Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Purchase bus tickets at the kiosk outside the visitor information centre. On the kiosk side
30 minutes), Taichung HSR (NT$190, 1½ hours) and Taichung city (NT$190, two
hours).
Across the street from the kiosk,
Green Transit Bus
(Fengrong Bus Company, 285
5219)
has buses to Sitou (NT$194, 90 minutes, every one or two hours) via Jiji (NT$86,
50 minutes) and Shuili Snake Kiln (NT$58, 20 minutes).
Getting Around
The round-the-lake bus (all-day pass NT$80, every 30 minutes from 6.40am to 5.30pm)
leaves from in front of the visitor information centre and turns back at Xuanguang
Temple. An English schedule is available at the visitor information centre.
Good-quality scooters (NT$500 per day) can be hired from shops on the main street of
Shuishe. An international driver's licence is needed.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Puli
Thirty minutes north of Sun Moon Lake, Puli (Pǔlǐ) is known in modern times as the epi-
centre of the 921 earthquake in 1999 and the home of Shaohsing wine. The area was
once a centre for butterfly exports. It still flitters with winged life year-round and is the
source of the mysterious butterfly dispersal over Tatajia every May and June.
Accommodation in Puli is as expensive as in Sun Moon Lake, but dreary.
Sights & Activities
Paper Dome
CHAPEL
(Zhǐ Jiàotáng; 52-51 Taomi Lane, Taomi Village; NT$100; 9am-8pm Sun-Fri, to 9pm Sat)
The
chapel was originally built as a post-disaster recovery project by survivors of the
6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Kobe, Japan, in 1995. It later found its permanent
home in Puli, the epicentre of the 921 earthquake in 1999. With its supporting pillars,
dome and benches made of rolled cardboard and paper materials, and the outer protection
a structure of weatherproof translucent plastic, the chapel is especially photogentic after
dark when the lights are on.
