taiwan day 2: alishan forest railway
hello ladies and germs, welcome back to my travel blog where i will be bringing you all the hottest deets about my taiwan and japan trip! sit back, sip your oolong tea, and read to the end for a surprise!! don’t say i didn’t warn you :)
i was able to sleep surprisingly well despite jet lag; i went to bed around 9:30 and woke up at 5. here is the lobby of my hotel:
i decided to get breakfast nearby at 王家早點 (wang’s breakfast stand?). the street cart was operated by a very kind lady. i ordered the special omelette (pork, vegetables, egg, pancake), a custard bun, a radish cake, and soymilk. it was very good
my big plan for the day was to take the alishan forest ralway train from chiayi to alishan national scenic area in the mountains. the route is very twisty and steep and goes over many bridges and through many tunnels. the railway uses a small-gauge train (narrow) so that it can weave up the mountain. it was originally built by the japanese during occupation in the early 20th centry and was used to transport cypress wood down from the forest. the railway was later converted to transport people visiting the scenic area.
the tickets for the train are notoriously difficult to get, and i was lucky to get one ticket for today! i had to buy the ticket at a specific time online two weeks in advance, and i planned the first 2-3 days of my trip so i would be able to ride the train :)
this is the special window at chiayi station where i picked up my ticket:
the train departs from a special track at chiayi staion. the people waiting on the platform were crowded trying to take photos as the train pulled in. it has a small engine and four passenger cars.
i sat in car 4 which was at the front (back?) of the train. this will make sense later. this was the front of the train when we departed and the engine was in the rear.
here is the little control booth:
to be completely honest, it was very difficult to take photos from the train window. sorry :)
the initial part of the train ride was pretty tame and had great views of chiayi city and the surrounding area. after a couple hours, the train made a brief stop (where people got off to take more pictures of the train) before continuing on to make some loops around and through a mountain and making the first real stop, fenqihu.
fenqihu was a small mountain village before seeing a boom during japanese occupation as it was a major stop along the logging railway. workers would stop the train and get lunch in the town. due to this, fenqihu became known for its bento lunch boxes; they are sold everywhere up and down the town’s old street.
i got mine at the alishan hotel, which has photos of a man advertising their lunch boxes plastered all over the inside and outside of the building. i can only assume this is the owner???? i did catch a glimpse of him in the back room lol
i ordered the marinated pork chop set and went to the rooftop to have lunch. it also came with soup that was served in a large, self-service pot.
after lunch, i walked up and down the old street and tried local tea, the local specialty millet donut, rice cakes, and more alishan coffee :)
there we’re also lots of sweet sleepy dogs. i thought this one was dead but he rolled over when i walked past:
finally, before re-boarding the train, i made a quick stop at the railway museum:
the train continued further up the mountain into the clouds. it was very beautiful but honestly it was a little too cloudy to see very far. then we wound our way up through the forest. when the train made tight turns, you could see the other end of the train through the window:
next, the train went to the first of three switchbacks: spots where the train would stop then continue in the opposite direction up the mountain. every time we made a switch back, the operator had to get out of the booth and walk to the other side of the train to start driving again.
here are some better photos of the train and scenery that i took at one of the stops near the top:
finally the train pulled into the terminal, alishan station. because of my schedule, i had to be back in chiayi to sleep, so i had about 2 hours in alishan before my bus took me down the mountain.
alishan is an area high in the mountains of central taiwan and is known for growing some of the best tea in the world. on the way up, we could see tea farms lining the mountainsides, but it was difficult for me to get a picture of one. i mostly wandered around the little forest village, went for a walk to scope out one of my future hotels, and purchased locally made mochi.
it was time for me to head to the alishan transport center to catch the bus. in the waiting area, i talked with two people who were riding in my train car on the way up!! one was from the bay area and the other was from seattle (montlake to be exact. small world.)
even crazier, the fellow seattle person was planning on going to japan and doing the same bike ride on the same days as me!! we exchanged information and said we would grab food or something as we biked by each other. wild.
finally, i hopped on the bus back to chiayi. my new friends got off part way so i bid them farewell. i was so wiped out that i nodded off a few times on the bus ride down and basically went straight to bed when i arrived at my hotel.
thanks for reading! tomorrow: tainan!!
BONUS!!!
man they really love capybaras here:
