[RD] Discovering Taiwan

[warpus]

Cycling around Sun Moon Lake

In person the lake looked larger than expected, given the just over 3 hours I had to cycle all the way around. I pushed forward without trying to rush, while at the same time keeping an eye on the time and making sure that I'm making good progress. The other consideration was of course the battery, which seemed to be at about 3/4 bars when the ride began.

 

[RalofTyr]

So, a Brazilian girl I met in Buenos Aires, moved and works in Taiwan, for an American company that's based out of the city I live in; Coincidence.

 

[warpus]

So, a Brazilian girl I met in Buenos Aires, moved and works in Taiwan, for an American company that's based out of the city I live in; Coincidence.

It's a small world, like they say. Later on in my trip, in Tainan, I ended up in a bar that was co-owned by a person who hails from Sarnia, Ontario, which is a small town of 70,000 near here. The bartender who told me this ended up knowing who Alexander Synaptic is. The girl I was hiking with for a couple days at the start of my trip? She used to date one of Alexander's friends. Who knows what other connections exist that you don't even find out about.

 

[bene_legionary]

Sarnia, Ontario, which is a small town of 70,000 near here

My grandparents used to live in Sarnia!

 

[warpus]

Sun Moon Lake Wenwu Temple (日月潭 文武廟)

The first stop on my circumnavigation bike tour of Sun Moon Lake was this iconic Wenwu Temple. It has roots in two nearby temples that were torn down following the construction of a hydroelectric dam by Japanese colonial authorities in 1919. The communities supporting these temples came together and constructed a larger temple at the present location in 1938. The temple was enlarged and rebuilt again in 1969.

This WenWu temple consists of three halls - one dedicated to the God of Literature, the second to the God of War, and the third to Confucius. This sort of deitification is fairly common at WenWu temples across Taiwan and mainland China.

In my opinion they chose just the perfect spot to build this temple.

 

[warpus]

I really wish I had more time at this temple. I did cover most of the temple grounds, but I did not really have time to casually stroll around and properly take this place in. This was just the beginning of my circumnavigation of the lake and I couldn't fall behind.

I made a mental note to to add Sun Moon Lake to the list of places I wouldn't mind visiting and staying a bit longer at, if I ever return to Taiwan.

 

[warpus]

We Are Thao

Along the way I came across a statue referencing the Thao indigenous peoples who have called this region their home since at least Qing times. They are one of the smallest Austronesian indigenous groups in Taiwan with a population of only 800.

The owl is an important part of Thao mythology and "ITA THAO" translates to "We are Thao". There is a nearby Thao village that would have been interesting to visit, as the Thao are known for having retained a lot of their culture and customs. Unfortunately I had no time and had to move on.

About a third of the route around the lake is a dedicated elevated bikeway and about a quarter is a shared pedestrian walkway. The remaining 42% puts you on roads you share with cars and other traffic. Luckily for me it was off-season here, so there weren't really that many cars. The road sections were usually times you could speed up a bit to make up time. I obviously preferred the elevated bikeways, but overall it was a good mix of terrain.

 

[warpus]

Nine Frogs Stack‭ (‬九蛙疊像‭)

This statue has become an iconic Sun Moon Lake water level indicator, although never in any official capacity. The hydroelectric nature of the lake and nearby reservoirs means that water is occasionally moving between these bodies of water. This leads to at times daily water level changes, more frequent than if you were to wait for a rainfall or dry spell. That's probably contributed to the popularity of Nine Frogs Stack and why people informally use it to keep track of the water level here.

It is very easy to find, although you have to park your bike by the trailhead and walk downhill for about 5 minutes to reach it.

This part of the lakeshore seems like the sort of place living frogs would hang out as well.

I spotted Ci'en Pagoda in the distance, which I was hoping to visit in the next hour or so. From this vantage point it looked well out of reach.

This pixelated frog statue at the trailhead is how I knew I was at the right place.

 

[warpus]

Sun Moon Lake Snapshots

In the above picture you can see the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway, which I unfortunately did not have enough time to experience. Ticket sales for the day stop at 3:30pm, and I missed that by about 15 minutes.

 

[warpus]

I shouldn't have been recording like this, but I got really comfortable on the bike

 

[warpus]

Xuanzang Temple (玄奘寺)

This temple was built in 1965 to honour a Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk known for his 17-year journey (627 - 645) to India to collect Buddhist scriptures. It was designed in the style of ancient Tang dynasty halls.

Xuanzang ended up bringing hundreds of relics, Buddhist texts, and even 7 statues back to China. It played a pivotal role in shaping East Asian Buddhism in China and beyond. Some of Xuanzang's relics were enshrined here after their return from Japan in 1955. Others can be found in various temples around mainland China.

This temple had been on my radar and the map mural at the entrance got my attention as well, but I just didn't have any time to spare to walk up the stairs to explore further. The hike to Ci'en pagoda was nearby and that was on my mind instead. No wonder as you can see the pagoda from far away and it occasionally popped up in my view, like it was teasing me.

This part of the route around sun moon lake has more elevation changes, there are a decent number of switchbacks here. In order to make it around the lake you have to go uphill a bit, then downhill, then uphill and downhill again.. Lots of sections that curve and twist around. This is more or less the halfway point around the lake and I was starting to tire out a bit. The ebike battery helped with the uphill sections, but the battery reserves were starting to run a bit low, so I was trying to not use it excessively. It turned into a bit of a balance between my own physical energy reserves and those of the ebike battery. It was also already 4pm and I was getting more weary of the time, although I was confident I'd make it back to the bike rental shop by 6.

To get to the Ci'en pagoda trailhead I had to boost my ebike battery and cycle at a somewhat steep incline for about 300m. I did not really remember how far the pagoda is, but I was hoping I could cycle right up to it. But nope, no such luck, there was an even steeper 400m or so hike waiting for me at the trailhead.

