Sun Moon Lake and the Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village

Right. Almost a year on out from when I first started this blog, I've decided that it's high time I finish what I started. My Taiwanese trip was a year ago, and it just got too busy for me to continue blogging - especially as we had many more commitments towards the end of the trip. With a European trip coming up in a few months' time, I thought it would be fitting to finish my Taiwanese chapter to make way for the recording of new experiences.

So I stopped last year just as I reached Sun Moon Lake. It was a beautiful, sunny day when I arrived and the lake could not have looked more beautiful. I was very excited about Sun Moon Lake for many reasons, but none more so than the ability to experience Taiwanese aboriginal culture as the Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village was situated there and was on the very top of my must-visit list!

Upon arriving at Sun Moon Lake, I took a gondola to get to the cultural village, which I was rather surprised with. I was prepared for rustic little huts and dirt tracks, but I was instead confronted with clean, modern, gondolas. Slightly confused, I paid for my entry and made my way to the cultural village. Turned out the village was a bit of a touristy man-made attraction, which I was disappointed with as I felt cheated for not being able to experience authentic aboriginal culture. Having said that, what they did have was well worth seeing, and was still a good education on aboriginal culture.

Me on the gondola :) 

Bird's eye view of Sun Moon Lake from the gondola

Aboriginal craft

An Aboriginal hut. I wasn't sure which tribe this belonged to. There are officially 13 tribes in Taiwan, the biggest being the Atayal tribe. This COULD be an Atayal hut, but don't quote me on this!

The interior of an Aboriginal hut

Smoked bamboo rice - a typical aboriginal meal