Breathtaking view - Our 1st visit to Alishan National Park.



DAY 1
Sunday morning, we casually took our coffee and went to the high speed rail station in Kaohsiung. The destination today was the famous tourist spot – Alishan ( in Chiayi City). It was quite easy for the transportation. It only took us 30 minutes by high speed rail from Kaohsiung station to Chiayi station. Our friend C and D already waited us at the Chiayi station in car. C and D is another spouse from Taiwan and Poland, and it was amazing to meet them here in Taiwan! We were excited and talked a lot the whole day. So, after a warm greeting, we departed together to Alishan (2200 meter above sea level). It approximately took around 2 hours more from Chiayi station to Alishan recreation park on top (2200 altitude) by car. Of course, I again inevitably felt dizzy because of the mountain road upward to the top. Fortunately, all went well! I recommended to take pills if you know you need it, the mountain road can spin you around! 🙂


On the way, we noticed the differences of mountain road between Poland and Taiwan. For me and C ( Taiwanese), driving car on the mountain road to uphill is a normal thing because it was like this since our childhood. However, Mike and D ( Polish) said that usually in Poland there is only hiking path from some point. 🙂 In fact, if i recall Zakopane ( a famous hiking area in south of Poland – Tara mountain ), it is truth that there are only hiking roads from some point to top of the hill ( No driving road). I feel Poland keeps the wildness of the paths in Mountains. :).


In the middle of the way, we took a break and visited the famous town – Funqihu ( 1440 altitude). Funqihu town is famous for the old street and tea gardens. Here we saw the old Taiwanese style market and tasted the great local food- taro cake, hakka caozi kueh ( it is a traditional dessert made with glutinous rice and filled with saulty mashroom and daikon – D said it taste just like Silesian kluski in poland). Apart from those snacks, we also tried local donuts, mountain Obando ( lunchbox filled with main dishes and fresh vegetables from mountain), and mountain Aiyu jelly ( its planted and sweet, very fresh). Our stomachs were so satisfied after tasting those delicious local food. Hey! Food is always an important part for us in Taiwan :).
And I was happy to see that you can find many original and real local products, and food in Funqihu old market. You definitely don’t see many products made in China. it keeps the individual style here, great job! It definitely is one of the keys that attacks the tourists. 🙂




Worth to mention that while tasting the Aiyu Jelly Juice, C has a great idea to go for a nice shop with amazing view. It was so green and with nice mountain view. We ordered the flavor like Aiyu jelly with passionfruit, with lemonade, and with ice milk tea. So enjoyable and relax! Definitely recommended.




After such a nice meal time, we drove again on the road and headed to the Alishan recreation park (2200 altitude). It was the destination of our trip. On the way, we felt the air is getting fresher and colder, and the temperature was just right – not to cold and not too hot – around 19-20 celcius in the afternoon. Of course, we saw the spatulous mountain view on the way upward to the top. It was like a painting for sure, we saw the mountains over mountains, layers after layers with clouds. It was so beautiful that we had to stop somewhere to take photos. 🙂
Around 1 hour more driving, we arrived the Alishan recreation park. It is an national Park, so all the cars must park in a certain area. There are pretty convenient transportation inside Park – Mini Buses with different routes ( the mini Buses also provide many nice 1 day trips), and the Alishan Forest Railway ( internal train). The entering fee for Taiwanese and foreigner with resident permit (ARC card) cost $200 NTD / 6-7 USD per person includes the car. It was quite a good deal.






After we settled and parked the car, we immediately headed to the hiking road today. First, we took the Alishan railway train to Zhaoping station ( 2274 altitude) and from there we can easily reach to the most classical Alishan hiking route- Alishan entertainment hiking road.
In this route, It is contributed by many parts, all parts are with it’s individual attractions and there are friendly made road linked with all those parts – for example, sister Lake,
Giant Tree Plank Trail, Viewing The Clouds From Ciyun Temple…etc.




I think it takes 2 days to finish all the attractions in this classical hiking route. Today we saw the bewiled forests, sister lakes, Giant Tree Plank Trail. The Giant trees are Hinoki tree which is releasing the nature oil with special aroma. You will like the smell, it definitely makes you feel in a deep forest and very relaxing. In the recreation park, a lot of trees are over 2000 year old. For Giant Hinoki, it can be even 4000 years. The width is so thick that requires many men to hold hands together around it, not even mention the height. In Alishan, a lot of time you can smell this special aroma from Hinoki tree. We all should breathe harder and more 🙂 It is extremely healthy for mentally and physically. Today our hiking path took about 2 -3 hours. And then it was a perfect time for dinner and called the night.



Day 2.
we arranged the sunrise event or Mike. It’s an activity that one can reach high point of the mountain and waiting to see the first light comes out behind the mountain. There are a few of famous viewing spot in Alishan, and one can reach there by mini bus or train. This time Mike took the mini bus from our hotel and drove to 2500 feet at 4:45am to the viewing spot for sunrise and lucky he caught the sunrise with clear sky! Besides of that , a lot of time, there is chance to see the sunrise with cloud sea! For this event, the train station always announces the sunrise time and departure time for next time. The hotel also offers the time table for the next time sunrise schedule. For Mike’s case, it was 4:10 wake up, 4:45 departure, and Sunrise prediction at 5:30! It is really thoughtful!




After that, i was apart from Mike. Michal went on the speedy hiking with harder level route. Meanwhile, I headed back to the tourist center and tried to arrange the stargazing night event. This is also an must see event in Alishan. The mini buses will departure in late evening ( around 10pm) and drive to the viewing point ( 2500 altitude). Imaging to see the wide spectrum of the shinning stars in sky. You can see zodiac, milky way, and maybe falling stars rain. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch it the night, because it was a bit cloudy. We will leave this event for next visit for sure. 🙂 The best thing here is that all the stargazing event are with experience guide, and he will explain the stars ( zodiacs). The bus wouldn’t depart if there is no guarantee to see the stars.







Day 3.
For our last day, we arranged something more relax. We recommend to stay here 1 week or even more, there are a lot of things to see. Not only the nature but also aboriginal tribe . In the morning, We decided to take mini bus and headed to the highest point of the Taiwan rail station – Zhushan station (2541 altitude). There, we enjoyed the amazing mountain view. The air is so clear and shine that we saw the highest mountain of Taiwan- Jade mountain 3950 altitude. We were so lucky that the weather was clear and changed to a abit cloudy later, and for this reason it allowed us not only see the bright view, but also the cloudy view of the rolling hills.



After that, we walked around 10 min and reached out to a tea shop hidden on the way. The name is 茶田35號. This tea shop located at a good place with nice view ( so geen thre), and the whole cabin was using the wooden construction. They have huge open space on 2nd floor and some seats indoor, too. They offer the tea ceremony for guest if you want to try the tea. They also sell the Alishan high mountain tea – as they told me, the tea is started from Dutch colonial time (1624-1668) and now one of the tea is appointed by our foreign minister as gift. Though, they are welcome for regular guests and offering all kinds of tea and tea set with food (meal or cake) there. Not only the tea is tasty there, I did enjoy the quiet and peaceful mind there, the view is just great – so green. You can slow down your pace there, breath deeply, and relax yor eyes with great green view. I like it there a lot. Highly recommended.




This is the ending of our trip this time. Mike falls in love with Alahan. We plan to come back again with friends or family. And we know what we are going to plan for next time. 🙂 lets looking forward to it.

