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The sun emerging above the distant peak of Yu Shan.
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Alishan is famous for its Five Wonders --- Forest Railway, Giant Trees, Sunset Glow, Sunrise, and Sea of Clouds. Having caught glimpses of
the first three of these Wonders on the previous day, we rose early on Day 3 of
our trip in order to not to miss the fourth on the list. Watching the sunrise on Alishan is a hugely popular activity among visitors. Many stay overnight on the mountain specially for this purpose. The precise time of sunrise (or rather the time when the sun rises just above a distant peak as we found out) is usually accurately forecast on the day before and announced by notices posted in places like hotel lobbies. Obviously it is important for visitors to take note of this announcement, as the time of sunrise varies across the year and dictates what time one should get out of bed. Our hotel also posts the time of the shuttles that take guests to the Alishan Station to catch the early train to Chu-Shan (or Zhushan)
祝山, the unquestionable place of choice for watching the sunrise on Alishan.
When we got down to the hotel lobby shortly past 4am, it was a remarkable sight to see lines of people, well over one hundred in number, already queued up in wait for the shuttles. All are wrapped in warm clothing to brace themselves against the winter chill on the mountain before dawn. There was a quietness in the lobby despite the crowd, probably because most of the people, like me, were not accustomed to an early rise and were barely awake.
At the half-lit Alishan Station, people passed through the gates in silence, almost like sleep-walking, to board the famous train for Chu-Shan. The full moon, which we had seen a few hours ago on the previous night, had not yet set when we arrived at the destination station. Slowly, everyone headed further uphill from the station towards the Zhushan Sunrise Observatory Deck, a large platform specially for viewing the sunrise. People walked slowly partly because of the early time of day, and partly because the thin air at the high altitude would make one short of breath if one tried to pick up the pace.
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| Taking an early pre-dawn train at Alishan Station |
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| The moon had not yet set at Chu-Shan Station when we arrived. |
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Early crowd at Chu-Shan Station
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| Pre-dawn Alishan |
I must admit watching the sunrise at Alishan wasn't exactly the same as what I had imagined. What I had more in mind was something like a dark sky slowly brightening as a crimson sun rises up from the horizon. But of course we were watching the sunrise at the top of a mountain, with no horizon in view. So the sky was actually fairly bright before the forecast time of sunrise. Sunrise is in fact the moment when the rising sun emerges from behind a distant peak, in this case Yu-Shan (or Mount Jade). And surely, at the forecast time spot on, a sudden commotion among the scores of visitors indicated that the eagerly-awaited magical moment had arrived. A sparkle of direct sunlight could be seen just over the distant Yu-Shan, brightening the few clouds above, to the cheers or sighs of awe among the spectators.
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| Waiting expectantly at the Zhushan (or Chu-Shan) Sunrise Observatory Deck |
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| View of mountains from Chu-Shan |
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| View of mountains from Chu-Shan |
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| Rising sun |
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| Spot of sunlight beaming over distant peak of Yu Shan (or Mount Jade) --- the famous Alishan sunrise. |
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| The sun emerging above the distant peak of Yu Shan. |
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| The sun emerging above the distant peak of Yu Shan. |
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| The sun emerging above the distant peak of Yu Shan. |
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| The sun emerging above the distant peak of Yu Shan. |
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| Morning at Chu Shan |
After seeing this famous Wonder of Alishan, we had to hurry to take the return ride on the train back to Alishan Station, as we had booked an Alishan Railway tour, which would start at 9:15am. This special tour, called
"阿里山森鐵碰壁", which translates as "Alishan Forest Railway Wall-touching", covered many stations of the Forest Railway. Starting from Alishan Station (阿里山站), the train had stops at Sacred Tree or Shenmu (神木車站), Erwanping (二萬坪站), Chu-Shan (祝山車站), Zhaoping (沼平車站) and finally back to Alishan Station. The full itinerary is shown in the table below.
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| Itinerary of the "Alishan Forest Railway Wall-touching" (阿里山森鐵碰壁) tour |
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| Map of Alishan Forest Railway |
So, we hurried back to the hotel, had a quick breakfast, checked-out and left our luggage at the reception, took a shuttle to the tourist information centre, just making it in time to get to Alishan Station before the tour started.
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| Second time we came to Alishan Station in one morning |
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| Alishan Station |
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| Map of the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area |
The first stop was at Sacred Tree or Shenmu (神木車站). Here, the train had to stop very close to a mountain wall and reverse back out, hence the name "阿里山森鐵碰壁" or "Alishan Forest Railway Wall-touching" of the train tour.
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| Forest Railway at Sacred Tree station |
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| Forest Railway at Sacred Tree station |
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| Forest Railway at Sacred Tree station |
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| Forest Railway at Sacred Tree station |
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| At Sacred Tree |
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| Trail by Sacred Tree station |
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| Trail at Sacred Tree |
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| Erwanping Station (二萬坪站) |
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| At Erwanping Station (二萬坪站) |
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| View of the mountain at Erwanping |
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| View of the mountain at Erwanping |
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| View of the mountain at Erwanping |
After lunch at Erwanping, we continued on to
Chu-Shan (祝山車站), the second time we came to this Station in one day.
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| Chu-Shan. We had walked up this same path earlier that morning to watch the sun-rise. |
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| Chu-Shan |
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| View of the mountain at Chu-Shan |
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| Second visit to Zhushan (or Chu-Shan) Sunrise Observatory Deck |
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| Chu-Shan, the highest point of railway in Taiwan at 2451m. |
Our last stop was at
Zhaoping Station (沼平車站). From there, we walked down the Shui-shan Trail, along a railway track no longer in use, to see some very old red cypress trees.
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| Shui-Shan Trail |
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| Shui-Shan Trail |
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| Old railway track along Shui-Shan Trail |
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| Old railway track along Shui-Shan Trail |
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| Giant tree at Shui-Shan |
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| Giant red cypress tree at Shui-Shan |
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| Giant tree (red cypress) at Shui-Shan |
As it was easier for us to return to our hotel from Zhaoping Station, we left the tour there instead of taking the train back to Alishan Station.
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| Bidding farewell to Alishan |
The hotel reception staff had helped us book a cab to take us directly to Chiayi 嘉義 High Speed Rail Station. We just had time for a quick and simple dinner at the station before catching the train to Taipei, for an overnight stay after a very long day.
Overview: 4 Days in Taiwan
Previous: Day 2
Next: Day 4
Label:
2017 Taiwan
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