We had Thursday (10/10) as a holiday from work. Double Ten National Holiday in Taiwan is the celebration of the independence of Taiwan from China. They mostly seem to celebrate with fireworks. James and I requested Friday as a holiday so we could take a long trip and call it a 4-day weekend. October is the best weather month in Taiwan so we have to make the best of it!
James picked Alishan National Park in Central Taiwan. Thankfully the national parks in Taiwan are currently open unlike the US... He was ready to go into the real mountains of Taiwan!
October is thankfully not heavy-tourist-season in the park. The park is well-known for the cherry blossoms in the spring. I am sure it is gorgeous but I don't know about facing those crowds...
Picture from google images of the cherry blossoms
We left on a train from Hsinchu at 7:40am on Thursday morning. Please note that normally we are just waking up at this time! After the comfortable three hour train ride, we hopped on a bus to take us straight to Alishan National Park.
As soon as the bus started to get into the mountains, the bus ride became a bit intense. Immediately, the toddler sitting in front of us on the bus vomited. It smelled so disgusting that I am pleasantly surprised other adults on the bus did not start vomiting! James and I copied the young adult couple (who helped translate a few things for us that the bus driver said while on the ride) seated next to us. They put some chapstick in their nostrils. It really helped with the horrendous smell!
After the two and a half hour and rather painful ride, we arrived at Alishan! The afternoon clouds were already rolling in and temperature was cool. It felt quite refreshing though. It was the coldest temperatures we have felt since leaving home.
After checking into our hotel room, we searched for food. The park has a small restaurant and shopping area with a total of about 30 stores/restaurant. Thankfully this included a 7-11!
Our hotel room
View from our window. We climbed to that peak in the picture :)
We picked this street food because we saw someone eating a large plate of cooked cabbage. We got a delicious meal of two stir fried vegetable noodles and two plates of awesome vegetables. Since we used another person who spoke some English to help us order our meal, we were surprised when we paid. It costs 430NT or $14USD. I know this sounds ridiculous but James and I felt like this was robbery! We are so used to paying $4USD for both of us to enjoy a full meal of rice and veggies. I don't know how we will ever eat out in America again :)
We continued our afternoon journey with a walking tour in the forest. It was gorgeous! We enjoyed some neat shaped cedar trees. The old trees (I mean up to 2,700 years old) were HUGE! Those trees were here before Jesus! If only trees could talk...or if only we could talk tree ;-)
James should really be a professional photographer with photos like this!
The heart shaped tree! So sweet!
The area around this pond apparently looks very similar to Kyoto, Japan. I guess there is no need for us to travel there now :)
2,300 year old tree!!!!!!
After enjoying a lovely sunset, we decided that we needed to find a cheaper option for food while on this trip. Unfortunately, we did not bring much food from home. We have never had an issue finding reasonably priced food anywhere else in Taiwan. Well, we weren't the only ones in this boat. The 7-11 was packed! We managed to grab a few of the bananas and peanuts. We found a random (and kind of creepy) dry goods stored run by an elderly woman. She had a massive container of instant Quaker oatmeal. We had no idea what a life savior this purchase would be on this trip!
Sunset - Day 1
The next morning we received a 4am wake up along with everyone else staying at our hotel. We were all catching vans and trains to see the famous sunrise. We got on a van a 5am. It was hard to keep my eyes open for the ride up the mountain. We made a quick stop at Yushan National Park sign. We saw a monkey near the sign! Then, we stopped to see a large 2,300 year old cedar tree. Finally, we made it to the overlook for the sunrise. A few locals were dressed like Indians. They were selling local honey and dried fruits. Anyways, we got to see the famous "sea of clouds." The clouds settle into the valley. As the sun rises or sets the clouds look like the ocean. It's incredible! Well, the sun peaked up over the mountain and everyone "ohhed and awwed."
2,800 meters high! It was a chilly morning (probably around 50 degrees Fahrenheit)!
Sea of clouds sunrise
While the run rises, the mountains start to come alive!
The sunrise crowd at this overlook
The van driver gave everyone these cool boxes to look at the sunrise through. They were like sunglasses but they made the sun look purple.
Afterwards, we went to a breakfast included in the cost of our hotel. It was a mad fight to the food! Everyone must have been starving from waking up so early. We used our elbows and managed to grab some of the food. It was actually quite a hilarious scene. Someone needs to do a comedy act on this breakfast. James and I stuffed ourselves with the awesome Taiwanese style breakfast which includes the following: tofu of several varieties, cooked ginger cucumbers, cooked broccoli, peanuts, steamed buns, warm soy milk, hot coffee and tea, and of course rice. Thankfully, we were able to stuff ourselves with the deliciousness every morning so our food bill was pretty low on this trip.
The cafeteria workers probably called me the "Cucumber Queen" in Chinese.
