Taiwan 2014 Day 2: Exploring Mount. Alishan

After our lovely breakfast at the Alishan House hotel, packed our bag and checked out. Really miss this beautiful and elegant hotel. The hotel shuttle van fetched us to the Alishan Forest Recreational Area; the area where all the major shops, food stall and tourist bus carpark. This is the same area where the Alishan Railway is located. 

After the sunrise viewing in the morning, it's time to explore the Alishan Forest ! Our driver + tour guide waited for us at the entrance of the railway station at sharp 9.30am and he guide us through the forest.

Let the pictures do the talking....

Bought our railway ticket and our next stop is ZhaoPing station.

Railway ticket

There's lots of other tourist around and we patiently waited for our turn to board the railway.

You'll see sculpture like this everywhere.

A few minutes later, we reached Zhou Ping station. For the adventure seeker, you can actually hike up the hill using the designated route. For me, I prefer taking the railway. If you come to Alishan Forest to admire Cherry blossom (sakura flowers), the correct place to view is at Zhao Ping station. There's tons of cherry blossoms trees that will welcome you at this station. Too bad that we were few days too early thus, they have not really bloom yet ;(

But no worries if you can't see the sakura, Alishan Forest is famous for their giant sacred trees. Well, you can check out the history of Alishan Forest here. Since it's a forest, don't worry about leeches which might suck your blood. Unlike the trekking route in our Malaysian forest, clear path of road and stairs as well as road signs are built everywhere to guide you. Basically, if there's no stairs or well-built road for walking on certain area, it means you can't enter that area. We were here in spring thus it's nice to enjoy the beauty of Alishan forest under the cold and windy weather. 

From Zhao Ping station, we walk our way to see the Sisters Pond. There's some legend about these two ponds where the two sisters jump into the lake over their love to a man. It's up to you whether you believe it or not. Well, it's a nice place to snap some photographs anyway.

Here's some unique giant trees while on our way to Sisters Pond. There's some label on the trees but didn't bother to read ;P

Giant scared tree with its roots. Pretty big huh the hole formed by its roots.

Here's another rabbit home hole. Entrance to Alice in wonderland? hehe

You'll see these amazing tree barks. It's sad to see some uneducated visitors who keep tearing them apart to be kept as souvenirs. Don't really know how to read sign boards huh these people. 

Tree bark destroyed by uneducated tourist.

Here's the Sisters Pond.There's 2 ponds; one is elder and another one is younger sister pond.

Pretty scenery!

Guess what, I met an uneducated tourist when I was trying to take pics with this sculpture. You see, when the tourist before you had finished her turn and walked away leaving no one standing near the sculpture; it means it's the opportunity to take a pic. However, this out-of-no-where rude tourist came screaming in typical-"you know which country"-style mandarin saying that we are blocking the sculpture. And that he was trying to take photographs of the sculpture without anyone in it. WTH! Imagine you're in a place full of people with everyone trying to take a nice pic of a particular landmark or object from all direction and suddenly this mad tourist shoo-ing people to move away because he does not want any human being inside his photograph. Well, he's not even queuing up! Just barged out of no where and behave like a barbarian.

The legendary sign.

From there, we walked further heading to ShenMu station where we will take the railway back to the main station. It's easier to walk downhill than uphill. Along the way, there's lots of beautiful cypress tress to enjoy. 

This one is said to look like a pig?

The heart shaped!

The giant scared trees forest

Misty forest.

Walked further and we saw these beautiful flowers. It's the Magnolia Garden and yes, it's Magnolia flowers and it's blooming season.

Thinking of Magnolia ice-cream in Malaysia.. hehe

Pretty flower.

Walked further and you'll reach the Shouzhen temple. Many tourist was there but we didn't went in though.

The Shouzhen temple in the middle of the forest.

You can also purchase the local Alishan specialty here; wasabi. They comes in the fresh plant where you can make fresh paste at home or buy the ready made paste.

Fresh wasabi plant.

And you can purchase the "ai yu" seeds to make your own "ai yu" jelly at home. Or maybe ai yu drinks too.

Near the temple, we saw some wild cherry blossom that had bloom ;) This is the wild mountain species of cherry blossom.

Standing proudly along the bridge.

Then, we pass by the bridge with a dry up river bank.

Further down, you'll see more giant scared trees with sign boards showing the tree's number.

Soon, we reached the ShenMu station and waited for the railway back to the main station. There's a ticket booth where you can purchase the one way ticket here.

at ShenMu station

Patiently waiting for the railway...

Railway track.

We didn't went for the Giant scared trees trail as it requires us to climb up hill from ShenMu station and we're already very tired at that time. Walking through the forest covered with mist and cold weather is a good experience. For some people, they might experience some difficulty in breathing due to the cold, it's like exercising (running) in a cold. 

The 1000 year old tree at ShenMu station which had fallen down.

Here comes the train!

After we reached the main station, we had about 1 hour to enjoy our lunch before we start our journey back to Chiayi High Speed Railway station. We went to the shop next to the one where we had our dinner last night. The "jiu jiu jiu" or 999 Restaurant. 

Order list and it's also the bill

 Since we're not that hungry, had some light meal due to the heavy buffet breakfast in the morning.

I love this fried rice! Taiwanese rice is fat and chewy!!!

Fried rice

Stir-fry paku pakis vegetable

 Not bad this noodle. Taste like fried ramen.

Fried noodles

 Price was cheap and it costs about RM20 for these three including drinks.

Lunch time.

From there, we bid goodbye to Alishan and continue our journey to Chiayi HSR station. It takes about 2 hours plus to reach the HSR station and slept all the way. There's some tea plantation along the way. WIll make time for it next trip! Will visit Alishan in future again to see the sea of clouds and sunrise too!!

