Venturing up Chiayi's Alishan

(阿里山, Mount Ali), and it is there that I ventured one weekend. Alishan is located in Chiayi County (嘉義), and is a sub range of Taiwan’s tallest mountain, Yushan (玉山, Mount Jade). At its highest point, it towers more than 2,600 meters above sea level, although the primary nesting area for modern-day vacation hunters is a little more than 2,000 meters high. Amongst the locals, Alishan is famous for five things: the sunrise, oceans of clouds, magnificent forests, sakura flowers and its lunch boxes.

We set out from Taipei one sunny morning and arrived at Chiayi Train Station, where we boarded the Alishan Forestry Railway train, whose tracks are no wider than Dr. Evil’s “Mini-Me” is tall. The locomotive was old and had character, and spewed black smoke into the nearby passenger compartments every so often.

It took over three hours for the Alishan train to push its five carriages up the mountain, but the journey itself was part of the fun. As the train ascended its winding path that hugged the mountainside, the typical broadleaf trees gave way to conifers. What was even more interesting were the so-called “thousand-year-old trees” that appeared every so often on the train ride up.

These trees were exceptionally wide and tall, and are magnificent sights to behold. The only thing disconcerting about the whole train-ride up were the signs of frequent and recent landslides near the tracks. In fact, I would find out later that a landslide had blocked the tracks only the day before we took our trip.

Nearing our destination, above 1,800 meters, we started seeing the wonderful oceans of cloud frequently mentioned in tourist brochures. The cottony puffs gathered in the valleys below us really made me feel that I was flying. Sheer cliffs of stone, where no plant could lay roots, could be seen jutting out of the depths of the clouds. The train chugged on, just like an airship.

When we finally got to our destination, the Alishan Train Station, and stepped out, the crisp mountain air immediately enveloped us. The freshness and coolness of the air was exceptional, and I enjoyed breathing every square inch of it! Soon after, we were sampling the fare on offer in town. What I soon realized was that, aside from Wasabi root and Sakura fruit, everything else edible must have been lugged up the mountain from the cities below.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email