By Mark Caltonhill
Some people are naturally romantic. They do the right thing at every occasion and in whatever place, they say the right things, they cook the perfect meals. Others, perhaps the majority, need a little help. This often involves travel: to New Orleans to listen to a jazz band, perhaps, or Paris for a candlelight dinner beside the Seine at sunset, or to the Arctic to drink an ice-cold vodka beneath the aurora borealis.
Southern Taiwan has Kaohsiung’s Love River, while in Taipei it is common for lovers to ride the giant ferris wheel at Miramar Entertainment Park to take in the night scenery. But for almost half a century, the nation’s love capital – as well as the island’s geographic center – has been Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County.
It was here in the summers of the 1960s and early 1970s that President Chiang Kai-shek brought his wife Soong Mei-ling to relax and avoid the heat of the city, and it was here that honeymooning couples came in increasing numbers once major roads were completed around the same time.
Perhaps it was the “Moon” part in the lake’s name that attracted honeymooners, or that “Sun” and “Moon” are the yang and yin of boy-girl love in Chinese symbolism. Or perhaps it is just the quiet, the stillness, and the wonderful views across the lake that make this a special place for all lovers.
Perhaps it is just the quiet, the stillness, and the wonderful views across the lake that make it a special place for all lovers
For thousands of years before the arrival of Han Chinese from across the Taiwan Strait, the island was exclusively home to numerous ethnic groups now subsumed under the term “aborigine,” each with its own language and culture. One feature they shared, however, and a feature that set them apart from the Chinese immigrants, was that they practiced love marriages rather than arranged marriages.
A visit to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, not far from the lake’s eastern shore, is therefore a good option on any lovers’ trip. Indeed, as well as information on traditional aboriginal marriage customs in the displays on cultures of ten of the island’s ethnicities, there is also a wedding ceremony of the Bunun Tribe included with the more usual song-and-dance performance at the theme park’s Naruwan Theater. The marriage ritual, in which the groom swings his bride on the end of a five-meter rope, is the highlight of the show. The show lasts the best part of an hour, while a visit to the village could last all day.
One of Taiwan’s earliest theme parks, the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village has gradually expanded over the last three decades from a museum-like presentation of aboriginal culture to include DIY arts and crafts – boys can show off their bow-and-arrow hunting skills, girls can make indigenous-style pottery – a fun-fair arcade for school children, water and “space” rides for families, and a European-style chateau where young couples like to photograph themselves among the ornate gardens and ride the miniature train.
Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village (九族文化村)
Add: 45 Jintian Lane, Dalin Village, Yuchi Township, Nantou County (南投縣魚池鄉大林村金天巷45號)
Tel: +886-49-289-536
Website: www.nine.com.tw
In fact, following construction last year of a cable car to take visitors between the park and Sun Moon Lake (the NT$700 entrance ticket includes two rides on the “ropeway”), the romantic experience begins even earlier. Many people travel to Taiwan’s central area simply to see the lake from this new slowly moving vantage point (NT$300 without entrance to the park). The gondolas hoist passengers gently upward, and on misty days they can experience the enchanting “sea of clouds” effect, looking down on the truly heart-touching sight of lake, clouds, and mountains in a triple layer. They then disappear over a ridge and swing low over the trees of a “hidden valley,” allowing imaginations of what life was like here before the access roads brought development just a few decades ago.
And for those with a fear of heights there is still the lake. Despite Taiwan being an island and nowhere being very far from the sea, opportunities to take a boat trip are actually not so common. Ironically, therefore, this part of Nantou – the only county lacking a coastline – offers a chance to make up for that shortfall.
The best way to leave the crowds behind, to spend time alone with one’s true love, is to hire a boat. For the wealthy, this could mean a fancy yacht or speedboat, but for those of more limited means, rowing boats from beyond the car park at the village of Shuishe at NT$200 per hour will do just fine.
The best way to leave the crowds behind, to spend time alone with one’s true love, is to hire a boat
For those of an even more frugal disposition, bus boats ply the waters from dawn till dusk. Many visitors buy a day ticket to make multiple journeys between points of interest around the lake. For those making only one trip, however, the most popular is from Shuishe past the tip of Lalu Island, passing by modern-day versions of the old “four-handed hanging net” boats on which early Han Chinese immigrants not only fished but also lived and raised their families, to the Xuanguang Temple pier. Here, for just NT$10, they can eat an Assam tea-flavored egg marinated with mushrooms (don’t ask why, just do it – apparently around 6,000 are sold each day), then climb the short distance to the temple dedicated to Tripitaka, the Chinese monk whose “Journey to the West” has appeared in books and, in modern times, on televisions around the world.
More popular with lovers, however, are the Jesus Church built by late President Chiang for his private use and the Longfeng Temple (“Dragon and Phoenix Palace”), because of the small shrine next to it dedicated to the Old Man under the Moon. According to Chinese mythology, his job is to identify future couples at birth and connect them with invisible red string so they are eventually brought together. Perhaps having beseeched him individually with prayers at a temple in Taipei or elsewhere, newly found lovers come here together to offer their thanks and reward him with incense, fruit, and other goodies.
