Cruise on Sun Moon Lake 2024 @ Taiwan

I am not sure if it is a good idea to bring us on a cruise around sun moon lake so early in the morning but well, we do have an itinerary to chase and would be expected to check in to a hotel at hsinchu (around 178 kilometers away) for the night! 

Spacious boat for just the nineteen of us! The setup kind of reminded me of Light Cruise for my day trip to Halong Bay in Vietnam, except for the uncomfortable plastic sheets covering the seats.

Our captain for the boat! 

Captain when he was much younger. Is that the famous President's fish? Those who didn't know much about the fish can read about it via my post here. 

A picture with my dad before the boat started roaring! 

Right in front would be the more busting Shuishe pier, which is the gateway for Sun Moon Lake. I had the intention to stay there in 2014 but decided on Ita Thao for something different. However, it appeared that Ita Thao had more developments nowadays. 

The most useless lighthouse in the world, and also known to be at the highest elevation! Compared to my visit in 2014, nothing much seemed to have changed. 

Buildings were sparsely placed across the hills and it's honestly an optical illusion! You wouldn't have been captivated by any of the structures just from the picture above.

Until I took a close-up picture.

And that's the famous Wenwu Temple!  

Sun Moon Lake is actually not a fully natural lake; it's considered a semi-natural one as it used to be two separate lakes, known as sun lake and moon lake, that were eventually connected into one of the largest bodies of water in Taiwan. 

Above building, with the golden mast, was the The Wen Wan Resort. Said to be the most expensive hotel at Sun Moon Lake, the mast was said to be wrapped with pure gold foil, and looked like the sails on yachts!  For some Taiwanese, it appeared more like a chopper! 

Measuring 55.97 meters, it was also awarded the "tallest gold plated mast" on Guiness World Records. From Google Map, it appeared to be closed temporarily though.  

The Lalu Hotel, formerly the official residence of then Japanese Crown Prince Hirohito in 1923, it was used by former President Chiang Kai-Shek as his vacation home, and eventually turned into a hotel in 2002.

A promenade in front of The Lalu Hotel which was said to be the favorite spot of President Chiang Kai-Shek and his wife. If you look closer, you might notice a white boat, said to be same one used by President Chiang Kai-Shek and his wife! 

A simple Chinese style pavilion but did you notice the base it was on? It's actually a pillbox to protect the president, and the hole was big enough for a machine gun! 

Interesting installation on the lake; from my past visit, I noted it's an aboriginal boat for the local fishermen. Fishing nets would be planted and they would come and haul the nets at night. 

In the midst of the towering hills, I guess it might be hard to notice an island right in the middle of the photograph. It was much larger before the Japanese built a dam, resulting in higher water level, but the final straw came with the earthquake in 1999, shrinking the island further! 

Known as Lalu Island, it used to be open for the general public but after the earthquake, access is restricted only to members of the Thao tribe, who considered the island sacred. 

Legend has it that the ancestors of the Thao tribe discovered Sun Moon Lake after chasing a white deer. To honor the white deer, a statue was installed on Lalu Island. 

In 2014, the plants on the floating pontoons weren't as overgrown and you could have a better look of the island. Now, the whole place just looked so messy! 

You can't even see the sign!

KK, our tour guide, showed us a few photographs taken at Sun Moon Lake in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake. First picture was taken of Lalu Island, when it was still open to the public and had a statue of Yue Lao, the god of marriage and love.

I noticed two cute buildings far ahead.

Don't they look like two little robots?! According to Google Map, the area was just listed as government office and street view showed a fenced up place with no signboard.

Would you have wanted to climb the mountain? I was sharing with my friends recently that when it comes to natural attractions, sometimes they look better from afar. 

Continuing our cruise.

After a while, it got kind of boring.

This small little building looked familiar! Is this the Xuanguang Temple?! I remember it was filled with devotees and visitors when I last visited in 2014.

More photographs for your viewing pleasure.

There were quite a number of famous temples at Sun Moon Lake and one of them would be the Xuanzang temple which was built in honor of Xuanzang, the same priest immortalized in the novel, Journey to the West. Stored within was a relic of the priest. 

The 46-meter Ci En Pagoda; constructed as a memory to the late mother of President Chiang Kai-shek, it's another attraction that I have yet to visit. Should I consider Sun Moon Lake as another stopover for my trip in 2025? 

Back to the world's most useless lighthouse again.

Almost coming to an end for our almost 40-minute cruise on Sun Moon Lake. See that black building? Housing The Richforest Sun Moon Lake hotel, it's made entirely of cypress! Bet it smells nice! 

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Click HERE for the Summarized Itinerary for Our 8 Days 7 Nights See Iconic Taiwan Anew Tour Package via Chan Brothers