We arrived in Sun Moon Lake after sunset the previous night, but signed up for an early (05:00 getting up, that was a bit tough) sunrise walk with Wayne, the very nice owner of the B&B we were staying at (Laurel Villa). He took us to private land from his family from which you get a good view of the surroundings and the lake. Unfortunately the weather we got that morning wasn't the best, but at least we got to see sunrise across the mountains, so it wasn't all for naught :)

ants actually build their nests up in trees for protection

I have some Panoramas here.

He then recommended that we go ahead, get rental bikes and bike around a portion of the lake before breakfast so that we could miss the crowds that would arrive by busloads soon after. He also told Jennifer which of her places to see where worth doing and in which order, and that was invaluable advise.
As a result, we actually had a great rest of the day in the area, enjoying sights with barely any crowds.

apparently many people biking there suck at biking, the path was littered with signs tell you the curved road ahead of you indeed curves and you should slow down :)

because someone who can't bike managed to fall off this path, we were told to walk it. We kind of ignored that ;)

across the lake was a tall pagoda we went to visit that afternoon

After the bike ride, we went to pick up our car and drove to the beautiful WenWu temple dedicated to confucius, and then climbed up Tsen Pagoda:

the decorations were exquisite

confucius

Next, we grabbed some quick lunch and went to check out the Pagoda:

view from the top wasn't bad

We then headed out to Lugang, nearby town with a few displays for tourists:

Ah yes, then it was still time to get to our next town, Taichung, and check out another night market:

more random animal parts for sale :)

After some food was time for bed and sleep :) .