I made an executive decision to turn around and continue my journey around the lake instead. Even though the ebike battery helped, I nevertheless had to exert a decent amount of energy to get up to that point. Not only would hiking up to the pagoda have drained my energy reserves further, I would likely need a short break before being able to really appreciate the pagoda as well, and would then probably have to rely on more of my ebike battery to get me around the rest of the lake a bit faster. I had been riding on 2 out of 4 energy bars for a while now and it was all these factors that convinced me I had to accept defeat in my quest to see the Ci'en pagoda up close. It felt poetic somehow, like some sort of a lesson given to me by the pagoda itself, or maybe the lake. Convinced that I gave it a good enough effort and made the right decision I turned around and continued the route around the switchbacks and around the lake.

 

[warpus]

Xuanguang Pier (玄光碼頭)

This pier is a popular starting point for a pilgrimage to the nearby Xuanguang Temple and Xuanzang Temple, both of which contain relics from the previously mentioned 7th century Tang Dynasty monk who travelled around India for 17 years in search of Buddhist relics. Visitors take a boat ride to this pier and climb up the trail to visit both temples and often the Ci'en pagoda as well.

It was now 4:30pm and I had about 13 km of cycling left.

 

[warpus]

A couple interesting things seen along the way..

Retaining walls designed to prevent landslides and control erosion are fairly common along some stretches of the road here. The evenly spaced metal cylinders sticking out of the wall are an erosion control mechanism that redirects water runoff. A lot of these retaining walls are designed to withstand the impact of earthquakes and typhoons.

The above are likely floating docks and other structures used for fish farming. While industrial levels of fishing don't happen here and the lake isn't really famous for fishing, the Thao people have a legend that one of their ancestors found this lake while hunting, and due to the abundance of fish and shrimp in the lake the tribe ended up settling here and have been living by Sun Moon Lake ever since. So the lake does have a history of being rich in fish, and even today there is a diverse fish population here. Fishing is limited and well regulated though.

 

[warpus]

A Fork in the Road

When I got to this point I had about 7.5 km left to go. I was pretty sure the correct path was the right one, but there happens to be a sign just out of view on the right that has a crossed out bicycle. So that gave me some pause, as did the "steep road ahead for bicycles" sign also on the right. It also made me wonder if the tunnel might be a shortcut. There is a sign on the left that seems to indicate "watch out for bicycles", so I paused here for a bit to catch my breath and make sure I'm going the most optimal way.

I ended up trusting my initial instincts and went to the right. This is about the time that my ebike battery started to complain and would occasionally completely shut off. Having to pedal with the battery off took a lot of work and I couldn't figure out if there was some sort of a freewheel setting or something else I had do.. I had no choice but to keep moving with the battery at a lower setting, hoping that it would last until the end.

This made it harder to get through this initially hilly part. The trail on the right was the right choice, as that route was about 1.2 km shorter, but there was also a lot of up and downhill along the way, at least at first. A couple sections were especially steep and I had to get off the bike and push it along. Somewhere along the way I got cramps in my right leg, so I was forced to take a bit of a break so I could massage the complaining muscles a bit.. This was the last elevated section, with trees all around, a shared route for pedestrians and cyclists.

Then finally I saw what felt like the final stretch. A hopefully flat ride all the way back to the bike rental shop. But I still had about 4km left to go.

And occasionally as I looked across the lake I would see the Ci'en pagoda quietly mocking me from a distance. Admittedly I took sightings of the pagoda as a positive - in hindsight it was a good decision to skip hiking up to it, which would have taken time, energy, and probably lead to even worse leg cramps later.

 

[warpus]

Made It!

The terrain remained relatively flat for the rest of the ride. That's what I was hoping for, as the sun was already going down, my battery was almost dead, and my leg muscles were complaining and needed a break.

I arrived in Shuishe at 5:30pm or so, a half an hour before the bike rental shop was due to close. On the way there I passed by a stage being set up for the Sun Moon Lake Cycling, Music & Fireworks Festival. Later on there would have been live music performances, cycling events, and firework displays here, but unfortunately I had to drop off my bike and figure out a way back to Taichung, about 70km from here.

After successfully dropping off my bike and retrieving my health card (which was being held in case I did not return with the bike) I walked to the bus stop.. which had a long line of people waiting for what seemed to be the only bus back to Taichung. It arrived at 7pm and I was the very last person who made it on board.. which at first felt amazing.. but.. as I walked around I did not see a single available seat.. The bus driver, who had been keeping count of empty seats, seemed confused at first, but eventually asked me to get back in line..

I assumed there was another bus coming, although the schedule I had did not have any such bus scheduled. There were a whole bunch of us waiting for what felt like forever, which is when a bus to Puli arrived. Did I want to go to Puli? This is not the way I got there. Puli is a city to the north of Sun Moon Lake, while I arrived via the south. I chatted with a girl in line who spoke a bit of English, and she told me that I pretty much had no choice, and that this bus would get me back to Taichung.

Great! I got on the bus and eventually got dropped off at a hectic and somewhat confusing bus terminal in Puli. It was dark, I was tired, hungry, and I just wanted to get back to my home base. I tried to stick to people I recognized from my bus, including the girl who was helping me earlier. At one point a bus pulled up and there was some screaming which to me sounded a bit like "Taichung". The helpful girl motioned to me that I should get on the bus. An hour later or so I was back in Taichung, close to the train station and my hotel room.

According to my notes I ate a "McDonald's Feast" for dinner that night. I'm not proud of that, but at that hour there weren't many restaurants open in the area and the McDs was nearby. Instead of walking around the city looking for food I needed to get some much needed rest and sleep.