Blog Editor

Editing Post: 2026-01-07 Cancel

Title

Text

It is a bit decadent to start the day with milky bubble tea, but it doesn't stop me.  The tea is fragrant, the milk is silky, and the tapioca is still soft since they were just cooked the afternoon before. I polish the drink off before going down to breakfast.  But first, a warning note to readers: the entries from here may get very long on details alone.

Today we head to Sun Moon Lake. It is officially Pete's and my third day in the country.  The excitement and amount of traveling we are doing is a wonderful antidote to jet lag. On our way out of town, I asked Kent to make another detour to see a building by the Japanese Architect, Toyo Ito. Ito is one of my all-time heroes.  He is known for creating conceptual architecture, so it is always a treat for me to see the actual built structures.

Ito's National Taichung Theater officially opened in 2016, and I had visited it in 2019. It is a "sound cave" located in the midst of this very master-minded cityscape. Kent explained that the area was farmland until the mid-80's and now it is filled with wide boulevards and high rises in the style of Japanese Empire architecture of the 1920s and 30s, somewhat art-deco buildings capped with impressive penthouses, and real estate as expensive as Taipei's. I can't remember if I was coherent enough to convey all this to my fellow travelers.  But no matter, the building should speak for itself.

The bus drops us off at the front of the plaza.  It is not 9:30 and we file out and immediately explore the plaza and the structure.  I am sure some of us are already trying to figure out how to get in (like me.) From the exterior, it is a white box that has vase-like shapes of glass cut into the facade. During the day, it appears as just an unusual box, but the floor to roof glass lets one see into the curved and column-less interior at night. Nature, specifically water, flows in and out and around the building. Inside, air conditioning and ventilation are hidden in the floors.  Coming around the back, we discover an open door and, ta-da! a cafe. We run in to catch a glimpse of the very unique interior. It is still entrancing even though the building exterior could use a refresh after a decade standing in the humid air of Tainan. I promise myself to come back and attend a concert next time.

It really gladdened my heart to see the enthusiasm from my fellow travelers.  I love everyone's curiosity!

We leave the city and travel East on Highway 6.  Like the US, the N-S highways are odd and the E-W highways are even.  The bus has great windows. As we leave Tainan, the highway rises above its surroundings on piers and I can't shake (wink, wink) the feeling we are experiencing seismic design. I keep thinking we are crossing rivers, but that is not the case, the road is simply suspended above like viaducts. As the road curves, I see it is more segmented than normal and the expansion joints are broader than those I see in US highway design.  I am doubly interested because this is the highway that leads into Puli, where my mom's younger brother lives, and where my grandfather settled after leaving Miaoli. Back in 1999, the second deadliest recorded earthquake hit and Puli was cut-off for months.  Luckily, my uncle's house was not damaged. Later I will find out that Highway 6 did indeed incorporate seismic design following that 1999 earthquake:  existing bridges received additional pillars and thickened walls, elasticity was incorporated into the structures, hence the extra wide expansion joints, and the route weaves between mountains rather than hugging the side to protect it from unstable mountainsides, and lastly, Highway 6 is 70% viaduct to bypass unstable terrain. It is a beautiful drive, I feel we are traveling on a ribbon threading through the valleys.

Before turning south at Puli, we stop by a large bake shop (restrooms!) selling Sun cakes, a flaky round pastry.  Chau-wen buys up boxes of the different kinds of cakes to share. This will be the beginning of our bus snack bag.

Ah, Sun Moon Lake...in my mind, it has always been this mythical place where my parents went on their honeymoon back in January of 1963. I have a picture of my mom in a new swimsuit by the water. Upon further reflection, what was she thinking of? January! Mom always said the suit never got wet...I think now of all the things parents tell their children that make no sense.

On the way there, we stop by Wen Wu Temple.  Kent gives us a short lecture on temple etiquette.  Enter through the right, and leave on the left. Wen Wu Temple is huge, partly because it houses the gods from several smaller temples. It fronts the lake, and part of the temple grounds is terraced into the mountain side.  A lot of it had to be rebuilt after the 1999 quake. Awesome views and carvings, but the lake is shrouded in mist.

We drop the bags off at Fuli Hot Springs Resort in the town of Shuishe on the NW side of the lake.  Today's itinerary includes boating, walking, biking and eating. We had read that the bike path around the lake is among the top ten most beautiful in the world, and Pete and Bill will check it out. We walk to the bike shop, and Pete and Bill are fitted with electric bikes and helmets and they zip off in a clockwise direction. Kent takes us to the Shuishe Pier for a short ride across the lake to the Xuanguang Temple Pier and then to Ita Thao Pier and back to Shuishe.  We will have lunch in Ita Thao.  Back in Shuishe, we will do a short bike ride to Xiangshan Visitor Center.  I had originally wanted to take a taxi to see my uncle, but he lives outside of Puli and the ride would have been at least 45 minutes of mountain roads.  So, I will table it for another time now that I know I will be back.

While Pete and Bill are being fitted for their bikes, I see a stand selling tea eggs and mushrooms.  I was just about to buy some when Kent came up and whispered that there were better ones at our next stop.  Now I can't wait.  On the way to Xuanguang Temple, we pass by the little Lalu Island with its marble statue of a white dear.  The ground is sacred to the Thao tribe, and the story goes that the deer led them to the lake, which was abundant with fish, and thus saved the tribe from starvation.  The morning is gray and the fog sits heavy on the water.  It is very different from the sunny day in 2019 when I visited with mom.  At the Xuanguang Temple Pier, Kent points to a stand and tells me that Ah-Ma has been selling her mushroom tea eggs here forever. Delicious. Another memory:  mom is polishing off a tea egg in the waiting area of the pier and looks at me with a smile: sorry, she said, I ate your egg while you and Blue  were climbing to the temple. Happy tears that I got to taste it after all.

In Ita Thao, Kent points us to a shop for locally fermented vinegars.  The fruits are from the area. This area is known for its fruits, bamboo and mushrooms. (At my uncle's, we picked passion fruits off tree, and spooned out the inside.  Chau-Wen noted that the ones in Taiwan are purple, and not the yellow ones found in Hawaii). We get samples right there on the street. The black-tea flavored plum vinegar is delicious and I get a bottle.  Others buy various flavors to take home.  I am looking for Pete and Bill, Ita Thao is roughly halfway around the lake for them.  We find them indulging in mushroom shaped steamed buns and other dim-sum like goodies.  Kent is ordering bento boxes for us and we also try a specialty of the region, sticky rice steamed inside bamboo stalks.

I am a bit apprehensive about the bike ride, but hey, I am getting an electric one, so how hard can it be. Back across the lake in Shuishe, we rent our bikes from the same shop.  They do have helmets.  The bikes are serviceable, but just.  The idea is to ride along the trails. The sun has come out, and so everyone is now walking on the trails. The foot traffic and the poorly maintained bikes made the ride challenging.  Still, I can see why this would rank among the top rides.  The lake is always visible, and so are the mountains.  Kathi, Mary, and Amy ride beyond the visitor center, but Lisa, Chau-Wen, Deborah and I just hang out at the center and then go back to Shuishe.

The center, by Norihiko Dan, is of minimalist concrete design, with two low and flat wings that frame the surrounding landscape.  It opened in 2010.  It has a green roof that slopes up.  A reflecting pool between the main building and the lake extend the lake, sky and trees to the building. I like it.

The ride back is uneventful except for an oncoming rider riding on the wrong side of the path.  However, no accidents.  We get back to the hotel and clean up before an individual hotpot dinner in town.  Fuli Hot Springs hotel has deep spa soaking tubs in the rooms.  A curtain separates the bedroom from the bath area.  Pete and I definitely took advantage of the spa tubs.  Hot water came gushing in and filled the tub in no time at all. The soak was wonderful after two full days of non-stop sight-seeing.  These rooms can certainly use a refresh though.

Dinner was fun.  It will always be a challenge to seat so many people at once. Most of us ordered hotpots with bubbling broth.  The appetizers/desserts were small dishes of fresh tapioca balls.  Deborah was game to try it since she promised her daughter Alex she would.  Honestly, I don't think it made it past her lips.  I sent Alex the pic anyway, and I am sure I polished off what she didn't eat.

On our way back to the hotel, Chau-Wen ducks into a bakery.  I have the appetite, but not the room. Sucks to get old sometimes.  We will be visiting tea plantations tomorrow!

Mileage

Climbing (feet)

Latitude

Longitude

Visible