And finally, I have reached the last destination of the day which is the Cih-en Pagoda which is located at the highest peak of Sun Moon Lake. It was built by Chiang Kai-Shek in memory of his mother in 1971. By the time I cycled to the foot of the peak, I was almost completely exhausted and I didn't expect to climb another 700 metres uphill before I could reach the pagoda. I was contemplating on whether to continue or not but I pressed on, since I have cycled more than half of the lake to reach this place, it's a bit stupid to pull out now.
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| The height of the pagoda |
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If it wasn't an uphill climb, things would have been much easier.
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After parking my bicycle I then started my ascend. It was about 4.30pm then and the sun was still half way setting. Time was still on my side. The good thing about these steps is that they have distance markers, telling you how many metres more to go before you reach the pagoda.
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| 570 metres to go!! |
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| A hut to rest your tired feet |
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| Boy am I glad to see this, 100 metres more! |
The climb took approximately 15 minutes and it was a huge relief to finally see the magnificent pagoda. It's amazing how those workers manage to build this.
At 9 storeys high, it was another long climb for me to get to the best spot to capture the sunset. The view of the scenery from atop was indeed breath taking. The scene of the lake at one corner, and rows of mountains at the back of the pagoda. The weather on top was also quite refreshing, a good escape from the scorching Taiwan summer heat.
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| Never ending stairs |
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| Mountains and mountains |
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| Bell of luck? |
Panoramic view atop the pagoda
And so, I found nice to place to sit down and waited for the sun to slowly set over the horizon.........
Next:
Sun Moon Lake Sunset Series @ Cih-En Pagoda
Previous:
Passing by Ita Thao and Syuanjhuang Temple (玄奘寺）@ Sun Moon Lake
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