From Taichung we took the High Speed Railway to the city of Chiayi, then we transferred to a bus to take us up the winding road into the Alishan mountains. The Alishan National Forest Recreation Area is another must-see in Taiwan. This beautiful old-growth forest was historically a logging site during the Japanese colonial era. Japan built a railway network here in 1912 to move workers, equipment, and logs up and down the mountain. Nowadays the area is protected (logging was discontinued in the 1960s, although not many of the very oldest cypress trees remain) and the scenic railway is a big tourist draw.
We had booked two nights at an inn in the small town of Fenchihu (sometimes spelled Fenqihu), which is the halfway point for the train route from Chiayi to Alishan Park. We could have bought tickets for the train, but the bus was actually a little faster and the timing was more convenient for us. (Don’t worry—we got plenty of scenic train rides once we got to the park on Tuesday). But on Monday we stuck around Fenchihu town, starting with a delicious bento box lunch from our hotel.
Because the scenic train stops here for about an hour on the trip up to Alishan, this little village has become known as a lunch stop. Bento boxes were a great way to provide hearty, easily transportable meals to the loggers, and that tradition has continued for the tourists today. Our bentos were packed with a pork cutlet served with a sort of five-spice type sauce and various pickled vegetables over rice. Another option was a choice of chicken drumstick instead of pork. It was served in a cute metal bento box.
After lunch we explored the Fenchihu Old Street (vendors selling food, treats, souvenirs, and Alishan-grown tea, a very similar vibe to Jiufen Old Street). Then we hit some of the trails around the outskirts of town. Seemingly endless steps led up past cypress trees into a forest of bamboo.
We were rewarded with a clear view down to the town below.
On Tuesday we got an early start because we had booked a taxi to drive us up to Alishan Park. We had made all these arrangements weeks ago since our time here was limited to just two days. We’d been looking forward to spending the entire second day at the park, hiking and enjoying the miles of trails and walkways. Unfortunately the weather was not aware of our schedule, and we woke up to a rainy foggy morning with no sun whatsoever in the forecast. Oh well, too late to change the plan!
Our taxi driver dropped us off at the visitor center and we were able to get on one of the iconic red trains that circulate around the park. Alishan has a series of trails that are more like elevated boardwalks - perfect for a rainy day like today. The boardwalks and stairways were sturdy and well-constructed — at least we didn’t have to traipse through mud.
We knew it was likely to rain in the afternoon so we tried to see as much of the park as possible in the morning, starting with the King Cherry Tree grove. We timed our whole trip around cherry blossom season in Japan (late March to early April) so seeing some earlier blossoms here in Taiwan was hopefully a preview of things to come!
The boardwalk around Sister Ponds is another favorite walk in Alishan. These tranquil ponds usually take on an emerald hue and reflect the green foliage all around them. But all the rain may have stirred up some silt, or maybe the clouds obscured the color. The ponds seemed to have more of a gray cast to my eyes.
One plus side of the dreary weather: it was kind of enchanting to walk beneath centuries-old cypress trees shrouded in mist. The Formosan Red Cypress is native to Taiwan. They can grow to heights of 180 feet and live for a thousand years or more. So many of these slow-growing ancient trees were cut down during the logging heyday that they are now threatened despite being protected. The park has noted several specimens as highlights, some for their age and some for their unique growth patterns. The Three Generations Tree is one of the latter. This is the stump of a long-dead red cypress (1st generation) whose decaying stump provided a home for a second tree that also died long ago (2nd generation) and out of that eroded and hollowed-out trunk, the youngest sapling is now growing directly on top (3rd generation).
Several small Taoist temples are interspersed throughout the forest but the largest of these is Shouzhen Temple, which also has the distinction of being the highest temple in Taiwan at 7000+ feet elevation. We got our lunch from the vendor stalls nearby (a warm sweet potato and a tasty scallion pancake) just in time before the tour bus groups arrived and it started pouring.
The rain didn't really let up much after lunch. We wanted to walk a bit further but it was kind of a cold unpleasant rain. We ducked into a building containing some shops and food stalls looking for a place to sit for a while and maybe have a hot cup of coffee. Instead we found a tea seller at a place called called "Honest Charlie" who was a very convincing salesman. We were able to sample some delicious locally-grown Alishan winter tea. And of course we left with a small supply to bring home (and carry with us in a forgotten nook of Kevin's suitcase for the next couple of months).
At this elevation, the mountains of the park are sometimes above the cloud layer. Many visitors stay the night here so that they can wake up and see the sunrise over a vista of clouds. Of course on a fog-shrouded day like today, no one was seeing much at sunrise. But if we were going to come here again we would definitely pay a little more to stay at one of the hotels inside the park. We would have liked to explore a bit more and see some of the expansive vistas that the park is known for. But in the end we were happy that we had enough time in our trip to get up to this out-of-the-way gem -- it was definitely a worthwhile visit and something to be sure to see if you are ever in Taiwan
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