FAQs

You can exchange the bill for coins at the post office or convenient stores.

There are several ways to understand the culture of Thao, for example, from books, magazines or websites. I think it is also a good way to understand the culture of Thao by personally attending their annual festivals.

The annual Harvest Festival of the Thao tribe takes place at Ita Thao Village in September. The exact date will be decided one month before the event.

Nowadays, there are four temples nearby the lake. From the clockwise direction, they are Wenwu Temple, Xuanzang Temple, Xuanguang Temple and Lonfong Temple. Among those temples, Xuanguang and Xuanzang Temples are pure Buddhist temples. Wenwu Temple was built to worship Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. Longfong Temple is a Daoism Temple. Xuanguang and Xuanzang Temples worship (enshrine) the relics of the great monk Xuanzang. He was born in Tang Dynasty about 1600 years ago. His great achievement was that he went to India to study Buddhism and brought back a lot of books about Buddhism. Moreover, he translated those books written in Sanskrit (梵文) to Chinese language. He indeed made a great contribution to the development of Buddhism in China and other Asian countries. Wenwu Temple worships the Civil Saint of Confucius, the Military Saint of Guan-gong and the foundation Gods. Confucius was the greatest teacher in ancient China. Today, many students come here to pray for blessings of good grade in examinations. Whenever you can see many copies of "Certificate of Entrance Examinations" on the altar, you are forced to believe Confucius has done a good job. Long-fong Temple worships the god of Matchmaker and other local deities. The god of Matchmaker was moved to this temple from the Lalu Island after 921 Earthquake. Many couples in love like to come here to pray for marriage as soon as possible and their love last forever.

Both of these two kinds of animals are the sacred animals to the Thao aboriginal people. Thao tribe is the smallest aboriginal group in Taiwan. Its population is only about 500. According to the legend of Thao tribe, Thao lived around Alishan area long time ago. A white deer led them from that poor place to this promise land - the Sun moon Lake. According to Thao's legend, the owl is the incarnation of a Thao's girl, who was pregnant without being married. All Thao people, including her parents, could not forgive her. In a stormy night, she escaped into the mountain. After several days, a Thao's hunter found her dead body under a tree and an owl staying on the top of the tree. They believed the owl was her incarnation. Afterwards, an owl would fly over the house where a pregnant woman is living. The owl seems to tell Thao people that they have to take good care of the pregnant women. Never make the same mistake again.

Yes, this area is enriched with resources of natural ecology: crystal clean lake water, verdant forests and continuous mountains. All these riches make this area suitable for the survival of plants and animals. Plants are mainly low elevation evergreen broadleaf trees, such as Camphor tree and Nut tree. Varied ferns can be seen at every hiking trail. Animals are mainly insects, birds and aquatic life. Nowadays, larger animals are rarely seen at this area due to the development of tourism. Insects which you can often see here are beetles, bees, cicadas, butterflies, dragonflies and fireflies. Spiders are also very common seen here, but they do not belong to the species of insects. Birds which you can often see here are Little Egrets（小白鷺）, Black-crowned Night Heron（夜鷺）, River King Fish（翠鳥、魚狗）, White-breasted Water Hen（白腹秧雞）, Bamboo Cock (竹雞), Thrushes (畫眉). The lovely voice of the Thrushes is a special feature here. Aquatic life consists mainly of lake shrimps, Chubs (鰱魚), Keng Fish (鯁魚), Carps, Wukuo Fish, Chili Fish and President Fish. Chili Fish and President fish are of the largest population in the lake, and the President Fish is also the most famous fish in Taiwan.

Firstly, you have to enter the temple from its right side door, and exit from its left side door. According to the geomancers, the right side belongs to the lucky animal “dragon”, and the left side belongs to the fierce “tiger”. It sounds like a man going into the tiger's mouth if you go into the temple from the left side door. Secondly, never enter or exit the temple from the middle door. The middle door is only for gods. Thirdly, it is allowed to take pictures inside the temple. Be careful not to disturb other worshippers. The last but not the least, you don't need to buy a ticket for entering almost every temple.

There are three piers that you can take the boat: Shuishe Pier, Ita Thao Pier, and Xuang Pier. 

You can take highway 21A around the lake by driving a car or taking regular round-the-lake bus.

The length of the round-the-lake road is about 30 Kilometers.

Yes, you can buy the ticket for each section or one ticket for the whole course.

You can visit those beautiful spots by driving a car, taking the round-the-lake bus, renting a bicycle or motorcycle, or taking a boat trip.

Besides taking the round-the-lake bus, you can rent a motorbike or bicycle or take a boat trip around the lake.

You can buy post cards at almost every shop.

Whenever you visit the place, you would feel that the Sun Moon Lake is really worth paying a visit. The scenery is different in the different seasons or different days, but its natural beauty is always waiting there. Even in the rainy day, you can enjoy the rain on the water and the cloud on the mountains. If you are lucky, you may have the chance to see the rainbow in the sky.

There are many spots worthy of your visit. If you are in a hurry, I suggest that you take a boat trip or visit a temple, a hiking trail and the Cih-en Pagoda.

No, the statue of Matchmaker was moved to Long-Fong Temple after 921 Earthquake. The temple is just by the lake near the Yu-chih Junior High School.

The Han-bi Hiking Trail was our late President Chiang Kai-Shek's favorite. Visitors can enjoy the singing of the birds, especially the lovely voice of thrushes. There are three pavilions along the trail. The first one is very unique because a sentry was built under the pavilion.

Shuei-she and Ita Thao Villages are the most populated areas around the lake. Many souvenir stores, restaurants, hotels and hostels are located in these two villages. The Visitor Center is located in the Shuei-she village. The Ita Thao village is on the opposite side of the lake. You can go there by driving a car or boarding a boat, or taking the round-the-lake bus on weekends.

The Long-Fong Temple is located on the Jhong-sang Street near the Ming-tan Junior High School. It takes about 15 minutes to go there on foot from Shui-Ser Visitor Center.