Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Thursday, March 19, 2009 9:28 am TWN, By Richard Saunders, Special to The China Post



	Mt. Sancha, with its spectacular view, lies just a short detour off the route to Jiaming Lake. (By Richard Saunders, Special to The China Post) More Photos (2)

Sponsors
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.

Discount Hotel Rates

The breathtaking beauty of Jiaming Lake

All hard climbs must come to an end though, and finally the wonderful moment arrives when the top is reached, and the first night's camp is just a little further, at the brink of the incredible Shangyang Cliff, which plunges in an almost sheer drop all the way down to the South Cross-island Highway, the better part of a thousand meters below.

Several of our party nearly threw in the towel on the long, hard hike up the mountainside on the first day, so it's a relief to hear the rest of the trip is both easier on the legs and even more scenic. Once at the top of Shangyang Cliff, the majority of the vertical ascent en route to Jiaming Lake is already over, and the second day is spent wandering through magical grassy moorlands of the kind that cover large areas of Taiwan's high mountains. Short diversions off the route on the way climb over the summits of two peaks on the official list of Taiwan's 3,000 meter-plus 'Hundred Peaks' (百岳): Mt. Shangyang (向陽山, 3,602 meters) and Mt. Sancha (三叉山, 3,496 meters), and on any other walk these fine eminences would be worthy destinations in their own right, especially considering the sublime views each commands over the huge surrounding expanse of wilderness.

The highlight of the long hike, however, undoubtedly comes after descending from Mt. Sancha and rounding a grassy hillock, when the first glimpse is caught of the sparkling, sapphire-blue waters of Jiaming Lake. A large, egg-shaped pool of water nestling in a grassy hollow in the mountains (actually an ancient crater created millennia ago by a meteor impact), Jiaming Lake is generally regarded as the most beautiful of all Taiwan's many high mountain lakes, and sitting on the shingle beach beside the lake at sunset, drinking a hot cup of tea brewed with water drawn from its pure, refreshing depths, it's hard to disagree. Tomorrow means a long march all the way back down to the road, but civilization is far from my thoughts as I rest and take in the profound stillness and beauty of the scene.

1|2