Taiwan 2014 Day 2: Sunrise at Mount. Alishan

We start our crazy adventure of day 2 (Day 1 here) as early as 3am in the morning (oh well, which means I slept for about 3 hours only). Thanks to the receptionist at Alishan House hotel, we got the wake up call and make our way to the hotel lobby as fast as possible. It's because Alishan House hotel provide complimentary drop off at the railway station for those who are going to see the beautiful sunrise. 

A piece of advice for those who would like to watch the sunrise at Mount. Chusan. Basically, you can ride the sunrise railway train up the peak or for those adventure seeking ones; hike up the hill by foot ;P (well, I bet you won't since it's freaking cold at 3am in the morning.). Do note that the sunrise railway ticket is limited to a certain amount of people. Well, there's only 2 trips of train going up the hill every morning (Thus, the number of tickets sold is based on the numbers that can fit in those 2 trains). You can start to purchase the train ticket in the evening the day before your sunrise trip at the railway station in Alishan itself. For those who are staying in Alishan House hotel, you can purchase the tickets at the reception itself. However, do tell the staff when you check in because it's limited pieces too. 

Alright, in our case; we check in at night. Thus, by the time we checked in, the tickets at our hotel reception are already sold out. Freak not, because there's some limited tickets sold at the train station itself in the morning. Well, I'm glad that we stay at Alishan House hotel because their staff will go all the way out to ensure their guest have the best time here in Alishan. Back to our story, we were the first ones to wait at the lobby for the free shuttle to the railway station. When we were down at the lobby, the receptionist who checked in for us the night before was there and he remembered us that we did not get to purchase the sunrise railway ticket. Normally, there will be a hotel shuttle bus to pick up the guests and send them to the train station. Understanding that we did not get our train tickets but other guests did, the hotel reception arranged us to stand at the entrance door first. When more guests gathered, he took the hotel van keys and straight away ask both of us to get in the van first while asking other guests to wait for the shuttle bus explaining that we had not get the train tickets. Of course, he asked some elderly guests to come into our mini van. And there we go; on the way to the train station. He drove as fast as he could (but safe of course) to bring us to the train station and even asked us to ran up the stairs to go to the ticket counter as the tickets might be sold out. 

I'm glad that we stay at Alishan House hotel because if the receptionist did not took the action to bring us to the train station first, we might not be there to see the sunrise because there's only less than 50pcs tickets left for sale when we bought our ticket. I'm really thankful to the staff of Alishan House hotel because all of them will go all the way out to ensure all their guests bring home a wonderful memory from Alishan. Alishan House hotel is your right choice of accommodation if you have some money to spare during your vacation. Unique hotel rooms with wonderful scenery (especially during cherry blossoms season where the hotel is surrounded by cherry blossoms trees) and staff that brings personal touch to all guests. A hotel with good hospitality ;)

NT150 per head for return journey to see sunrise at Chusan. 

Right after we bought the train ticket; ran (again =.=') all the way up to the platform to board the train. To your surprise, there's a sea of other guests already lining up (I was there at 4.30am btw) eagerly to board the train.

Sea of people lining up to board the Chusan sunrise train. 

Ancient train that we used to see in the movie. 

 The train departs at 5am and it took around 20 minutes plus to reach the peak; Chusan Station. Along the way, it stops at ZhaoPing station to pick up some guests. Oh well, we were squeezed between all the mainland China tourist in the train. And in fact, we were the odd one out as the whole train was filled by their citizen. Oh, and the train is full of diesel smell. Shut your sensory smell when you're in there and do shut your ears too because those other guests were freaking noisy (It's real noisy like you're haggling for prices in the market).

Chushan Station for sunrise viewing!

It was very cold, windy and dark up at the peak of Mount. Chushan. I should have brought my winter clothing along if I know it's that cold. Luckily I did not fall sick up at the peak. But it's all worth it because I came all the way up to see the first light of the day.

Sunrise of the day will be at around 6.40am. 

It's that cold up there at Mount. Chusan. 

There's some food stalls selling local delicacies and the food helps to keep your body warm under this cold weather.

Sunny toast. 

Local fishballs or meatballs?

At the peak, there's thousands of people there and you will hear an old man talking through a loudspeaker. Basically, he's explaining the wonders of Alishan forest, the Shenmu trees and of course promoting the so called Shenmu oil which has quite a long list of health benefits.

Our free "tour guide" talking through the loudspeaker

When we were there, the sky is dark and cold and we could barely see any rays of sunlight. We thought that we might not be able to see the sunrise that morning because the sky is cloudy. And at the mentioned 6.40am where it supposed to be the time of sunrise, what we see is this:

A sky of clouds. 

And there's 2 trips of railway going downhill from the peak. If you missed these 2 trips, it means you need to hike downhill as there won't be any railway coming to Chusan station till the next morning. However, there's many tourist or locals who took the train uphill and hike downhill by foot.

For us, we decided to wait and take the later railway downhill because we thought that the sunrise might be delay or so. And we're glad we waited because at about 7am, the sun is rising. Here's what we saw:

It's coming!!!

The first ray of the day!

Here's the sunrise of the day. 

We saw the sunrise of the day or so called the first light of the day. It's beautiful. It's worth it to come all the way to Alishan to see sunrise. The sunrise did not last long and within minutes, the wind blew the cloud over and the sun is covered again. However, it forms the sea of clouds. 

Sea of clouds starts to form. 

Enjoy the beauty of the "Sea of Clouds" here in Alishan! It's an amazing view that you need to see it at least once with your own eyes in life.

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After enjoying this beautiful scenery, we took the railway and went back to the main railway station. Making our way back to Alishan House hotel for breakfast ;)