Sun Moon Lake

Sun Moon Lake is the largest lake in Taiwan and a popular tourist attraction for Taiwanese and mainland Chinese, and at least one American.  There are small towns on both sides of the lake, with numerous hotels and restaurants, and a number of boats that take passengers back and forth.  The lake is important to the aboriginal people that have lived in this area and a burial ground is located on the small island of Lalu. Much of the island is now submerged due to the raised lake level created by a hydroelectric dam.

After Chiang Kai-shek fled China and established his government in Taiwan, the dictator spent considerable time at Sun Moon Lake.   During the time he spent there, government decision making officials also transferred from Taipei to the resort area.  Chiang Kai-shek had a pagoda built as a memorial to his mother, which creates a nice photo.

In 1999, a strong earthquake struck the area, toppling buildings in Taipei 150 km away.  More than 2,400 people were killed.  This is significantly less than the number of Taiwanese that Chiang Kai-shek murdered, however it is a reminder of the earthquake danger of the island.  A photo of a collapsed temple nearby Sun Moon Lake is posted below.

It is the banana season in Taiwan and I never realized how many different times of bananas there are.  This is one of my favorite fruits, though I am more cautious since biting into a banana and finding a live worm.

The day trip to Sun Moon Lake was very enjoyable and of course we ate numerous foods from the street vendors.  The street is my wife’s restaurant and I love it too.