Sun Moon Lake- 日月潭

Continuing our Moon Festival weekend, we decided to head to Sun Moon Lake. The lake is about two and a half hours inland by bus from our home in Changhua. The scenery was beautiful on the ride: tea farms and wild tropical forest as far as the eye could see. Sun Moon Lake itself was fantastic! The best way to get around, is to hop on a boat which will then take you to the 3 different ports of the lake. The first stop we made is where we spent the most time. The water was a gorgeous green/blue that just fit perfectly with the trees. Up several flights of stairs was a temple- but what we were looking for was the Cien Pagoda, which stands 46m tall. Past the temple, we entered the wild forest on a deserted trail. Halfway up, we explored some small shops set up in front of another temple. Then we pushed through to get up the last and steepest part of the trail all the way to the top of the mountain and the pagoda. The effort was well worth it.

The view from the top of the pagoda out over Sun Moon Lake

The Cien Pagoda. A beautiful sight to see after nearly 40 minutes of stairs up a mountain!

 At the top of the pagoda was a large bell. We had heard it when we first arrived at the port-all the way down at the water. It never clicked in our brains though that the bell would be in the pagoda. It nearly gave us each a heart attack when about half way up the winding staircase of the tower, a little boy struck the bell with this log!










Here we are on the back of the boat heading towards our next stop on Sun Moon Lake. The Lake is home to one of the aboriginal tribes of Taiwan: the Ita Thao. Our third stop was to include a visit to the cultural village, unfortunately we ran out of time! The boat driver told us we had only 15 minutes to explore the port, so we opted to just do an impromptu hotel stay to give us more time at the lake. I'm so glad we did too! Although we still didn't get to go to the cultural village, we did get a relaxing night away from home, with lots of street shopping and exploring.

Speaking of street shops: here is our favorite display of everything "Sun Moon Lake." Apparently the Ita Thao settled at the lake after a hunting party had tracked a white deer to the beautiful valley. The lake and land was generous to the people and they stayed believing it to be a sacred place.

Our time in Sun Moon Lake had to be cut short so we could make it back to Changhua in time to spend Moon Festival with one of my student's families. It was a truly wonderful and 100% Taiwanese celebration! The family started by taking us to the Changhua National Living Art Museum, which we love (we had accidentally discovered it on our attempt to find a bike trail a while back). The museum has a large courtyard and their current exhibit is the history of bikes in Taiwan. They have all sorts of bikes from different eras for people to try. We had lots of fun doing that and playing a hoop and stick game where you have to keep the hoop spinning... my student Ray had lots of fun finding bugs to stick in my face and terrify me with. 

This hoop game is harder than it looks...

"Oh it's a leaf it might attack me!"

 They also took us on a beautiful nature walk, where the entertainment was to pick "sticky leaves" off the trees and "surreptitiously" tack them to Ray. The kids thought it was hilarious, and Ray's comical reactions kept everyone smiling and laughing.

The night ended at my student's home with several of his extended family members there. We were so touched that they were willing to open their home to us. We ate traditional Taiwanese BBQ which included: fried squid, corn on the cob, chicken, steak, a variety of vegetables, and snails. My student Ray loved the snails and must have popped out and consumed 20+ that evening. Ray and I each mustered the courage for one and called it good after that. We played some badminton, a few games of Set, watched some fireworks and gazed at the full moon.

A lovely night I'm sure we'll never forget.