Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

After our stay in Alishan, our original plan was to take a public shuttle bus down from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake (日月潭), however, due to Typhoon Saola, the roads down from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake were damaged and it was too dangerous for huge buses to be navigating down the roads, so the shuttle bus service was suspended. However, I’ve read from the website that the shuttle bus service has resumed as the roads have been repaired.

Before we went up to Alishan, a taxi auntie gave us her name card and asked us to contact her should we want transport down. We called the auntie and she arranged a transport for us – we shared a mini van with 2 other families – a mother-daughter group and a family of 4. The auntie originally quoted us NT$1,000, but luckily we managed to bargain for the price down to NT$750 per person. If you want to take a private taxi down, it’ll cost NT$3,500 per taxi, which is really costly!

The whole ride took about 3 hours plus, as we had stopped at several places for photos and a place to buy grapes (most likely pre-arranged between the vendor and the driver).

As we reached just a little after lunch time, after grabbing lunch and checking in, we went to rent a bicycle each and made our way towards Shueishe Visitor Center (水社遊客中心).

A little more about Sun Moon Lake: this place is an extremely popular tourist destination – many locals will travel down to this place over the weekends, so if you want to avoid the crowd, do head over here during weekdays (doesn’t apply if it’s the summer holidays) when it’s a lot quieter.

Situated in Yuchi, Nantou, Sun Moon Lake is the largest body of water in Taiwan and is the home of the Thao tribe, one of the aboriginal tribes in Taiwan. The east side of the lake resembles a sun while the west side resembles a moon, hence giving it the Sun Moon Lake.

The bicycle path that we cycled on wasn’t difficult – there are very few slopes – so it should be a very easy and relaxing ride. However, as it was summer period, the weather was really humid and there were really tons of mosquitoes buzzing around. Hence, insect repellent is a must – X didn’t put any and his whole leg was covered with lots of mosquitoes bites!

Butterfly dancing among the flowers!

After cycling for a while, we stopped by a place for a break (and to reapply insect repellent).

Kids playing in the shallow waters – extremely adorable!

Doggies at Shueishe Visitor Centre

Completed in 2006, Shueishe Visitor Centre provides the usual normal tourist information about Sun Moon Lake. There was also a cafe and an exhibition there as well. To be honest, there really isn’t much stuff to see.

The infinity “pool” at the visitor centre – nope we are not allowed to wade in.

Shueishe Visitor Centre

Leaving the centre behind, we headed back to the main town, but not before we take a break along the road. The view would have been a lot nicer if it’s not so misty! This is also the hot spot for couples to take their wedding photos.

We had dinner at Ming Hu Restaurant, a restaurant recommended by bloggers online. The restaurant is situated right next to the harbour, so we had a great view of the lake. The menu comes in English, Mandarin and even Japanese – so it’s easy to order what you want.

We ordered a set – 3 dishes and 1 soup, and to be honest, the food was only mediocre. The fish was probably the best out of all, the vegetables were alright but the soup was very bland (though the clams they gave were generous).

Night time in Sun Moon Lake

There wasn’t much to do after dinner – you can simply grab a drink / ice cream near the harbour; people watch and enjoy the live performances performed by the aboriginal tribe.

Night time in Sun Moon Lake

Night time in Sun Moon Lake

Night time in Sun Moon Lake

The building in the photo is a hotel – probably one of the more expensive ones as the rooms are facing the lake directly.

Yachts resting for the night

Night time in Alishan – mysterious and a little creepy!

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The Next Day

In Sun Moon Lake area, there are 3 piers – the one at Sun Moon Lake is known as Shuishe Wharf (水社碼頭), the other 2 is known as Itashao Wharf (伊達邵碼頭) and Syuanguang Wharf (玄光碼頭). We bought the boat tickets for NT$300 each, which allowed us unlimited boat rides (if I didn’t remember wrongly).

Our first destination is Itashao village (伊達邵)!

Pretty cafe!

We passed by a very pretty cafe that sells tea ice cream – tea leaves are one of Sun Moon Lake’s popular souvenir items. I’ve seen the tea leaves being used in making ice cream, cookies and egg rolls.

Left: Black tea ice cream; Right: wishes being hung on a tree

The ice cream is smooth, creamy and intense with tea flavour – pretty good! We also spotted wishes written on small wooden cards and hung on the tree in the cafe. Many were wishing for eternal love and excel in studies 😉

Mochi stall

More about Itashao Village – the village was once known as Dehua Village and is the main Thao settlement. This area was severely damaged by the earthquake in 1999, but have been restored since then. It is currently one of the most popular tourist destinations in Sun Moon Lake.

Freshly made mochi (麻糬)!

Mochi is a type of glutinous rice cake. The cooked glutinous rice is pounded into a paste, wrapped with a desired filling and shaped into a ball. Fresh, hand-made mochi are definitely the best as they are so soft and chewy! There are many filling variations – chocolate, peanut, sesame, green tea etc.

Passed by a very beautiful villa called Lea Lea Garden Hotels – would love to stay there as the rooms have a fantastic view of the lake, maybe next time 😉

Sun Moon Lake Gondola Station

There’s a cable car station which, besides offering a panorama view of Sun Moon Lake, brings you to another two famous destinations – Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Park and the Amusement Park. The cultural park features traditional aboriginal dances in their unique and pretty costumes at various timings throughout the day. As I had been to the cultural village before (many years back) and since we were planning to go to another amusement park, we didn’t take the cable car ride.

If you plan to visit these two places, I’ve read you’ll need at least 1 day or 2 to cover these places, so do plan well in advance!

