Shoot for the sun and hit the moon

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The tourism destination of Sun Moon Lake is doing a brisk business these days. With the influx of tourists from China and the recent opening of the No. 6 National Highway (六號國道), Tseng Kuo-chi (曾國基), director of the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration (日月潭國家風景區管理處), said that this was one of the few domestic tourism destinations that was continuing to see growth despite the economic downturn.

It has been 10 years since Sun Moon Lake and much of the surrounding area was devastated by the 921 earthquake, which apart from destroying numerous hotels and damaging the transport infrastructure, also caused Guanghua Island (光華島), now renamed Lalu Island, a major scenic attraction of the lake, to all but disappear beneath its surface.

The No. 6 National Highway, the Nantou section of which opened in March, has made Sun Moon Lake a viable destination for a day trip from many major west coast towns north of Changhua County, overcoming the problems of the insufficiency and the high cost of hotel or chalet accommodation around the lake. New hotels are coming up apace, not always to the advantage of the area’s scenic appeal, but there are still views that seem to come directly out of a classical Chinese ink wash painting.

One of those views is from the veranda of The Lalu hotel, one of the grandest local hotels, located on the site of a villa once much favored by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石). Laying on a daybed looking over an uninterrupted prospect of the lake, the tiny splash of green that is Lalu Island, and the mist-shrouded hills of the opposite shore, I was glad that I had decided to stay spend more than a day at Sun Moon Lake.

Beneath the veranda, hidden away beyond the infinity pool, is a little-frequented stretch of public walkway that is part of a growing network of walking paths, bicycle paths and shuttle bus services that the Scenic Area Administration is working to complete as part of its effort to make Sun Moon Lake both eco- and visitor-friendly.

The Lalu, from its huge and luxuriously appointed rooms to its personalized ayurvedic spa services, offers many of the features you expect from a top-class international hotel. Its historical associations also make it a popular stop for the boats touring the lake, and the guest’s relaxation is often interrupted by the sound of tour guides announcing that “This is The Lalu, which was extensively redesigned in 1998 … ,” wafting up from the lake.

The remodeled Lalu was designed by Australian architect Kerry Hill, and it fits snugly and remarkably inconspicuously into the hillside on the edge of the lake, in the best traditions of modern, environmentally conscious design. Directly behind it, the Sun Moon Villa Hotel (日月行館), with a design that imitates the billowing sailing-ship shape of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, clearly wants to be anything but inconspicuous. This blight on the landscape is only one of many glitzy and unimaginative towers that are going up around the lake, aiming to cash in on the market for luxury domestic travel.

Tseng said that efforts were being made to achieve a higher level of regulation for construction, but as the granting of construction permits is not within the remit of the Scenic Area Administration, it remains to be seen how effective these efforts will be. Judging from the construction currently underway, low-profile design does not seem to be a popular choice among the more up-market hotel ventures.