Tour Guide, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
| 5 mins read
Sun Moon Lake is an iconic resort for travellers, both domestic and international. It is the largest lake in Taiwan. The eastern part of the lake is shaped like the sun, with sunrays stretching out. The western part of the lake looks like a crescent moon. So it is called “Sun Moon Lake.” Can you see the shape? If you can, you are a super-genius because these shapes can only be seen from a bird’s-eye view.
Sun Moon Lake sits in Nantou County, the central part of Taiwan. Its elevation is about 700 meters high. Its water region is about 5.4 square kilometres, and the average depth is about 27 meters. Originally, an indigenous tribe called Shau lived here; they used to live on deer meat. But in 1931, the Japanese launched a project to build a power plant. They started to build a dam and used the reservoir water to generate electricity. They built a channel from the eastern high mountains to lead the water down into the lake. The total length of the channel is about 50 thousand meters.
When the dam was built, the water level rose from 6 meters to 27 meters. Hundreds of shelters around the lake got drowned. Thousands of inhabitants were forced to settle down in the nearby highlands.
Now, there are two hydraulic power plants near this place. One was built by the Japanese in 1937, and the other by our government in 1985. The engineers harness the water in Sun Moon Lake to drop down 140 meters to create electricity. The second plant is called the “pump-storage power plant”. In the daytime, water is released down to generate electricity, and at midnight, water is drawn back to Sun Moon Lake from another lake below. Both of the lakes can generate about 150,000 kilowatts of electric power in total.
In Sun Moon Lake, there are several must-visit attractions:
High-end Hotel Area:
Near the grand parking lot, you will find two famous hotels. One is the Hanabi Building (also called the Lalu Hotel), and the other is called “the Wen Wan Resort Sun Moon Lake.” The lowest consuming price is USD 400 per night for the former and USD 1,000 for the latter. Lalu Hotel was a previous residence of Chian Kai-sek and his wife, Madam Chiang. And their in-house church, an old pier, and a little pavilion with a path connecting them. They are old memorizing remains from Chiang’s daily activities.
The Literary-Military Temple:
On the northern part of the lake, you can see a magnificent temple rising on the bank. It is called Win Wu Temple. People worship Confucius, Yue-Fe, Guan-Yu, and other local gods. Confucius was the god of studies, while Yue-Fe and Guan-Yu were the national heroes. Win means literary, and Wu means military in Chinese. Therefore, this temple is called Win Wu Temple. From the temple to the lake, there is a stone path leading to the lake. The path has 365 steps of stone plates, and each step has the name of a date with a well-known person’s name, which is his/her birthday.
De-Hua Indigenous Community:
The Shau Tribe people are living here. There are many thriving activities here, including souvenir trading, dancing and singing shows, restaurants, and an information desk. If you want to know more about indigenous cultures, you can take a gondola up the nearby Nine Tribal Cultural Villages, where all the details of aboriginal cultures can be introduced.
Hsian-Shan Visitor’sCenters:
You can also go to Sun Moon Lake from the south town of Shue-Li. After the tunnel, you can see Hsian-ShanVisitor’s Centers. It is a high-tech building designed by a Japanese design guru. Two big wings of the roofs surround the building like two arms holding the entire Lake. The wide pool in the back of the building looks like it connects the lake. It is really a masterpiece of art. There are many galleries, cafes, and resting places here. You can idly enjoy the beauty of Sun Moon Lake. You also can hire a bike and cruise along the path surrounding the lake.
Legend of Dragon Mountain:
If you stand at the bank of the dam and look at the far-reaching small mountains, mist-capped mountains will look like a dragon lowering his head to drink SunMoon Lake’s water. But the fore section of the back is fastened with a big nail - that is Ce-en pagoda. Asian people believe it to be Fong-Shue. It means that wherever you are, the place will affect your fate and your luck. The dragon stands for Chiang Kai-sek. The pagoda looks like a nail. How can you endure a nail intruding in your heart? So, when this pagoda was completed in 1971, many bad things happened in Taiwan. ROC was driven out from the UN, and Chiang's health was deteriorating. He died in 1975.