Day 21 - Alishan

Ok, the next morning the alarms went off very very early. We blearily stumbled out of bed, up the stairs and into the train station. After queuing up to buy our tickets (and watching the total number left ticking down) we headed upstairs to the platform. The train makes the trip two times in the morning, and each trip can only take 700 people, so they only sell so many tickets. Luckily, we were among the first and even got seats for the 30 minute ride through the pale morning light up the mountain.

This was inside the station, it was 3 degrees outside!

Steam from our train, behind the original train from 1912

Here comes our train!

Once we got there, we all climbed up to the viewing platform

This was the view that greeted us

It was really really cold up there, so we bought a hot tea

It was a 45 minute wait for the sun to make it to the top of the mountain, and while we waited this hilarious guy entertained us by telling jokes, stories, and making us cheer to keep warm

We started to see pink, but those clouds were lowering our chances of getting to see the actual ball of the sun

This tree is one hundred years old, and so is protected by Taiwanese law and they could not cut it down

We got some rays cutting through the clouds, but unfortunately that was as close as we got

If you look right in the center, you can see the tip of Lushan in the cloud gap

Unfortunately we never got to see the actual ball of the sun due to the clouds. However, if we had come on a perfect day, this is what we could have seen:

Instead we decided to eat breakfast - honey toast (kinda like french toast) made with Alishan high mountian honey and another hot drink. Then we walked the three kilometers down the mountain to catch our hotel's free breakfast (so not worth it). We saw the train on the way, and visited another viewing platform.

Sonny demonstrating how narrow the railway gauge is

Those are all cherry trees to the left that will burst into bloom in March

Look at that huge slip!

Three generations of trees

There was a temple in the forest built by the Japanese because the place reminded them of their moutnains back home. There are many, many trees that are over 2000 years old in this forest. It is a very awe-inspiring place, as long as you ignore the hoards of loud, rude mainland tourist groups. We started referring to them as monkeys because they were just so loud and pushy. It also helped us to keep our humor.

This a shrine they built after the "sacred tree' that was the biggest/oldest died of natural causes

Chinglish and psuedo-science!

Another temple, this one built by the Chinese.

It looks like a heart!

I suck at taking selfies I guess :)

The sister lakes - the elder sister

and the younger

The park was overall very nice, but too manicured and busy for my taste. There are several "mountaineering trails" as they call them that are rougher and more like what I consider hiking. If I were to go back, I would apply for the necessary permits and take the time to get out away from the crowded parts and actually see nature. After we did all the park we headed back into the village and caught our bus back to Chiayi, then our train back to Taipei for one day. We had a goodbye dinner with Sonny's colleagues and our next destination, Taroko was down the other coast so we had to pass through Taipei to get to it anyways. The mountain range all down the center of the country means the trains - and in fact the highways - all basically form a ring along the coast. With one Taiwan must-see down, we headed for our next - with a surprise first!