WALK AROUND THE LAKE

To get a good view of Sun Moon Lake, follow Huanhu Road, starting from the north. The first stage is then the Wen Wu temple (文武廟) built in 1938, when the population, worried that the waters of the dam could cover the Longfong and Yihua temples, decided to group these two places of worship into one, under the name of Wen Wu. The temple was subsequently renovated in 1969 and in 2003 following the earthquake of September 21, 1999. It is dedicated not only to Confucius but also to the two deities of war, Kuan-kong and Yueh-fei, two generals identifiable by the color of their complexion. Kuan-kong, with the red face, is a character of the Three Kingdoms and Yueh-fei, with the pale complexion, tried in vain to save China, under the Song dynasty, from the barbarian invasion.

Continuing westward, the Peaocock Garden, at the intersection of Huanhu Road and Route 69, has been home to more than 200 peacocks since 1968, as well as Taiwanese blue magpies and pheasants.

Heading south, a stop in the village Ita Thao is a must. Aboriginal handicrafts are showcased at the centre's market.

The hike continues on the ridge of Cinglong Mountain - which, compared to a dragon, materializes the boundary between the Moon and Sun parts of Sun Moon Lake - to the summit of Tse'en Pagoda (慈恩塔) (pagoda of the Branch Piety). In 1971, Chiang Kai-shek wished to commemorate the memory of his mother: the lake is a place dear to him, so he decided to erect this pagoda, 9 floors high and 46 m high.

The Xuanzang Temple (玄奘寺) is also located on Cinglong Mountain - on the head of the dragon. Built in 1955 in the lineage of the temples of the tang dynasty, it contains, among the most precious Buddhist relics: shelizi. These unbreakable nuggets appear after the cremation of important religious dignitaries, they would be the materialization of their energy. In the Xuanzang temple, the shelizi found after the cremation of Xuanzang, an eminent Buddhist master who, after a long stay in India, participated in the propagation of Buddhism in China and Japan, are preserved. As in many temples in Taiwan, Taoism and Buddhism are mixed in the same religious building. Thus on the second floor, an altar is erected in homage to Guanyin, Taoist goddess of Mercy. During World War II, the Japanese sent the relics from Xuanzang to Japan. They were returned to Taiwan in 1952 and this temple was built to house them.