Food, like travel, is an integral part of romance, and Sun Moon Lake has plenty to offer. Aboriginal fare such as slate-grilled wild boar, rice cooked in bamboo tubes, and millet wine is not limited to the nearby culture-village theme park. Indeed, following the damming of the lake and the raising of its waters by 20 meters during the Japanese occupation (1895-1945), the scattered members of the Thao Tribe, with a population today measured in the hundreds, were relocated to the village of Ita Thao on the southern shore. This is a good place to eat and sleep, and also the best place for aboriginal souvenirs such as clothing and woodcarvings.
Elsewhere, freshwater shrimp and fish are on most menus, especially the “president fish,” so nicknamed because it was beloved by President Chiang. Cheap eats are found in Ita Thao and Shuishe; couples and small groups may partake of the mid-price “x-dishes-plus-soup,” the number of dishes depending on the size of their party. But for the best eats, as elsewhere in Taiwan, everyone heads to one of the top-quality hotels.
Actually, the hotels here offer something of inestimable value that those elsewhere cannot: magnificent views across Sun Moon Lake. No, not “magnificent” – the views are “mind-blowing.” (Guys, picture this. Your beloved has just enjoyed a forkful of delicately simmered president fish, or steak, or vegetarian roll, or whatever, her eyes drift upwards across Taiwan’s largest body of mountain water now glowing red under the setting sun, past Lalu Island to Cien Pagoda. You, of course, sit with your back to the floor-to-ceiling windows, you cough, she looks into your eyes, you pull out the ring and say.…)
After dinner (and after she has replied), take a stroll along one of the numerous lakeside paths and gaze up at the moon – the yin to offset the daytime yang – and innumerable stars. Chances are the sky will be clearer than anything seen back in the city. One particularly enchanting vantage point is the open-air rooftop bar of the Fleur de Chine hotel, especially when the mid-summer fireworks displays light up the lake.
Take a stroll along one of the numerous lakeside paths and gaze up at the moon and innumerable stars. Chances are the sky will be clearer than anything seen back in the city
In the spirit of romance, a number of the area’s top hotels offer special packages for lovers. The Fleur de Chine, for example, welcomes couples with roses, chocolates, and a free bottle of red wine, and provides breakfast in-room for those desirous of no one else’s company. Similarly, The Lalu hotel on the Hanbi Peninsula – which shares the same view of the lake that Chiang and Soong enjoyed half a century ago – has a “Love Travel” deal, with roses, candles, and waiters bringing dinner dish by dish to one’s room.
After a hearty breakfast – the hotels’ buffets are popular with non-guests as well as residents – further exploration, by foot or by bike, of the local trails can continue. These are being steadily extended – the ultimate plan is to circle the lake – and the visitor center in Shuishe can provide details and maps reflecting the current situation, as well as hints as to the most romantic spots. Best of all, for those lucky enough to visit in the early spring, are the trails enveloped in blossoming cherry trees.
For the more adventurous, for those who have helped themselves too liberally at breakfast, or simply for those who wish to take the path less taken, other trails lead up into the surrounding hills. One relatively short route, ascending from the road between Shuishe and the Fleur de Chine, leads up to Maolan Mountain. It was here that the Japanese established tea plantations in the 1920s using seedlings brought in from India. It is because of this, and its suitably moist climate, that Sun Moon Lake is today still known for its Assam black teas rather than the oolong teas for which Taiwan is primarily famed. Depending on the season visitors can watch the leaves being hand-picked in the fields and processed in family-run factories, and year-round can sample the produce in teahouses and purchase souvenirs and gift boxes.
Due to their liking for moist conditions and large day-night temperature variation, mushrooms also grow well at this altitude, and as with tea the dried version makes a good gift for friends back in the city. Food and handicraft shops are everywhere – the major hotels even sell self-designed branded goods – so you don’t have to steal a towel or teacup to get a souvenir – and there is an OTOP (One Town One Product) store near the bus stop in Shuishe for last-minute purchases.
At around 760 meters above sea level, Sun Moon Lake is not as remote as some parts of Taiwan. Indeed, it is less than an hour by bus or taxi from Taichung’s railway and high-speed rail stations. Most visitors either drive here or, since it is barely three hours from Taipei, take a direct bus. This is not as arduous a journey as it was decades ago when the vehicle-access road was first built: with around three times the legroom of an economy-class airplane seat, no blaring television, and one's loved one in the next seat, it is but the final leg of an unforgettable trip to Taiwan’s love capital.
ENGLISH & CHINESE
Bunun Tribe 布農族
Chiang Kai-shek 蔣介石
Cien Pagoda 慈恩塔
four-handed hanging net 四手吊網
Lalu Island 拉魯島
Longfeng Temple 龍鳳宮
Maolan Mountain 貓囒山
Nantou County 南投縣
Naruwan Theater 娜魯灣劇場
Old Man under the Moon 月下老人
president fish 總統魚
Thao Tribe 邵族
Shuishe 水社
Soong Mei-ling 宋美玲
Sun Moon Lake 日月潭
Xuanguang Temple 玄光寺
yang 陽
Ita Thao 伊達邵
yin 陰
