Grad trip to Taiwan Fun Day 4&5Saturday, June 22, 2013 |Comment(s)
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| Fredfredtan says... Hello! I'm back with my Taiwan Grad trip post and this time the focus will be at one of my favourite location in Taiwan which is Alishan. It is my second time up the lovely Alishan, the first in 2009 with my mum when I went all the way up the summit at ZhuShan 祝山.   However, this time round, we decided to take a different route and to travel up to the midpoint only. Our mode of transport was the public bus. There were a couple of touters at the ticketing booth. Before arriving at the ticketing booth, our cab driver told us to avoid those touters and just get the bus tickets. The touters were really persistent! Just remember to be firm and stand your ground. 
The above is the route map for the shuttle bus up to Alishan. We took it as we weren't sure how many stops to our destination Shizhuo. However it was an unfounded worry as before reaching each destination, the bus driver would announce the name of the stop. And Shizhuo was the rest stop as well.
The shuttle bus timing. It would take about 2.5 hours to reach Alishan while 1.5 hours to Shizhou. The ticket price was NT221 to the end stop and NT145 to Shizhuo. Please remember to prepare some carsickness medication as the difference in altitude level could cause some people to be unwell and nausea. You wouldn't want your trip to be compromised!
A picture of us on the mini bus. I was actually a little worried actually. Because all the heavy baggage were placed at the end of the bus and I worry that it would disrupt the CG of the bus and thus more like to back roll especially when the route up was windy. But we managed to reach Shizhuo safe and sound!
Upon reaching ShiZhuo, we were pretty lost as we did not know how to get to our hostel. According to our map, it should be pretty nearby but after asking around, it seemed otherwise. Moreover, there were hundreds of other hostel around. We ended up calling our hostel and they arranged free transportation up. Thank goodness, it was such a long way out and the ride up was like a roller coaster ride! Those steep slope that was almost vertical! Imagine going up and down those vertical slope with the edge of the mountain at your sides!
 And we reached our hostel- Guan Xin Yuan. It was a really quiet hostel in a village called 顶笨仔。And we were the only family in their big hostel! It was managed by a married couple. Their children were all in the city either working or studying. They were really nice and hospitable.  Our room for the day and comfortable. Much like a home stay. There was no heater nor air con. The weather was cooling and comfortable enough so it was not a big problem. The wife invited us for a cup of tea with her since they were not much we can do up there. We were really away from most civilization, at one with the nature! :D But there were still WiFi. Haha. We decided to take their tour package which included a tour at the old Alishan street - Fenchihu, a night ecotour to see the white faced flying squirrels, fireflies and luminous mushrooms, sunrise at the Longtou summit as well as our accommodation. It was NT2000 per person, but totally worth it! It included all meals as well.  Look at how beautiful our stay was! Surrounded by the mountains, fog and lush greeneries! And off to our first destination of the tour- Fenchihu, the whole street in Alishan. 
The Railway was closed when we were there as the rail tracks were damaged and still under repairs. We visited the Rail Museum which housed the old trains over the years.
   
At the train station platform of Fenchiqu!
  
Saw this doggie at the platform. Totally ignoring all the excited tourists trawling the place! Haha.
The famous 铁路便当- Railway lunchbox!
   One of the must eat at Alishan Fenchihu - 爱玉 which tasted like Aloe Vera Jelly. 
The sacred tree forest which were listed as a national treasure. All the trees had a licence tag for tracking purposes.
 
B trying very hard to touch those expensive trees! Hahhaha!
And there's me, doing the exact thing!
 
The licence tag nailed on the tree!
And the Legendary Railway Lunch Box. It costed us NT100.
 Look at the generous amount of ingredient in the lunch box! We actually asked our host to get the lunch box for us, and we reckoned that it was because he was a local and a personal friend of the shopkeeper that we got such a generous helping! The box was practically bursting with goodness. A huge drumstick, a pork chop, half an egg and 4 different types of vegetables! 
And our generous host bought us each a cup of AiYu!
We were really fortunate as after completing our city tour, it started pouring. Luckily it came after our tour, hence we were not affected. We retreated to our hostel to rest before our night tour. The weather was getting colder as night falls. Despite going during the Spring-Summer time, Alishan was still pretty cold. I would advise anyone heading there to bring a thick jacket and maybe a scarf to protect yourself form the cold! So after dinner, we started on our ecotour! Our host was actually an activist in protection of white faced squirrel! This video featured my host Mr Liu and his efforts in conservation. His efforts were recognized internationally and had won many awards. He used to be a reckless youth that captured these animals for fun, but it was his wife's words that prompted him to change his ways. Talk about how influential a wife is to a husband! Hahaha And off we went to see these cute little night creatures! The roads were slippery and we almost fall a couple of times!     And a frog along the way! Hahah. Blending well with the dry leaves!      The early dawn and on our way to Longtou 龙头 summit!     
And the breaking of dawn! We could not have a full view of the sunrise due to the heavy fog. A pity but we still have lovely pictures!
       My next post would be one Taipei! Stay tuned and meanwhile stay indoors, drink lots of water and take care! Let's fight the #sghaze! :D Labels: Alishan, Ecotour, Fenqihu, Grad Trip, Sunrise, Taiwan |