Sun Moon Lake

The travel articles I read strongly recommended visiting some of the mountain scenery of Taiwan, and not just the cities. There is a Taiwanese folk song that Chinese all over the world know: Alishan de Gu Niang (The Girls of A Li Mountain). Unfortunately to visit that would have required a larger detour that I had time for so I had to content myself with Sun Moon Lake (henceforth SML). It's a couple of hours by tour bus from Taichung. I bought a ticket which included boat, bus and ropeway transport there.

On the way there we passed the Taichung High Speed Rail station on the outskirts of the city and picked up some passengers. I would come back to this later enroute for Taipei.

The bus headed into the hills just south of Taichung. Upon arrival at the bus station at Shuishe we were instructed to go down to the wharf to board the boat. It's a hop-on hop-off arrangement; you can linger at each of the two stops for however long you like, well as long as you don't miss the last boat. The other cruise boats were white, ours was a distinctive brown. But they made us repeat the pier and berth number so that we wouldn't end up on the wrong cruise.

The shores of SML are lined with resort hotels like this.

Our first stop was Xuanguang temple. From there we could see Shuishe. According to the guide on the boat, the hotel in the picture has a penthouse suite where gold leaf is liberally applied and costs thousands of dollars per night. Good to know if you are a tycoon.

This view of the wharf gives you an idea of the number of people visiting SML.

There was an aboriginal band performing. Backstage, one of the girls was applying makeup.

The next stop was Ita Thao, a town on the opposite side of SML, close to the ropeway station. I got off and explored. I had intended to go back to Shuishe for lunch but I was already peckish so went hunting. I tried a sort of a pork steak sandwich and finished that with an ice cream.

This is the ropeway station seen from SML.

In a cultural centre they were presenting aboriginal dances with audience participation.

I considered walking to the ropeway station. It wasn't that far, only 1 km, but thought I would get there by bus and see the SML shore along the way.

I returned to Shuishe and waited until the lake bus finally turned up. Visitors can be quite confused by bus routes in Taiwan. It helps a lot if you can read the Chinese destinations on the electronic signs.

This was one of the stops on the route, the Wenwu temple. This was taken from the boat previously. I decided to stay on the bus as I was more interested in the ropeway.

There were few tourists there, a contrast to the crowds at the other side of SML. I had a car all to myself.

A cool comforting breeze wafted in through the windows of the car. But what I noticed most was the silence. We don't realise how noisy our lives have become. In the car, I could hear the faint hum of the distant motors transmitted by the cable, but most of all, the soothing waves of wind. A truly peaceful experience.

We went over the crest of one hill, down then up another and finally reached the aboriginal village. 

The ropeway system was designed by an Austrian company, who have a lot of experience with ski lifts.

A visit to the cultural village is optional and extra. I declined to, also for reason of time, I didn't want to return too late to Taichung. There were many schoolchildren on excursion. There was a long entry and exit ramp for the ropeway which indicated that crowds were expected some days. Travel guides warned against visiting SML on weekends.

The return to the Shuishe was uneventful. I savoured the silence in the car again. I dozed off in the bus to Taichung. If I were doing the excursion again, I'd skip the lake bus and walk to the ropeway from Ita Thao; the bus did not do a complete circuit of SML as I had thought.

Sun Moon Lake is pleasant enough. As long as you avoid the peak periods, don't expect too much, and expect some crowds, it's worth visiting. A day is more than enough. I've read of people who went straight to the next city from the HSR station after SML.