May 4th 
No Comments Nantou – Sun Moon Lake
On Friday morning I set up for a journey to Nantou with Elaine. We wanted to visit her hometown and see the famous Sun Moon Lake, which is situated in the central part of Taiwan. After more then 3 hours spend in a car, we arrived to Puli, a small city in the Nantou region. Elaine took me to a chocolate shop. A man started this shop many years ago, taking inspiration in japanese chocolates. But I think some were similar to those we can buy in Belgium. Of course very interesting and special was green tea chocolate. This town was small, and the people were looking at me a lot, because there were not many foreigners:))
After that we went to the mountains to meet with her father. Elaine’s father is more then 70 years old, but he travels from Taipei to Nantou every week and takes care of his banana plantations in the mountains. He is so energetic!
He accompanied us to the plantation. There are many different kinds of bananas and he grows 4 of them. I remember there were short and fat ones, which have very soft skin and also soft and mild taste, then short and thin, looking like fingers, green bananas, red bananas… I never imagined that there are so many different kinds of bananas! And they are much more tasty then those we can buy in CZE.
There are not only bananas but also bamboos. I love the bamboo forests, it looks so beautiful. You can find bamboo everywhere, and it makes the shape of forests very interesting and more plastic. On the photo is one of the largest species you can find.
You need to take care of the banana trees. Cutting old leaves is one of them. Every time the tree has grown bananas, it dies and a new tree has to grow from the roots. And yes, it is really fun cutting the leaves
We also picked some sour fruit, to stir fry it and add some sugar. It was really very sour but juicy and I liked it.
Banana, papaya and mango tree
We stayed in her fathers house for one night. The house was big and the 2nd floor was in japanese style, so we had our “otoman” and slept on the floor, but actually it was comfortable. We cooked our dinner – fresh bamboo shoots with pork, stir fried green garlic, fried rice, cucumbers and I prepared pumpkin soup. We drank some kind of liquor made of rice and wheat. It was really strong, around 40 % alcohol. And we played karaoke and sang:)) It was raining heavily, so in the whole house echoed the rain drops falling on the roof. And after the rain many frogs were “singing” good night for us:)
Next morning we woke up early and went to the Sun Moon lake (RiYueTan) near Yuchi township. The name originates in the shape of the lake, the east part looks like a sun and the west part resembles the moon. This area is the home for Thao tribe, one of the aboriginal tribes in Taiwan. First we have visited the WenWu temple, a Confucius temple. It is a large structure with 3 separate halls. On the second floor of the front hall is a shrine devoted to the First Ancestor Kaiji and the God of Literature; the central hall is devoted to Guan Gong, the God of War, and the warrior-god Yue Fei; the rear hall is dedicated to Confucius.
We were lucky that we got up early, because around 9 am there came buses with chinese tourist and they were suddenly everywhere! At least we enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere at the temple. A place where were a lot of tourist was this stone. They lined up to take a picture with the writing “Sun Moon lake”, and they were so noisy, that I have to say I don’t like chinese tourists. They are also usually rude.
Next spot Elaine took me was this Ci-En pagoda. She waited for me in the car soI had to climb more then 150 stairs to the pagoda and then another 160 to the top of the tower. The pagoda was built by Chiang Kai-Shek in memory of his mother in 1971. The pagoda is 46 meters tall and built in traditional style. There is wonderful view of the lake from the top of it. Really worth climbing.
The lake has very unique color, very beautiful blue. But it was a bit cloudy so the photos don’t look so good as it was in reality. There are many hiking trails around the lake, so if you have more time you can go around the lake and enjoy more the nature and the splendid views.
Chinag Kai-Shek’s pier
View from the Ci-en pagoda
To know more about Sun Moon lake, visit www.sunmoonlake.gov.tw/English/