Chiang Kai-shek's church at Sun Moon Lake

It's difficult to get a good photo of the Chapel of Christ at Sun Moon Lake because it's surrounded by trees atop a hillock. This detail - which surely made assassination from a distance less likely - was perhaps a plus-factor for the man who ordered the church's construction: Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan's dictatorial ruler until his death in 1975. This Romanesque-style place of worship was finished in 1971, and is now used for mass weddings organized by Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration. 

When Chiang was in the area, he stayed in a two-storey guesthouse which was wrecked by 1999's 921 Earthquake, then cleared away to make space for the ostentatious Wen Wan Resort (the curving 'mast' on the hotel's exterior is coated with 15kg of gold leaf). The barracks where his security detail stayed has also disappeared; that plot is now occupied by the equally up-market Lalu. In 1971, Taiwan was still far from being the prosperous society it is today. Yet its ruler saw nothing wrong with enjoying approximately 20 residences and villas in different parts of the country, and ordering or permitting official funds to be used to build a private church he'd enter just a few times each year. 

Shuanglong Waterfall

Taiwan's landscape is often reshaped as a result of floods and landslides triggered by summer typhoons. It used to be possible to drive very close to Shuanglong Waterfall (雙龍瀑布), visible in the distance, but now the only way to reach it is by crossing a long footbridge that's off limits to the general public. Of course, some people ignore the rules.

This photo and the following directions come from Taiwan's Waterfalls, a very useful English-language website which has excellent images and GPS coordinates of over seventy waterfalls around Taiwan.

Shuanglong Waterfall can be reached by taking Highway 21 from Shuili in Nantou County (水里鄉南投縣). "Follow Hightway 16 about 8km east to the small aboriginal village of Dili (地利). There will be two signs directing you to Shuanglong. Follow the signs across the valley and drive up to Shuanglong.  You can either park near the church if you want to go for a one-plus hour hike or drive a little further and turn left where there is mural of dancing men and a waterfall sign in Chinese. The easiest hike is to walk along the road but you can also start at the church and walk uphill following the irrigation canals [which are no more than 1m wide]. There are a few turns but just keep going along the canals and you will arrive at [the footbridge shown]."

The Roman Catholic Church in Dili runs an inexpensive campsite/hostel. From Dili, County Road 63 is a very scenic way to approach Sun Moon Lake via the indigenous community of Tannan (潭南).

Part of Highway 21 becomes Highway 29

At the end of last year, the southern section of Highway 21, from Namasia to Linyuan (both in Kaohsiung City), was redesignated Highway 29. According to Chinese-language media reports, this signals the central government's abandoning of any hopes to connect the northern segment of Highway 21 (which runs from near Puli in Nantou County to Tataka in Yushan National Park via Sun Moon Lake) with the southern part of the road. 

Environmentalists are applauding the move, as it will better protect ecologically-rich uplands. Highway 29 is 112km long; the southern end meets Highway 17, on which it's a short hop into Pingtung County's Donggang Township. Towns along the way include Jiaxian and Qishan. South of the latter, it passes right by Foguangshan and the Buddha Memorial Centre. Also accessed by the highway is San-He Tile Kiln, where I took these photos a few years ago. 

At the time of writing, the road was still labelled as Highway 21 on Google Maps.

Xinyi Winery in Nantou

While driving between Shuili and Tataka in Yushan National Park last month, we made a stop at what English-language sources usually refer to as Xinyi Winery, an establishment that seems to have at least three Chinese names (信義鄉農會酒莊, 梅子夢工廠 and 梅子酒莊). Located in Shuili's Mingde Village (明德村), about 30 minutes' drive from the town centre, it sells various wines made using locally-grown plums and other crops. Most of the wines cost around NTD500 for a 600cc bottle, and the one I bought (but didn't get to try until several days later) was very palatable - which is why I didn't get around to taking a photo until I was half way through it. T-shirts and other non-alcoholic souvenirs are also for sale.

The winery, which is run by the local farmers' cooperative, doesn't have an English sign, but isn't too difficult to find if you look for a modern building with coaches parked outside on the right as you approach from Shuili. It's a popular stop with tour parties, even on weekdays. For information about other wineries in Taiwan, take a look at this 2011 post.

Taking the logging train at Fenqihu

Tourists pose in front of the diesel locomotive and carriages just ahead of the 14.00 departure from Fenqihu (奮起湖) to Chiayi City (嘉義市) via Zhuqi (竹崎) on the century-old Alishan Forestry Railway. The narrow-gauge railroad - which was out of action for some years following 2009's Typhoon Morakot - is renowned not only for the elevation it climbs (from 30m above sea level to more than 2,200m at Alishan National Forest Recreation Area) but also for the up-close views of tropical, temperate and montane forest passengers enjoy. On weekdays, it seems, the train isn't always fully booked ahead of departure, but getting your tickets in advance (you can reserve and pay up to 14 days before you travel) is certainly a good idea; it would only take a couple of sizable tour groups to fill all five carriages.

Life of Taiwan can book tickets as part of a mountain-and-tea tour. Such excursions typically include driving from Nantou County along the New Central Cross-Island Highway. This route often provides superb views of Mount Jade and other lofty peaks. We recommend getting off at Zhuqi (sometimes spelled Jhuci; station shown in final picture), a bucolic inland town, thereby avoiding the traffic around Chiayi City and providing easy access to the scenic No. 3 Freeway. One-way from Fenqihu to Zhuqi or Chiayi City is NT$240 per person.