After pondering taking a nap, we realized the the clouds always come into the mountains around noon so we better start our hike asap. By 9am (it felt like it should have been 3pm by then), we were hiking! We did the longest hike in the park to the top of Tashan mountain. After climbing stairs through the forest for almost two hours, we arrived at the peak. The views were breathtaking!
WOW!!!!!!!!!
We are at standing at 2,663 meters or 8,737 feet!
I am sporting the pigtails once again.
The never ending stairs...
For some reason after the descent, we decided to continue the journey and check out another trail. The trail led to the main overlook for sunrise at the end of the train tracks. The clouds were already coming in so we weren't able to see a ton by this time.
More green trails
Sister Pond
Steam Yarder
We enjoyed a lovely early dinner/late lunch of 7-11 salads and oatmeal with peanuts and bananas. I told you our food budget was low. We caught the most incredible sunset I think I have ever seen. The sea of clouds were perfect. It looked exactly like the pictures we had seen online! We passed out before 9pm. Some nights I am just finishing teaching at 9pm...
Since we were at high elevation, all of the food bags looked like they were going to burst!
These pictures do not give this sunset justice.
The next morning we received another 4am wake up call. Apparently, they just call all the rooms at 4am because we did not ask for one. We could not handle another early morning so we slept until at least 7am. After a much calmer breakfast (it pays to get to the breakfast cafeteria after the sunrise crowd has left), we headed out on two more hikes. The first one, the Duigaoyue hike, was a lot of stairs that led us to yet another incredible overlook. Next, we hiked to the Giant Tree of Mt. Shuishan ("shui shan" means "water mountain"). James and I were very impressed with ourselves that we know how to say and read both of those words in Chinese! The tree was awesome.
Amazing...
A lot of the plants and flowers were the same as those in Georgia due to the climate. I love these hydrangeas. I also saw clovers and dandelions.
The Giant Tree of Mt. Shuishan was at the end of an nonactive railroad track.
That's a big tree!!!!!
After a cold shower, we explored a bit more of the area we enjoyed the first afternoon in the park. Yes, a cold shower. As we commonly find in Taiwan, eletricity and power are conserved. Hot water is only offered at the hotel between 4pm and 4am. Also, the heat is only turned on when the outside temperature is below 46 degrees Fahrenheit. We also enjoyed three ears of corn on the cob being sold at a random temple in the mountains. It was basically three ears for $3USD so we could not resist! By the end of the evening, we had covered every trail the park had to offer. I think the workers at the visitor's center were pretty impressed :) The only thing we did not do was ride the train! We even sampled the famous oolong mountain tea.
A swinging bridge. I seriously felt like I was in an emerald heaven of green while we walked through the forest. I kept expecting a hobbit or unicorn to jump out of the forest. I don't know why more movies aren't filmed in Taiwan. It's so beautiful and enchanting in certain areas.
The clouds were heavy so there was not much of a sunset. Ohh well. Time for an oatmeal dinner!
Well, we finished the big container of oatmeal. We ate in from these bowls we got at 7-11 that are used for hot tofu and ramen noodles. Ha. My stomach looks funny in the picture. It's the shirt over the shorts. I promise I did not gain 15 pounds eating the oatmeal :)
For our last morning, we woke up at 4:45am. We had decided to run up to the main sunrise overlook. We actually started the run at the same time as the train. It took about 30 minutes of running up and up and up (it was really tough) to get to the overlook. The train had just arrived when we did! The sunrise was the best yet! Just look at these pictures!!!!!!
A perfect sunrise ending to a fantastic weekend!
These people are probably wondering why James and I are sweaty!
Is that the ocean or clouds?
Well, after inhaling a massive amount of broccoli, cucumbers and tofu, it was time to head home on an uneventful bus ride! Our legs and bodies were exhausted!!!!! It's time to adjust back to our 7:30am to 11pm days. I must say that the park really reminded me of Yosemite National Park. The woods were green and full of trees. Like the trees back home! We were no longer surrounded by tropical plants such as bamboo. Most of the trees were pine and cedar. Sigh...it was gorgeous. The air was so fresh and crisp! For the first time since we have arrived in Taiwan (literally), I did not have sinus and throat issues. We both absolutely loved this trip. I can't imagine a more wonderful way to spend our holiday.
James and I always talk and dream about living in the mountains one day. After this trip, I really hope to make this a reality. The fresh crisp air of the mountains and the outstanding beauty make me feel at my best and close to God. I felt pretty disgusted returning back to the city this evening sadly. I already miss the mountains!
I have a list of other neat things to blog about but I will have to save them for another post as this one is already so long! Happy Double Ten day everyone!
******Please note our new wardrobe of awesome race T-shirts. Our friend who runs the show for Allstate 13.1 Marathon Atlanta and Publix Georgia Marathon, Jennie Olshaske, sent us a box of new T-shirts from the races! I was on the marketing team for these events. Well, these shirts are great and we enjoy representing Atlanta races in Taiwan! Thanks so much Jennie!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment