its surrounding cycle trail.
To execute this part of the tour, we decided to take a guide over 6 days. Having looked at the places we wished to visit, public transport logistics were not an option and so our guide took us to 2 major hubs: Sun Moon Lake itself together with the nearby Wenwu Temple, and Alishan. From Sun Moon Lake we visited Taroko National Park, a part of the Central Mountain region, the Zhushan Zinan Temple (of which more later) and the Xitou Nature Education Area – in fact, a large park, not dissimilar to the UK Wisley Gardens, but much bigger.
Our journey to Sun Moon Lake was not uneventful. Taking the fast Route 3 motorway, we passed through Taiwan’s silicon valley, experienced a motorway service station (very impressed) and visited a tea company along the route.
Gallery: Taipei to Sun Moon Lake
At Sun Moon Lake, we took a hotel on the edge of the lake right next to the Wenwu Temple. The Temple is massive, built into the hillside over about 4 levels and illuminated at night like a fairground attraction with rather bizarre flashing lights around the perimeter. It attracts frequent coachloads of tourist during the day but at night it is relatively deserted and being so close I was able to capture several blue hour shots.
Gallery: Wenwu Temple
The Lake itself is very picturesque. It is surrounded by mountains which fade into the distance in multiple layers. And in parts the water is a dramatic shade of green because of mineral and sediment content, plus reflections from the surrounding forests. I was told that the water was extremely still very early in the morning so got up at 5am twice to try to capture some nice reflections. The report wasn’t true but I managed so apply a neutral density filter to extend the exposure time and that helped. There’s also a dramatic pagoda on one of the ridges (the Ci'en Pagoda) which was built by the late Republic of China President Chiang Kai-shek in memory of his mother. With 12 levels and being free to climb, it provides great views of the lake from the top.
Gallery: Sun Moon Lake
On day 2, we visited the Taroko National Park, about 80km and 2.5 hours drive from Sun Moon Lake. Taiwan is actually one of the most rugged and mountain-dense islands in the world with an incredible 286 summits over 3000m as a result of the Philippine Sea tectonic plate colliding with the Eurasian Plate. The highest peak – Jade Mountain or Yushan – is the highest mountain in north east Asia, including being higher than Mt. Fuji. Approximately 70% of the island’s landmass is mountainous. Our guide drove us over the central mountain range on Route 14 which reaches a peak height of 3275m at a place called Wuling. The weather was extremely kind with clear blue skies and excellent visibility as can be seen in the gallery.
Gallery: Central Mountains
The next day from Sun Moon Lake, we visited Zhushan Zinan Temple and the Xitou Nature Education Area. The Temple is very well known throughout Taiwan and beyond as a "wealth temple" where people go to borrow money from the Earth God (Tudigong) to boost their financial fortune. Visitors ask the deity for a micro-loan of "fortune money", up to 600 Taiwanese Dollars (£14/$19). If granted, worshippers take this money home and deposit it into their business accounts or keep it as a lucky charm to activate financial luck. Within a year, after finding business success, they return to repay the loan—customarily paying back significantly more than they borrowed as a gesture of gratitude. Although we struggled to get our heads around the concept, the energy and activity at the temple made for vibrant street imagery.
Gallery: Zhushan Zinan Temple
Our penultimate port of call in the area was the Xitou Nature Education Area which our guide (oddly) described as a university. In fact, it is not just a recreational park, but a fully functional outdoor campus owned and managed by National Taiwan University. The area was originally designated as an experimental forestry station in 1902 during the Japanese colonial period under Tokyo Imperial University. Since then, academic staff and students have used this massive forest to conduct vital scientific research on forestry management, ecology, botany, and climate change and designed the area's walking trails, skywalks, and seed banks to translate complex ecological science into accessible environmental education for the general public. For us, it was a very pleasant afternoon forest trail walk.
Gallery: Xitou Nature Education Area
On the way back from Xitou, we stopped at Fengshan village to inspect local agriculture, to sample pineapple cake and to see the layout of a typical Taiwanese home. Have a look at the gallery for more detail. To be aware, there were many sections to this part of the trip and I considered doing a summary gallery but there was so much of interest that I have left them all in separate galleries for better separation and understanding.
Gallery: Taiwanese Home