Central Taiwan July 31 - Aug. 5, 2004 [Taiwan Gallery] [Back to Photo Page]

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The Third Day ...

• Hui-Sun (惠蓀林場)
  Hui-Sun Forest Station, 7,477 ha in area, was established in 1916 (when Taiwan was still occupied by Japanese) and changed to today's name in 1967 in memory of Mr. Hui-Sun Tang, former president of Chung-Hsin University. Due to 2000m altitude differences here in HuiSun (The lowest location of the terrain is Ying-Choe Bridge (454 m). The highest elevation is that of Sho-Cheng Big Mountain 2,419m above sea level.), forest is longitudinally scattered between peak and valley, so the main features of the climate can be divided into 3 regions the hot, the warm and the subtropical climates.
  We stayed in the cabin of Li-Yuan Village (梨園山莊), which is not open to the public. The cabin (2 floors with 4 bedrooms) was big enough for our entire family to stay together for the night.

 

 

We only spent the morning in Hui-Sun. We walked a short distance to a small creek (partially man-made) to have kids play in the water. Then we went to the coffee farm to taste the special Hui-Sun coffee which is quite famous in Taiwan. Linus was a little bit disappointed when we left because he thought we can do some hiking instead of just drinking coffee.

 

• Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village (九族文化村)
  Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village is a combination of Taiwanese native cultural display, performing shows, an European style garden, and a theme park with various rides. Since we only had a couple of hours there, we mainly stayed in the Aboriginal culture display areas and saw a native dancing show. The park was nicely organized and landscaped that it was a lot of fun to walk through the history here. On our way out of the park, the kids saw the "Jurrasic Exploration" ride in the theme park area, and we had to let them go to get the ride.

• The Lalu (涵碧樓) at Sun-Moon Lake (日月潭)
  The Sun-Moon Lake is probably one of the most famous scenic regions in Taiwan, and we all read about it in the textbook when we were kids. We will stay at the Lalu by the lake for the night. The Lalu is located at the same spot of late president Chiang Kai-Shek's vacation house many years ago. It was rebuilt and opened in 2002, and it is claimed to be one of the most expensive hotels in Taiwan.

The Fourth Day ...

• Sunrise at Sun-Moon Lake
  

  One best thing to stay in the Lalu is that I can see the sunrise just from my balcony. All the rooms here have un-blocked lake views. We then went to my parent's room before breakfast. It's a villa with a private swimming pool and spacious court yard.

• Sun-Moon Lake
  

  The Sun Moon Lake lies in the center of the Shui Sha Lien Area (水沙連), belonging to the Yu Chi Village (魚池鄉). It is situated at the west foot of Taiwan Central Mountain Range, between Western Plain and mountains. Sun Moon Lake, 5.4 km^2 and 27 meters deep, is the greatest lake in Taiwan which is composed of diamond-shaped Sun Lake and curve-shaped Moon Lake. The Tsou (邵) people call it "zintun" which may be the first name of Sun Moon Lake. Since the national government withdrew from the Mainland China, Sun Moon Lake had become the President Chiang Kai-shek's favorate tourist spot. We hired a boat to cirlce the lake and stopped by the Lalu Island (formly named Kuang Hua Island). After the 921 earthquake in 1999, the structures on the island were totally destroyed, and even the island became smaller.

• Lugu (鹿谷)
  Lugu is located in Nan-tou mountains and is famous for the tea produced here. We went to a workshop named "Lu-Ding" Village (鹿鼎莊), and kids could make their own clay. The backyard provided very nice view to the west, and I could not resist to stay there for the sunset that I did not get on the bus with others when they left for dinner .....

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