Sun Moon Lake

A week before our trip to the motherland, Judy and I had a long weekend and went up to one of the prettiest places in Taiwan, Sun Moon Lake (ri yue tan). I had four days off, but Judy only had two, so I decided to make a short trip by myself first. I went up to Chiayi to visit some friends and then to Yingge and Sansia in Taipei county. Chiayi was fun, as it always is, but Yingge and Sansia were a bust. So, I was elated when our bus rounded the corner and I saw the sight pictured above. Sun Moon Lake is probably the bluest lake I've ever seen. The lake is ringed with lush green hills and the water is almost the same color as the sky. We checked into our hotel room, which had a beautiful view of the lake out of a giant circular window. Then we decided to have lunch and take a stroll. This is where the bliss ended.


Like most touristy places in Taiwan, the stunning beauty is frequently ruined by the stink of commerce. All around the hotel were vendors trying to hustle us into their stores to buy over-priced junk that was probably produced in China. We sought refuge from the junk vendors by heading down toward the waterfront. Here we ran into the most annoying people at Sun Moon Lake, the boat people. The boat people kept trying to hustle us onto a boat tour, or a yacht tour, or a rowboat tour, or any manner of boat that might get us to part with our hard earned NT. Just the presence of commerce is expected of course, but these people would mill around and then relentlessly hound whomever entered their line of sight. We finally caved in and decided to ride a rowboat out onto the lake. At last we were out on the water, taking in the beauty up close - I was rowing slowly, trying to rotate slowly so we could see the whole lake. The serenity lasted for about 30 seconds. Then one of the boat ladies got on a megaphone and started hollering that there was still room on a boat and the boat would be leaving soon. She made this announcement every minute on the minute.


The picture above is me scowling at the lady. After we got back in, we took one of the much-advertised boat tours. The tour actually wasn't bad - the driver of the boat was soft-spoken, very informative, and not anything like the irritating boat people on the shore. He guided us around the lake, detailing the history of the lake. We came back from our boat tour hungry and decided to go to the Lalu for dinner.
The Lalu is the most expensive hotel at Sun Moon Lake, with the average room costing NT$16000 a night (about $500 US). It is supposed to have three great restaurants which were recommended by my Lonely Planet guidebook. If you don't have a car, however, the Lalu is really hard to get to and Judy and I hiked for about 2 miles in the dusk and eventually dark to get there. When we got there, exhausted, we realized the dinner would cost each of us NT$2000. Considering that would usually buy food for a week in Taiwan, we passed and walked back to town. Unfortunately, we ended up in a awful restaurant with microwaved food that still overcharged us.


I was pretty sour on the lake by the end of the day. But fortunately, I woke up the next morning, looked out the window and saw the picture above. It was raining and even more beautiful than it had been yesterday. I remembered at once why I had come. Maybe I'll come back again and bring earplugs.