Day 2 was the start of the main focus of our
4-day trip to Taiwan --- Alishan. While we had hoped to take the famous Alishan Forest Railway from Chiayi
嘉義 up to Alishan 阿里山, in the end we failed to book the tickets, possibly due to the huge popularity of the railway and the fact that we were travelling on a Sunday busy with tourists. In any case, parts of the Railway were closed at the time because of the damages sustained in a recent earthquake, so that travelers could take the Forest Railway only up to Fenqihu 奮起湖 and needed to switch to a bus for the remaining climb up the mountain to Alishan.
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Stops of the Alishan Forest Railway, from Chiayi Station 嘉義火車站 to Chu-Shan 祝山. The solid lines are the tracks in operation, while the dotted lines show the tracks that are closed (in December 2017).
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Besides trains and buses, a very viable option of transportation for tourists in Taiwan is the chartered cab (taxi) service. There are companies which offer point-to-point, half-day or full-day cab services for a fixed price. This was the option that we took to go from Chiayi up the mountain to Alishan.
The cab driver picked us up early at our hotel. One advantage of taking a "chartered cab" (包車) is that the route is fairly flexible and one may request for stops in the middle. In our case, we made a brief stop at a place called Veoveoana (or Zhu-lu)
逐鹿部落, which is a community of the Tsou tribe
鄒族. Veoveoana in the Tsou dialect stands for Deer Hunting (Zhu-lu). There were open eateries and stalls selling various local farm produce. We might have tried the local specialty firewood-barbecue, had it not been too early for lunch.
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| Veoveoana 鄒族逐鹿部落 |
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| Barbeque by firewood at Veoveoana 逐鹿部落 |
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| Barbeque by firewood at Veoveoana 逐鹿部落 |
Our second stop was at Fenqihu (or Fen Chi Hu) Station 奮起湖車站, located in a rural township. It is a popular stop for tourists going up to Alishan. In fact, at the time of our traveling, tourists taking the Alishan Forest Railway up from Chiayi must stop here because parts of the tracks beyond Fenqihu were closed due to damage sustained in a recent earthquake.
Close to Fenqihu station is a charming Old Street lined with restaurants and shops selling snacks, souvenirs and farm produce. Fenqihu is also famous for its lunch boxes, known as Fenqihu bento 奮起湖便當, which were traditionally served in the past to workers or train passengers making a stop on the way up Alishan. The traditional lunch box came in the shape of a circular tin can. Nowadays the lunch boxes are sold in nondescript styrofoam containers.
There is also a locomotive museum adjacent to the station exhibiting a couple of steam engines used on the Alishan Forest Railway in the past.
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| Track of the Alishan Forest Railway at Fenchihu 奮起湖 |
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| Fenqihu railway platform |
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| Painted carriage marked with "Tour of Alishan" at Fenchihu 奮起湖 |
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| Train making a s stop at Fenqihu |
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| Steam engine locomotive on display at the Fenqihu Museum |
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| Steam engine locomotive on display at the Fenqihu Museum |
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| A more modern locomotive on display at the Fenqihu Museum |
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| A busy canteen at Fenqihu (Fen Chi Hu) |
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| View of the mountain at Fenqihu |
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| View of the mountain at Fenqihu |
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| The historical Fenqihu Old Street 奮起湖老街 |
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| Food stalls on a covered street in Fenqihu |
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| Large billboard at one of the narrow alleys at Fenqihu |
After the break at Fenqihu, we continued on our way up Alishan. We were staying overnight at the Alishan House 阿里山賓館 that night. As this hotel is located in within an area where private vehicles are not permitted to enter, the cab driver dropped us off at the Alishan Visitor Information Center, where we could take a short shuttle ride to the hotel.
