After leaving Tainan, we rented a car and headed into Taiwan’s central mountains to visit Alishan National Forest and Sun Moon Lake. We stayed outside of Alishan in the town of Shizhao so we could experience the tea growing region and the local hiking trails. For Sun Moon Lake we stayed in the quieter, south shore town of Ita Thao. Both turned out to be good choices and we had a fun and interesting visit.
Shizhao – Tea Central
Shizhao is a quaint mountain village known for growing excellent tea. We stayed at a friendly, family run tea plantation. The left picture below is from the deck overlooking the tea farm where we ate breakfast every day, watched the morning mist swirl, and enjoyed the cherry tree blossoms. The right picture is the tea tasting room with a magnificent cedar table; notice the many golden awards hung on the walls. The tea was top notch as the area is known for producing the “champagne of tea” across Taiwan. The owner and his family gave us a warm welcome and made sure we had a great time.
Alishan National Forest
A short drive from the hotel is Alishan National Forest, an area that was logged intensively for its old growth trees in the early 1900s. We hiked among the few remaining old trees that were deemed not profitable to harvest along with “newer” 100 year old trees.
Exploring the Tea Plantations
There are a series of hiking trails through the tranquil tea plantations around Shizhao. Sakura (cherry blossom) season was starting so we enjoyed a picnic lunch under the blossoms.
Two Tea Ceremonies in Two Hours
While we were there, we were lucky to attend two tea ceremonies to celebrate the arrival of spring. One was held at the tea plantation where we were staying. The owner had children from the community leading the tea ceremonies. It was fun to watch them so carefully prepare each cup of tea for us. From there we walked over to a local shrine which was hosting a tea ceremony which included a musical performance. We had met the band members earlier in the day and they welcomed us as if we were old friends. They even saved us front row seats at a table where a woman brewed various types of tea and kept our cups full. We lost count of how many cups of delicious tea we had that day.
Square Bamboo in Fenqihu
The nearby town of Fenqihu is an old railroad logging hub with a quaint shopping street and short hikes in the surrounding hills. We had read about square bamboo in the area, but the access was cut off due to trail maintenance. We persisted (don’t tell anyone we walked along the train tracks) and finally got to the grove of square bamboo. Yes, it really is square!
Hiking Around Alishan
Near Alishan National forest are some great hiking trails. We picked one that was an abandon railroad grade turned into a water pipeline path call the Shishan Water Diversion. It has rickety bridges, a tunnel with bats, and sections wiped out by landslides. The hike was an adventure, there were only a few people on the trail, and the scenery was beautiful; but more importantly the bridges held out.
Sun Moon Lake
We left Alishan and drove to Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan’s largest alpine lake. We stayed in the lakeside town of Ita Thao; a fun place to relax and take short hikes. We took an easy walk to a statue called “nine frogs stack” in the to left picture below. It was buried partly in mud caused by sediment from a nearby stream, so only six frogs were visible. The ever entrepreneurial locals have a nine-frog-pancake-stack that is very tasty (right picture below). We also enjoyed an indigenous dinner sampler including rice cooked in a bamboo tube, mountain vegetables, and fish soup (lower left picture).
Boat Trip Around Sun Moon Lake
We did a hop-on, hop-off boat ride around the scenic lake and stopped a couple places to have a picnic and explore.
Ci’en Pagoda and Xuan Zang Temple
From our hotel, we took a short drive to see Ci’en Pagoda with a stunning view of Sun Moon Lake. It is quite a climb, but the view is worth it. Xuan Zang Temple, just below the pagoda, celebrates a monk/scholar (602–664 CE) who traveled extensively throughout East Asia and India to learn as much as he could about Buddhism. In the lower right picture he is shown with a backpack he wore to carry his travel gear while he went on his 10,000 mile journey. Do you think he earned frequent walker miles?
Wenwu Temple
Another fun stop near Sun Moon Lake was the massive and ornate Wenwu Temple. Here we learned the details about Yue Lao, or the “Old Man Under the Moon.” He is the Chinese god of love and marriage who binds destined couples together with an invisible red cord. He is super popular to visit in the temples. We found pictures on the wall near his statue of single people asking him to find them a match, and of couples at their weddings thanking him. Maybe this is the original dating app? Once we knew who he was, we saw him referenced in many places.
Up Next: Lantern Festival
From Sun Moon Lake we drove to Taichung and dropped off our rental car. Our visit to Taiwan was nearing an end, but we still had the upcoming Lantern Festival to experience. We had seen all the lanterns being installed, it was time to see what all the excitement was about. Look for details in our next blog…