Ceramic air-raid shelters

This pot wasn't fired to store water or grain. Rather, it was commissioned during World War II by the Japanese colonial authorities to serve as a one-man air-raid shelter. Contemplating the possibility of Allied forces landing on Taiwan's beaches, the Japanese (who ruled Taiwan between 1895 and 1945) ordered hundreds of these pots, which could be buried in sand or soil, horizontally or vertically, protecting individual soldiers from bullets and bomb fragments. 

According to information at Shuili Snake Kiln (水里蛇窯), where I took this photo, because Taiwanese potters were needed to produce these air-raid shelters and other items needed for the war effort, they were exempted from conscription into Japan's imperial armed forces. Similar pots were also bought by wealthy individuals; one is on display inside this traditional courtyard house. 

Sun Moon Lake

Several weeks back, I took a motorcycle trip from Taichung to Sun Moon Lake via Puli. Shown above is Wenwu Temple, one of the lake's most popular attractions.

Inside the temple, there are hundreds of these golden pendants bearing auspicious messages like "hundreds of years of harmony." You're unlikely to see them in other Taiwanese shrines - probably because few are nearly so touristy as Wenwu Temple. 

The tower on the ridge on the left of the photo above is Cien Pagoda. Leaving Sun Moon Lake, I took Highway 16 (shown below) to Shuili.

Above the treeline

Recently I drove northeast from Wushe (霧社) in Nantou County, past Qingjing Farm (清境農場) and over Hehuanshan (合歡山). This stretch of road is the highest in Taiwan, cresting at 3,275m; Hehuanshan's peak is 3,416m above sea level. 

The section shown here isn't the very top but gives you a good idea of the scenery. On weekdays there's usually little traffic; at weekends and whenever there's snow, you can expect crowds of people and vehicles. Hehuanshan is inside Taroko National Park. If you'd rather not drive, you can see this road by taking one of the buses which link Puli (埔里) with Lishan (梨山).

Million-dollar bathrooms

Nantou's Zhinan Temple (指南宮) is tiny and visually unimpressive, but exceptionally popular. On the day we visited it was all but impossible to see the main altar because of the crush of people. The temple is clearly very wealthy; in 2007 it spent a breathtaking NT$38.8 million (US$1.34 million) on the bathrooms pictured above.

They are very nice, it has to be said. Not only clean, well lit and spacious, but also decorated with works of art and equipped with a nursing room and an observation deck. The shape is supposed to represent fresh bamboo growing up out of the ground - not, as you might think, turds.

Paragliding in Taiwan

At first glance, Taiwan should be an excellent place for paragliding because it's covered in hills. However, as this website points out, much of the airspace is restricted for military reasons and power lines get in the way at several other promising sites. There's more about the sport here and here, and a map with paragliding sites in Taiwan here.

I took this photo from Tigerhead Mountain, near Puli in Nantou, three or four years ago.

Snow-flecked Mount Jade

This was the view a few weeks ago from the top of Mount Dongpu (東埔山), an eminently-climbable peak (30 minutes' on foot from the main road to the summit) just inside Yushan National Park. It shows Taiwan's highest mountain with a bit of snow. A fortnight or so before I took this photo there was a great deal more snow, enough to prompt the national park to bring forward Mount Jade's annual closure.

Birdwatching on the Blue-Gate Trail

This trail ('Gate 1') is located off Highway 14A, very close to the 16km marker (not 15km as is reported elsewhere). The actual gate or gateposts are not visible from the main road, but the entrance can be identified by a sign for 'Rueiyan River Major Wildlife Habitat' and a number of water pipes that run along it.

There's parking on the right a short distance up the main road. The trail has recently been cleared making it much more accessible. After about 5km the trail crosses a small road (about half a kilometre down from from the police station where's there some excellent mothing) and then continues – passing an actual blue gate, 'Gate 2' – for a further 12km where it ends at the head of a valley. Thus visitors can walk for up to 17km if they've the energy, though sometimes the road is damaged by typhoons.

This is the area referred to as the continuation trail. Pheasants can be seen here, as well as other high-altitude endemics such as the Taiwan Hill Partridge. This trail can be very wet due to leaking pipes, so it's best to wear rubber boots or carry spare footwear. During the dry season you'll do OK gingerly edging along the less-wet parts.

The Taiwan Forestry Bureau has published a good leaflet about the area. It is, alas, very difficult to obtain. Guided tours of this trail can be organised by Taiwan Eco-Tours.

Puli's paper church

I've moved the text about what's officially called Puli Paper Dome (埔里紙教堂) to this page.

APRIL 2012 UPDATE: The architect who designed the Paper Dome, Shigeru Ban, has been commissioned to create a cardboard replacement for Christchurch cathedral, which was so badly damaged in a February 2011 earthquake that it will be demolished.

The September 21 Earthquake, ten years on

Today was the tenth anniversary of the September 21 Earthquake, the worst natural disaster to strike Taiwan since 1935 and the strongest quake for more than a century. It happens that yesterday I was in Jiji, the town in central Taiwan that was the quake's epicentre. One of the town's most memorable sights is Wuchang Temple, pictured above. It wasn't especially famous before the quake, but even now, a decade after it collapsed, busloads of tourists come to see it. As you can see, most of the rest of the structure remains intact. A new version of Wuchang Temple is currently being built less than 100 metres away.

Craig Ferguson has good photos of the temple and other places around Jiji here.