Charleson: Alishan 阿里山 (Part 2)

Alishan - BEST EVER SUNRISE!!

Long before sunrise we had all woke up and prepare to catch 0530 train up Jhushan Line 祝山線. We had expect big crowd of people will be lining up to board train up Jhushan as the other option will be walking up hill. Walking up is almost impossible as the trail is not lighted and one has to wake up super early and bear the cold wind to climb up. So majority people will be taking train.

The locomotive head that has work for generation carrying thousands of tourist each year.

Once leaving the train we all rush up the watching platform to find a best spot for sunrise... but sadly the whole platform had been occupied. As I had read somewhere online mentioning that climbing up a few meter to the heliport area has less crowd. We climbed up and the it really has less people so not crowded.

To the background with white top mountain is Yushan 玉山 covered with snow top. While waiting for sunrise, we each guess where will the sun appear from.

Finally, what everyone of us anticipated appear from behind the mountain. It is a magnificent view, suddenly the whole place and mountain range light up by the bright and warm hot sun.

The heat from the sun is so warm and comfortable that everyone of us stand under the sun instead of shades.

After sunrise we walk back to our hostel along the suggested tourist trail.

Heading down hill, we pass by many attraction. First to Chushan footpath which has a peach and apple orchard. Then we saw grass under shades is covered on ice indicating that the weather on the night before is below zero here. But once the sun ray shine on it, the ice melt instantly.

Then we walk pass Young sister pond 妹潭妹潭.

The Elder Sister Pond.

The wildboar.... The heart tree stump...

The tree are so tall and high up in the forest that block out the sun ray reaching the ground. The tree dwarf us and among the woods are dark.

Once out of the tall tree jungle. The weather is so good that we can see cloud without any mist.

Test run of Alishan train on the track.

The main central square where it is a large parking square.

After packing and check out our hostel we take the same cab back to Chiayi train station.
On the way down we stop by Fenchihu 奮起湖 which is a must stop place for tourist up/ down Alishan. Fenchihu is famous for its railway pack rice 鐵路便當. This town located between Chiayi and Alishan was once the main stop for train repair, maintenance, service and worker rest area.