(continues from Taiwan part 2 – Beitou and Taichung)
The transport up to Alishan by public bus was not a great experience…the ticketing system is “messy” as there are folks with physical tickets (pre-purchased from Chiayi) who have first priority, and then people like us with QR code tickets (internet advanced purchased) with the next priority, and then those who were just there to board the bus using their Easycard…all had to stand in a queue and wait for the upcoming bus and those without tickets were uncertain if they could board (depends on number of seats left over). Luggage was also a problem as there was not a big space for it and many folks had to bring their huge trolley type ones up the bus!
The train going up was also very popular and we did not get the tickets when sales were opened for online purchase as they were very quickly snapped up…the lady at the ticketing counter told us no seats were available on that morning, only standing room but we did not want to stand for the 2 to 3 hr train ride up. However, we later learnt from a fellow traveller that he got on the same train we had hoped to get onto, and that there were still empty seats in his carriage!!
Anyways, 2 hrs later on a windy road up and we were at Fengqihu, a popular stop 2/3 of the way up where we spent the first night. Took in the famous bento lunch in metal container at our hotel
We just wandered around various short trails in the afternoon and spotting birds, and snacking later in the day 🙂
Next day, we caught the bus up to the Alishan Forest Recreational Area where we spent the next two nights..
It was another 1 hour plus journey and ended at the bus station near the top (but still a 1km walk to reach the hotel areas inside) on a rather gloomy and wet afternoon..
We left our bags, got a quick lunch and set off to the train station to bring us to a stop further up (zhaoping) to do our first trail walks..
Must say the rain does add to a certain mysterious atmosphere although it was not good in terms of finding birds!!
Luckily the weather cleared in the latter part of the afternoon and we were treated to some nice sea of cloud scenes and a nice sunset!!
Next two mornings were early starts as we tried to see the famous sunrise…was underwhelming the first morning as it was all misty..
I waited at a trail (see photo just above) hoping to see the mikado pheasant but was left empty handed after an hour of waiting…but fortunately, it did reveal itself a little further down at a coffee house!
And all because we decided to check out the exhibition after seeing the banner above!! Shows that it pays to always be hopeful in birding, or perhaps the other way around, that birding teaches me to always have hope (and this has been the case many times…just as I was going to leave a place, a bird will appear that will captivate me for the next 15 to 30 minutes!)
The rest of the time after sunrise was spent walking around and enjoying the forests that we were in….very beautiful and ancient trees greeted us every once in a while in the Shen Mu area..
The second morning was better in that we could see the sunrise, but again, it was not that spectacular in my view, as the sun was already too high up before it became visible from our viewing point (Duigaoyue station stop, which was the highest station at this point the train would go to…the next higher train stop was opened only later, on 21 Nov, as we understand).The main thing is that the sun rose from behind some even taller mountain range, so the subtle light was already gone at the time it appeared and all that was seen was a blistering white light..still, I managed to capture some nice artistic shots with the “lu wei” (a type of grass) in the foreground 🙂
Then, it was time to head down for breakfast and buy bus tickets down at the 7-11 store at the entrance area (available only on the day of departure), then pack up to leave.
Last minute birding (20 min) from near our hotel as Chien was still packing yielded some rather nice catches, hooray!
At the bus station where 2 queues had formed (for those with and without tickets), we could easily get on board and settled down to our assigned seats foe the journey down…not many in the other queue managed to get on ..(so, really make it a point to buy the tickets earlier to secure your seat, especially if you have a connecting train to catch from Chiayi!)
We made it comfortably down in time to connect with the HSR that would take us to the station at Kaoshiung (called Zuoying HSR) for our bus to Kenting..(make sure you go out from exit 2 as there is a ticketing office there where you will need to “report” to and get tickets or a card that indicates the number of pax (if you have already pre-booked))
Next up.. Taiwan part 4 – Kenting and Kaohsiung
While I Live, I Learn 