I finally made it to Sun Moon Lake today, the largest body of water in Taiwan and one of its most popular tourist attractions. It's located at about the middle of Taiwan, and with the high speed rail and bus it took about three hours to get there. There's a shuttle system to take you to attractions surrounding the lake, and with a one-day pass ($2) you can get on and off at whichever hiking trails, temples, or scenic overlooks you like. I used the Landscape option on my camera for a few shots, as well as video, and I'm pretty happy with some of the results.
Sun Moon Lake
View of the entrance to Wenwu Temple and the Lake
One of my favorite parts of Wenwu temple...these raised, dragon sculptures on the flat inclines between flights of stairs.
Across the street from Wenwu Temple is the Nianti Trail, it has 366 steps representing the days of the year. Each step has the date and the names of famous people born on that day. It starts at the top with December and you descend all the way down to 1.1, and yes, I went all the way down and climbed back up, cursing the months with 31 days all the way.
I was pretty excited to head to two temples--Xuanzang and Xuanguang. They house relics and the remains of Xuanzang or Tripitaka, the Buddhist monk who went to India to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures for China. Anyone who studied China in college and had to read Journey to the West or Monkey multiple times knows what I'm talking about.
Here's a sweet wall map at Xuanzang Temple with Xuanzang
and wooden placards showing where he stopped in his journey
(India is a big part of the mural but it's a big wall...).
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