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  • Wenwu Temple of Sun Moon Lake

    Wenwu Temple of Sun Moon Lake

    Moving on to Wenwu Temple (文武廟) located at Sun Moon Lake the next day. The majestic temple sits on a mountainside, north of Sun Moon Lake, was built according to the landscape. Wenwu temple is known to be largest in the area and it’s not hard to tell that. We were greeted by the towering dark green Memorial arch entrance followed by a huge square area. In it, two giant red stone lions flanked the steps to the temple halls.

    In Chinese, 文 relates to scholarly and cultural pursuits while 武 refers to military knowledge and martial arts. Hence, the temple has three halls dedicated to the deities like God of Literature (文昌帝君), Confucius (孔子), Yue Fei (岳飞) and Guan Yu (关羽).

    Wenwu Temple Memorial arch entrance

    Wenwu Temple at sun moon lake

    Wen wu Temple red stone lions

    The Martial Sage Hall (武圣殿) which house Yue Fei and Guan Yu seem to be the largest hall. There are nice stone carvings like the two dragons chasing the pearl (双龙抢珠) near the steps in front of the hall.

    Two dragons carving at wen wu temple

    And other carvings like these two depict scenarios during the Three Kingdom era, 三顾茅庐 and 三英战吕布.

    Wen wu temple stone carving

    Wen wu temple stone carving

    The imposing Martial Sage Hall is surrounded by awesome work of art.

    Wen wuMartial Sage Hall

    Wenwu Temple Martial Sage Hall

    Outside the hall places Guan Yu’s weapon of choice – Green Dragon Crescent Blade (青龙偃月刀).

    wen wu temple guan yu blade

    The carvings of nine dragons outside Hall of Achievement (大成殿) which house Confucius are less fearsome than the one at Martial Sage Hall, but equally impressive. The hall’s décor is also simpler with an unmistakeable calming effect.

    Wen wu temple nine dragons carvings

    Confucius wenwu temple

    And the best part is the roof area of Wenwu temple which offers a spectacular view of Sun Moon Lake. But sadly, the gloomy weather that morning kinda dampened my mood as the famous turquoise water is nowhere to be seen…

    Great view from Wenwu Temple roof

    Another interesting thing about the temple is the stairs that lead all the way down to the pier below. Formerly known as the Stairway to Heaven, people used it to reach the temple from the pier when roads have yet to be constructed. It’s now redone into 366 steps which symbolize 366 days in a leap year and lined with golden wind chimes. I hope to take the Stairway to Heaven perhaps from the pier when I revisit Wenwu Temple in future.

    Wenwu temple Stairway to Heaven

    Right across Wenwu temple is where the famous Sun Moon Lake stone marker is located. People will come here to take a mandatory picture/selfie/wefie with it. And the viewing platform allows one to take in a good surrounding view of Sun Moon Lake. If not for the gloomy weather…oh well.

    Viewing platform across wenwu temple

    View of Sun moon lake

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    What are your thoughts about Wenwu Temple? Leave a comment and share it with me.

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  • Home for maple trees in Aowanda

    Home for maple trees in Aowanda

    We continued our trip around Nantou next morning and the first stop is Aowanda National Forest Recreation Area (奧萬大國家森林). Located in central of Taiwan and known to locals as ‘the home for maple trees’, where people will flock here for the colours of autumn foliage. We’re there in December and the traffic was almost a standstill way before the car park entrance.

    For some reason, there’re only a handful of maple trees which have turned red or orange. Not the sea of reddish and orangey maple scene that I was expecting, better luck next time I guess.

    Aowanda National Forest Recreation

    greens

    Aowanda maple trees

    Aowanda red maple leaves

    Aowanda Taiwan

    Aowanda suspension bridge

    Next is the hike to Aowanda suspension bridge deep in the park, which is another famed attraction here. The walk ain’t that difficult especially with the lovely natural surrounding view. Oh yeah, more negative ions!

    The walk to suspension bridge 1

    suspension bridge 2

    suspension bridge 3

    suspension bridge 4

    Ok, now I see you…but damn, still some distance more to go.

    suspension bridge from far

    Based on the time stamps of photos taken, it took us around 1 hour to reach Aowanda suspension bridge. But what awaits us was this long queue of people waiting to cross…so it took another 30 min before it’s finally our turn…gosh.

    The queue at Aowanda suspension bridge

    Aowanda suspension bridge

    suspension bridge crossing

    Apparently, there’s a restriction limit of 50 people on this 180-meter long bridge at any point of time and it’s only one-way traffic. No choice then, safety first.

    bridge restriction

    The view on the bridge is simply spectacular but I did not take as many photos as I like since there’re many people waiting at both ends of the bridge. Also, the crossing part ain’t scary at all since it will ‘just’ be a 90-meter drop. *touch wood…LOL

    Crossing the bridge

    Great view from bridge

    On the opposite side of the bridge is a huge pine trees area but we didn’t explore much, as the queue back was even more maddening here. So we quickly join the queue after a short rest.

    Tall pine trees

    Pine trees

    We continued exploring a little more before calling a break for lunch. Thereafter moving on to our next destination – Puli (埔里).

    Reservoir

    Waterfall at Aowanda

    Stopover at Puli Brewery

    On the latter half of the day, the driver brought us to Puli Brewery (埔里酒廠) for a short stopover as our Minsu’s check in time is 4pm. Not so much for us here since we are not into Shaoxing Wine. But if you are, the Shaoxing is made from rice and then fermented in wine pots for years before bottling. There’s also a Wine Culture Museum for those who want to learn more about its history.

    Puli Brewery

    Live music performance by two lovely ladies at the pavilion.

    Performance at Puli Brewery

    Stores at Puli Brewery

    Puli Brewery wine pots

    Inside Wine Culture Museum

    We didn’t stay here for long and left for dinner shortly after.

    Dinner at Puli

    Dinner at Puli

    Dinner at Puli

    STAY: Puli Jia Yuan Minsu review

    The lodging for the night was at Puli Jia Yuan Minsu (埔里民宿佳園渡假山莊). We occupied the whole of Block A which consists of 6 bedrooms and the stay was very comfortable.

    Jia Yuan Minsu

    Puli Jia Yuan Minsu

    There’s this arts and crafts session which you can join at the Minsu too, here are what we have made.

    Jia Yuan Minsu art class

    Jia Yuan Minsu arts and crafts

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    What are your thoughts about Aowanda? Leave a comment and share it with me.

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