Alishan
Alishan Village
Alishan is one of the most popular
vacation spots in Taiwan. Alishan is in the mountainous area of
central Taiwan. The mountains here are quite tall and the weather is
much different than the coastal areas. It's much colder up in the
hills and can be a refreshing break from the steamy heat -- as long
as you have enough warm clothes. There are lots of hiking trails
and things like you would expect in a mountain resort. But the big
thing to do is to watch the sunrise. I was kind of skeptical about it at
first, but rest assured it is quite spectacular.
The drive to Alishan does not look all that long from Taichung but
the second half of the drive is along twisty mountain roads. It ends
up being quite a drive. About half way up the mountain there are
many tea plantations. I was never really sure what tea trees looked
like before (big trees? bushes? grass?). The mystery is over.
The tea trees are planted in what looks like hedge rows which are
maybe 4 or 5 feet tall. Alishan is a pretty famous area for growing
tea. Once we reached Alishan we checked into the Shenmu Hotel and
after a bit of haggling got a pair of rooms for NT$2800 (US$82).
Not nearly as nice as the Howard Prince the night before, but nice
enough and clean and comfortable. Since it gets very cold at
night it was here where we discovered the joys of an electric
mattress warmer. They work extremely well! After settling in
we went for a hike through lots of big trees. Alishan was
originally settled as a tree farm although now it is a national
park. When we returned we decided to skip the hotpot dinners
since we heard those can be a bit of a rip off and went for some
noodles and fried rice. With the fresh picked mushrooms it was
pretty good and it's hard to beat NT$260 (US$8) for dinner for four.
Walking through the forest at Alishan
Small lake at Alishan
Sophie and Andrew by the heart shaped tree -- it's there, look closely
Sophie's parents by the heart shaped tree
At dinner. Sophie is not wearing a flowery hat, those are on the
wall.
Lobby of the Shenmu Hotel.
Sunrise at Alishan
Sunrise the next day was at 6:19. That meant we had to catch
a 5:20 train to the top which meant we had to wake up at 4:30.
Waking up at 4:30am when it's cold outside and toasty in bed isn't
the easiest thing to do. If it was foggy out we probably would
have just slept in, but for better or worse it was clear out
so we woke up. It was around this point where we had to ask
ourselves if it was really worth all the trouble of driving,
shivering, waking up early, etc. Once the train reaches the
top, there is an area where you can see the sunrise and buy
some snacks -- parks in Taiwan always seem to have food stands.
But the best place to go is to continue walking a few minutes to
the top where there is no food stand but an unobstructed view.
There we waited for the sun to peek out from behind Yushan.
Yushan (Jade Mountain) is the tallest mountain in this part of
Asia at about 13,000'. Alishan is about 6,000' so it starts the
day in the shade of Yushan while surrounding areas are already
in the sunlight. It creates quite an interesting sight to see
the hills and valleys in various states of brightness. When the
sun does finally pop out from behind Yushan it is indeed quite
an amazing sight. Since Yushan is so tall, the sun is way above
the horizon before popping out. Standing at the top of Alishan
it is as if you are standing in a dimly lit room and then
somebody flips on a bunch of spotlights. The instantaneous
contrast is hard to believe. While it's quite a spectacle,
unfortunately it's also one of those things that doesn't
photograph well and must be seen in person.
After the sunrise we headed back to the hotel to rest up a bit and then
it was time to head back to Taipei. Since everybody was tired after
waking up so early, Sophie's Dad and I decided to split the drive
back. I was kind of apprehensive about it but thought driving on
the freeway isn't much worse than driving on a freeway in California.
The freeway driving did turn out to be pretty uneventful. But the
short drive on Taipei city streets back to Sophie's parent's place
was very stressful. Cars and scooters are always switching lanes
and trying to squeeze into any place they can fit. I was happy
when we reached home!
Everybody waiting for the sunrise
The sun almost about to pop out
The sun still hiding behind Yushan
Sun is out!
It's so bright now!
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