Sun Moon Lake Gondola Station

No. 102, Zhongzheng Road, Sun Moon Lake, Yuchi Township, Nantou County
(南投縣魚池鄉日月村中正路102號)

To the culture park: weekdays 1000 to 1530; weekends and holidays 0930 to 1600.
The return cable car ceases operation at 1700/1730 on Weekdays/Holidays.

NT$300 for the gondola ride; NT$700 for gondala and admission to the Aboriginal Culture Park.

A pavilion great for hanging out and relax 😉

Deep-fried vegetarian buns

While in Itashao village, there are plenty of snacks to buy along the way. I’m highly recommending this deep-fried vegetarian buns stall – no doubt it’s a little unhealthy, but the generous serving of vegetables in one bun makes me feel less guilty eating it. There are 2 types of buns – a shiitake mushroom version (香菇包) and a cabbage version (高麗菜包). We bought the cabbage version and it was served piping hot to us (at only NT$40 each!) Pretty awesome!

Grilled rice-stuffed chicken wing (雞翅包邵族飯)

Though this wasn’t as tasty as I hoped it would be, it’s still pretty interesting. The bones are removed from a chicken wing and a cooked rice mixture was instead stuffed inside. The chicken was then grilled until the skin is crispy. There are also deep-fried versions though we didn’t try them out.

Left: Cabbage bun; Right: Grilled rice-stuffed chicken wing

I don’t have the actual address, but you can find them in the Itashao village:

Itashao

Itashao, Rih Yue Village, Yuchih Township, Nantou County 555, Taiwan

Syuanguang Wharf (玄光碼頭)

After filling our stomach with the snacks and drinks, we headed to Syuanguang Wharf. From the pier, there was a trail leading all the way up to Syuentzang Temple (玄奘寺).

It’s an upslope climb, so it was pretty tiring by the time we reached the temple.

Syuentzang Temple (玄奘寺)

Syuentzang Temple (玄奘寺) is built in 1965 and faces the Sun Moon Lake. There are 2 levels, one where the remains of the monk Xuanzang (玄藏) are worshipped while the other is where the golden Sakyamuni Buddha (釋迦牟尼佛) is worshipped.

Syuentzang Temple (玄奘寺)

No.389, Jhongjheng Rd., Yuchih Township, Nantou County 555, Taiwan
5:00 A.M. ~ 6:00 P.M.

Ci En Pagoda (慈恩塔)

There was another trail to the right of the Syuentzang Temple that leads up to Ci En Pagoda. The trail was originally closed as the path was semi-destroyed by Typhoon Saola. However, we decided to try our luck and climb up the steps. We met with some of the locals who were fixing the road and they were really nice and allowed us to pass. When we reached the top, there was absolutely nobody at all! It was so quiet and serene and if not for the fog, the place would have been even more beautiful. The pagoda was commissioned by the late President Chiang Kai-shek in memory of his mother. The pagoda was completed in April 1971 and stood at 46 meters tall (9 stories tall).

We climbed up the tower and there was a bell, so we rang the bell and prayed. In Chinese, we called this qiao zhong qi fu (敲钟祈福 ).

Ci En Pagoda (慈恩塔)

Yuchi Township, Nantou County [Longitude/Latitude (23.841985,120.920543)]
南投縣魚池鄉環潭公路

After heading back down from the pagoda, we head back to the pier, but not before stopping at a popular stall selling Chinese Tea Eggs.

The crowd was insane!

The shop, started by a grandma, sells only one food item – and that is Chinese Tea Eggs. The shop is so popular that I heard from a guide that on really good days, she can sell at least 20,000 eggs! We weren’t super fans of hard-boiled eggs, let alone tea eggs, though we did join the queue and bought 2 to try. It was kind of pathetic for us to buy just 2, because everyone around us were buying in 10s… We found that the eggs were not bad, but I have no idea why people were so crazy over it!

Hand-made black tea egg rolls

Egg rolls are one of my favourite snacks and it was really interesting watching these ladies making fresh, warm egg rolls. They spread a little batter on a heated griddle, in which the machine will then press down and flatten the batter into a thin layer. The ladies will then roll the cooked egg roll up and then leave it aside to cool. We bought one to try and was delighted to find that they have a really nice black tea flavour. Yum!

Meihe Garden (梅荷園)

The name “Meihe” means “plum” and “water lily”. The garden was constructed after the earthquake in 1999. It is European-styled and there are benches for one to relax and enjoy the view, even into the night as the place is also lit up.

Meihe Garden (梅荷園)

Jhungshan Road, Shueishe Village, Yuchih, Nantou County, Taiwan
南投縣魚池鄉中山路

An evening shot before we head back for dinner.

Last shot of the place before we leave for the next destination!

For the rest of the posts on Taiwan, see our Taiwan travel itinerary here!

Sun Moon Lake

Getting there:	Bus services are available from Taipei, Taichung and Alishan. Wikitravel compiles a list of very useful information on how to get there.
Getting around:	By foot, bicycle, bus or boat – cycle to the Shueishe Visitor Centre and back; take a boat to see the other sightseeing places nearby (will blog about it in the next travel post).
When to visit:	I think all seasons are good to visit, but the problem with mosquitoes is probably the most serious during summer. Avoid weekends if possible, but this won’t apply during the summer school holidays.
What to bring:	Usual stuff; sunscreen and insect repellent!
What to see:	Will blog more about this in the next travel post 😉

If you are planning a trip to Taiwan, you may want to check this out: