From Lugang to the Sun (Moon Lake)

First stop of the day was Lugang Township, formerly the busiest port town in Taiwan, where we visited a temple and had a walk around the old town. On the way we sampled the local specialty, shrimp monkeys (deep fried mud shrimp, eaten whole including head and legs).

On the way out of town we drove through a rural area, past a traditional cemetery and stopped at a Shell Temple in Fuxing Township. It's a little-visited labour of love that took one man 20 years to build, covering his own temple inside and out, with sea shells (all but 2 of the temples in Taiwan are privately owned, by individuals or not -for profits organizations)

The drive to Sun Moon Lake was mostly on raised freeways and through tunnels, so we made good time, arriving in time for a shuttle boat cruise - a fleet of boats visit 3 ports around the lake and you hop-on and off at your leisure.

Sun Moon Lake is the most popular tourist destination in Taiwan - we counted 30 tour buses in one of the car parks, mostly from mainland China (although the Taiwanese government is actively promoting tourism from other east Asian countrtries to minimise their reliance on China if the political situation deteriorates).

Tea was in the night market again, but as it's not a major city, it was starting to shut down as we walked back to the hotel at 7.30pm.Read more