Sun Moon Lake!

On Saturday morning a little after 7:00, Devin, Erin, Meg, Laura and I jumped on a train and headed to Sun Moon Lake for the day!  We'd planned on taking train to Taichung and a bus the rest of the way, but on our way to the bus station a taxi driver rolled down his window and tried to convince us to get in.  He drove next to us for a block or two, but we turned him down figuring it'd be more expensive.  He must have really wanted our money, because he wouldn't let us get away that easy...he parked his taxi on the corner, and as we arrived at the bus station he came running up to us offering us a deal.  He charged us the same amount as a bus ticket, for half the time and twice the comfort, plus discounted boat tickets!  How could we resist?  He also arranged a time for us to meet him for the return trip.  Perfect!  The drive to Sun Moon Lake was BEAUTIFUL.  I know I say this in just about every post, but the mountains here are so beautiful and GREEN!  Miles and miles of rolling mountains...gorgeous green tropical Taiwan mountains.  I love them!  We had a wonderfully relaxing day boating, hiking, and strolling around the lake :-) 

Erin, Meg, me, Laura - ready for another rockin Saturday!

Our first boat!  Our tickets were good for the entire day; we could get off at one of the stops and jump on another boat anytime throughout the day to go to the next stop.

Group shot...hope you're happy, Erin ;-) 

Ok...funny story:  We got to this first stop, and there was a small temple with this rock out front.  Apparently it's THE place to get your picture taken at Sun Moon Lake.  The people were lined up with cameras, and this police officer roped it off, I think in an attempt to organize the mass amounts of tourists, haha... We had no idea what was so great about it, but we jumped in for our Sun Moon Lake pic too :-)

Seriously, this guy meant business!

We decided to follow this trail up the mountain...lots of great photo opps, beautiful scenery, and an incredible view of the lake at the top!

Stairs to the temple on top the mountain...

This one was a little quieter...off-the-path type...I liked it.

Lunch Time!  We took another boat to our second stop that had lots of fun little streets, touristy shops, and these amazing chicken wraps...yum!

Stop #3 had the lift up the mountain...apparently there's an aboriginal cultural center/amusement park up there...strange combination, I know.  We decided not to go to the top, but enjoyed walking along the boardwalk near the lake and relaxing on the steps. 

Wenwu Temple, my friends...SWEET!  After boating around the lake, we still had quite a bit of time, so we took a bus to this temple we'd seen high up on the mountain during our boat rides.  I'm so glad we did, because it was amazing!  I'm pretty sure it's my favorite so far...and we've seen A LOT of temples!  We kept climbing higher and higher, until finally we were at the top where we could see all the different levels of the temple, as well as the beautiful lake!  Ah, Taiwan :-)

 

Goodbye beautiful Sun Moon Lake!