Sun Moon Lake I: Arrival
Sun Moon Lake is the largest natural lake in Taiwan, and uncontestably one of the island's scenic highlights. Thursday morning Eric (from UC San Bernadino), Kevin, David (also from Cali), Joshua (from University of Hawaii at Hilo), and I rose early in the day to catch the first in a series of three buses that would take us from Wufong (where our school is located) to Taichung, from Taichung to Puli (a city to the east), and finally from Puli to Sun Moon Lake.
Traveling took a long time, and involved some of the bumpiest bus-riding I have ever had the misfortune to experience. Was it the country roads, the bad suspension in the bus, or some synergistic combination of the two? I have no idea. All I can say is that when we emerged from the last leg of the journey, jostled and rattled, we were more than rewarded for our pain in traveling.
The water was the most brilliant, incredible turquoise color I have ever seen, sparkling in the sun that kept ducking in and out of the cloud-scattered sky. The lush vegetation and palm trees that cover the island were, if possible, even more vibrant here, and the whole place seemed to glow with pride at its own loveliness.
After picking up some maps at the visitors' center, we quickly found the head of one of the area's numerous walking paths. This particular path -- the Hanbi trail -- ringed a good portion of the lake rather than heading out into the hills, which is why we chose it. The boys were especially anxious to find an abandoned area of shore which we could use to break the lake's somewhat unenforced "no swimming" rule. I, bathing-suit-less and with no plans to break rules, just hoped everyone could get away with it in peace. We set out.
The trail was lovely, and we stopped many times to snap photos or examine sights of interest along the way. Kevin found a giant leaf shaped like a heart, and we discovered a stretch of the lake that used to be off-limits to anyone but former president/dictator Chiang Kai-shek and guests. We paused in a pagoda near an abandoned amphitheatre and wound up discussing religion and the Catholic church, among other things.
Sadly, no area appropriate for swimming presented itself -- everything was either private property (of a hotel or dock) or inaccessible due to somewhat steep cliffs and little floating islands of palms. We completed the trail, now rather sweaty and definitely ready for a cooling dip in the forbidden waters, and promptly headed off along the lake in the other direction, determined to find the perfect spot.
posted by Kelly @ 12:34 PM
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