Alishan Cherry Blossom

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Hi everyone!

Before I go continue packing everything for my trip to Cambodia - I wanted to do up a short post on Alishan Day 4 before I fly off first thing in the morning tomorrow!

♥♥♥

Taipei Alishan Day 4

Technically it was Day 4 .. but it felt like Day 3 coz we had to wake up at 1.30am to catch the first train from Chusan to see sunrise!

The top attraction in Alishan, everybody crowds aboard the predawn trains for the half-hour trip to this peak on the east side of Alishan, where you can see the sun rise over Yushan.

There's a viewing platform right next to the station, but it's worth it to hike an extra 15-20 minutes past the helicopter pad to the very top, where the crowds are a little thinner.

As the sun is already up behind the mountain, the sky is already quite light by the time you get to the top, and the sun is very bright when rising up -- hawkers sell disposable $10 eclipse-style filtered glasses, but it's better to not stare at all.

On the way back, skip the train and walk back instead, it's a pleasant 3-4 km downhill hike.

At the Railway Station

Our tickets.

(I swear I was super stone)

Train sets off at 3.30am!

I manage to get a seat coz it was already very crowded!

Bye bye choot choot train ~!

Can u imagine the LAST train is at 6.50AM???

At nearly 4am, the hawkers here were buzzing with people.

It was FREEZING cold!

Around 2 degrees.

The place to see sunrise.

Trying to get the best view.

Hmmm where shall we chope?

How about here!

Hahahaha had to sit on the floor, take out tripod and glare at people who tried to snatch your 'place' away.

And the most sneaky ones are people with children becox they make their kid 'run' infront and before you know it, the whole family is standing infront of you!

#Truestory

Got one uncle started using the loudhailer!

Talking and talking..

(Actually he selling souvenirs!)

It was a VERY long wait! Made much worse from the cold cold wind.

If you are curious to why we had to wake up so early becox sunrise usually takes place around 6am ...

BECOX IT WAS GETTING SOOOO FREAKING CROWDED!!!!!!!!

If you take the later trains, you might not get a good view!

We were sooooo early so we had a great one :D

A glimpse of the sun

Really alot of people!

If you stood behind, this would be the 'view',

After sunrise all go back!

We had to wait for the second train .. coz too many people (again!)

On the way back to Chusan

After half an hour ride...

Back at the Railway station!

We had to check out that morning so we decided to take a walk around our hotel and admire the flowers that make Alishan so famous.

The area has been settled by Taiwanese aborigines since time immemorial, but ethnic Chinese began settling only in the 19th century.

Development really took off only when the Japanese completed the Alishan Forest Railway (1912), a remarkable narrow-gauge train originally built for logging the area's giant cedars.

By the 1970s, logging had pretty much ended and tourism had become the area's primary earner, and the entire area was declared a "national scenic area" in 2001.