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| Sign marking the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, opposite the Visitor Information Center |
After leaving our luggage at the hotel, we took a shuttle back down to the Visitor Information Center. The reason was to go over to the Alishan Station to book train tickets to Chu-Shan 祝山 before dawn on the following day to view the sunrise. The tickets to Chu-Shan can only be bought at Alishan Station in the afternoon of the previous day. The famous sunrise is in fact one of the Five Wonders of Alishan and viewing the sunrise is regarded as a highlight by many a visitor to Alishan. For this, an overnight stay on the mountain is a must. Actually with the numerous forest walking trails on the mountain, we would have liked very much to stay not just for one night but more, had the time allowed.
The wooden structure of the Alishan Railway Station is fitting to the tranquil ambiance of the mountain forest.
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| Podium at the Alishan Railway station |
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| Alishan Railway station |
After buying the Chu-Shan train tickets, we took a bus that had a stop at Chaoping Station 沼平車站, which is along one of the forest trails. While we didn't have much time before sunset, we just tried to explore the trail as much as we could.
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| Map of the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area |
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| Alishan Forest Railway at Chaoping Station 沼平車站 |
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| Railway tracks at Chaoping Station 沼平車站 |
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| Chaoping Station 沼平車站 |
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| Chaoping Station 沼平車站 |
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| View of the mountain neat Chaoping Station 沼平車站 |
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| On the forest walking trail |
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| On the forest walking trail |
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| On the forest walking trail |
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| On the forest walking trail |
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| On the forest walking trail |
We reached the Sisters Ponds (姊妹潭), which are actually a pair of separate ponds. At the larger Elder Sister Pond (姊潭), a board-walk leads up to a little pavilion made of cypress wood, with a roof in the shaped of two overlapping conical tops thatched with straw.
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| Jiemei (Sisters) Ponds 姊妹潭 |
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| Jiemei (Sisters) Ponds 姊妹潭 |
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| Jiemei (Sisters) Ponds 姊妹潭 |
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| Sign marking the Jiemei (Sisters) Ponds 姊妹潭 |
As it was very close to sunset, we rushed back on the trail to a look-out near Chaoping Station, almost at jogging speed, in order not to miss a view of the sunset glow, one of the Five Wonders of Alishan. We were just in time to catch a sight of the yellowish sky, changing to orange, followed by a spectacular red, or crimson rather. We were absolutely thrilled and were all too glad that the sky wasn't overcast that evening, allowing us to see this splendor of nature.
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| Alishan at dusk |
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| Alishan at dusk |
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| Alishan at dusk |
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| Alishan at dusk |
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| Alishan at dusk |
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| Alishan at dusk |
As it was just after Christmas, a festive mood prevailed at the hotel, with a big Christmas tree in the lobby and beautiful decorations all around.
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| Alishan House 阿里山賓館 at night |
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Alishan House 阿里山賓館
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| Christmas decorations at Alishan House 阿里山賓館 |
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| Christmas tree decorations at Alishan House 阿里山賓館 |
One thing good about Alishan House is that they host regular free star-gazing workshops in the evenings, complete with a practical session on the roof-top of the hotel, which offers unobstructed views of the night sky. We joined the workshop after dinner, together with a sizable group. The instructor was a retired school teacher in astronomy. In the practical session, the enthusiastic instructor pointed us to some of the more easily recognizable constellations in the winter sky --- the big square of Pegasus, the w-shaped Cassiopia, the familiar Orion, and so on. It happened that the night (3rd December 2017) coincided with a super moon. Even with the bright moonlight, many stars were still visible in the magnificent night sky. After the end of the workshop, we stayed behind to take some photos of the stars.
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| Starry night on Alishan. Can you name the constellations? |
Here are the constellations:
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| How about the constellations on this one? |
Here they are:
We had to force ourselves not to stay too late watching the beautiful stars, as we had to get out of bed around 4am the next morning, to take the early train to Chu-Shan to see the famous sunrise!
Overview: 4 Days in Taiwan
Previous: Day 1
Next: Day 3
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