We woke up at 7am and decided to take a day trip to Lotus Lake to see all the pavilions surrounding it. We took the MRT from Formosa Boulevard to Zuoying Station (where we had arrived by THSR the day before)and walked about 20 minutes to the lake. I believe there is a bus as well, but we found walking to be lovely and lost of the walk was through a park (even a wedding set up).

We arrived at the lake a bit before 10am, right beside Chingshui Temple.

We walked counter clockwise around the lake, firstly stopping for breakfast at a place on the courner of the lake near the Confucius Temple.

We both had eggs benedict with a side soup, salad, potatoes, seat potato and coffee. It was delicious and really filling.

We walked to Xuan Tian Shang Di Shex Xiang, which is a three section pagoda with a giant statue of Xuanwu, a Taoist Deity with an ability to control the elements. He is especially revered by martial artists.

Next we walked to the Spring and Autumn Pavilions which are towers interlaced by a giant dragon that you can enter and walk through. On the back side of the dragon is a long board walk that leads out to the Wuli Pavilion, which is set far out in the lake.

After this pavilion we stopped at a roadside stall to have a Taiwan Beer on a tiny stool (our absolute favourite thing to do in Asia, or anywhere).

Then we crossed the road to see the Chi Ming Tany Temple.

We then continued along the lake towards the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. It is good luck to enter through the Dragon and exit from the Tiger’s mouth ( a couple exited the wrong way and got yelled at by the lady attendant). We donated some money to the lady, and she insisted on giving us a postcard.

All of the pavilions were free to enter, but we had definitely heard differently, so maybe it is just free in the off season. Just donations?

We climbed the Tiger Pagoda for an amazing view of the lake.

As we were exiting the Tiger’s mouth, we met a friendly fellow traveller from California, and we took some photos for him.

We then completed the circle of the lake, and headed back to Zuoying Station.

Zuoying Station is a giant mall called “Global Mall”. Here we grabbed some sushi for lunch and then headed back to our airbnb to regroup before an evening outing.