Sunrise, Fresh Wasabi, and 7-11 Guardians: Visiting Alishan (阿里山) in Taiwan
It’s been such a long long long time since posting anything, but I’ve really wanted to get back into blogging… For some stress release, for some connection, and to practice writing. Also, with Mai’s graduation and return home, I hope that this would be a great way for us to stay connected to each other besides social media! Plus, I have a backlog of Taiwan photos that I would love to give some more backstory to — I’m not going to approach them in any particular order but will just write about the ones that most stand out to me, and hope would be interesting to share with people — so here goes!
Apparently, a must-do thing when visiting Alishan (阿里山), one of the most famous and scenic mountains in Taiwan, is to wake up extremely early and take a train to the peak-area of the mountain to see the sunrise. It surprised me that this is an almost-daily tourist event because the only time that I ever purposefully woke up extremely early to climb up a mountain and view the sunrise was on New Year’s Day in South Korea in 2015. Feeling the first rays of the sun on the first day of the year was a time for wishing and for new beginnings.
New Year’s Day on Deokdongsan (덕동산) in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. January 1st, 2015.
As for my mom and me, this time was a less momentous occasion, but still I was excited. The person who worked in our hostel mentioned that he could usually tell if the sunrise would be visible by looking up at the stars at night, and he gave the all-clear. (Staying in a hostel that is also a tea farm is definitely something I will be blogging about in the future – it made me almost want to move to the mountains!) So, after a little bit of sleep, we woke up at 3am and headed to the Forest Railway Alishan Station (阿里山車站) along with our taxi driver Mr. Fang.
According to the website, the Alishan Forest Railways was first constructed in 1906 to facilitate the logging industry during the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945). The trains were primarily used to transfer logs of the cypress and Taiwania wood trees. (Interestingly enough, a few weeks before this trip, I came across a shrine gate made of the Taiwania wood at the Meiji Jingu, a shrine in Tokyo, Japan.)
The entrance to the Meiji Jingu. According to the plaque, this is the largest torii in Japan, made of Taiwania wood.
Now, the trains are primarily used for tourism. According to a map of the entire Alishan Forest Railway, it looks like the train begins in Chiayi (嘉義) (at 30m elevation) and ascends all the way to Chushan (祝山) (at 2451m elevation).
Map at Alishan Station.
We took the train from Alishan stop (阿里山), which is marked as being at 2216m elevation. The map also points out the elevations at which the climate changes, from tropical to subtropical (at 800m) to temperate (at 1800m). I could definitely feel the change physically – it went from insanely hot and humid (coming from Hsinchu 新竹; this was mid-July) to quite chilly and cold (around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, although in the early morning before sunrise it dropped to around 40 degrees on the mountain).
Even though we arrived early (at around 4:30am~5:00am, I cannot remember the exact time), there were already trains that departed carrying passengers and the line waiting to board was also already long. (The website mentions that the first train leaves at 4:00am in summer, while during winter months, the first train departs closer to 6:00am to adjust with the time of sunrise.) I wasn’t able to sang a seat on the way up to the mountain, and I wasn’t quite able to take photos out the window since it was still too dark to see anything, but the inside of the train was quite pretty as it was decorated with pink flowers. I think it was about a 20 minute ride to the top, but I was pretty sleepy.
The line was already so long!
Waiting for the train to arrive…
…here it comes!
In lieu of scenery, pretty flowers inside the train car!
Arriving at the peak of the mountain, I was not really anticipating much visibility because the area was crowded with tourists – some traveling on their own with family members and some people in large tourist groups. For a while, while waiting for the sun to rise, I amused myself by not only admiring the gorgeous morning colors in the sky, but also the sheer amount of screens emanating from the crowd. Smartphones, cameras, video recorders, but mostly cellphones of course – it was definitely a little stressful and slightly off-putting to be in such a large crowd, but that could definitely speak to my own antisocial nature.
A sea of cellphones and selfie sticks.
Luckily, I had done some quick online research the night before and read that there was another path further up the mountain that also allowed for some visibility. Since we were with Mr. Fang, he very graciously decided to do some investigating for us and was able to find and follow the path to the slightly higher peak, which ultimately led to an out-of-use helicopter pad. There was only one small tour group at the higher peak (about 10 people I think) from Mainland China, so visibility was much better. It was a good idea to split from the increasingly larger and larger crowds at the lower observation platforms.
The small tour group leader was really funny and kept on cracking jokes while we waited for the sun to rise. He kept on telling his group that the sun would make a popping noise, that it would literally “pop” up over the distant mountain peaks. I kept on thinking of the “sunrise song” too that always accompanied the cartoon sunrises.
I can just imagine a cartoon sun popping up anytime now!
When the sun finally did rise (unfortunately no sudden popping or sound effects), it was definitely beautiful and I would say that it was worth waking up early for. That the location we were in was relatively quiet and way less crowded definitely made the experience way more pleasant, and with the sunrise also meant warmer temperatures (I was pretty much frozen at this point). Since I imagine each sunrise to be unique, despite the tourist traffic, I would actually want to return again and re-experience the sunrise. Maybe next time we would have more time to do a little bit of hiking or exploration on the trails around he mountain and to check out the other stops on the train.
Since the trains to the peak only run for the sunrise, the last train scheduled to leave the peak was at 6:45am, which left us a little bit of time to grab some quick snacks before leaving. Turns out there is nothing more satisfying than a warm can of soy milk after waiting in the cold for so long (on an empty stomach).
Sunrise view from the lower viewing area.
Souvenir and snack shops.
Warm soy milk~
I also experienced another unique food experience at the peak. There was a stall selling fresh wasabi root among other wasabi products.
Array of fresh wasabi and other wasabi-related products.
While I had known that Alishan was famous for producing tea, I had no idea that wasabi was another one of the famous products harvested here (here is a typical tourist website listing some of the “Alishan specials”). All I really know about wasabi is that the green gloop served with sushi in the U.S. is not real wasabi but a mixture of mustard paste and horseradish that is dyed green. I also know that I really hate “wasabi” because I cannot handle sinus-clearing spicy flavors very well. I was a little hesitant about what fresh wasabi would taste like, but of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it, especially if the auntie working at the stall was going to give us a small sample of the freshly grated root.
Freshly grated wasabi root.
After cleaning the root, she grated a generous amount onto my hand. I loved how beautiful the color looked – it wasn’t bright green like the wasabi that I’ve had before, but the look of the texture and color on my hand was almost like the inside of a falafel. Upon tasting, however, the texture was completely different from a falafel – a little crunchy and crumbling before dissolving. The horseradish/sinus-spicy taste was so subtle, just arriving a little bit at the end. The first taste was that of almost grassy freshness. There is no way I would ever eat this much wasabi in the U.S., but the generous grating was just enough to get a strong taste of the much more subtle flavor of the fresh wasabi. There was still a strong kick after eating the entire amount on my hand, but the freshness also meant that it wasn’t just sinus-clearing spicy, but that there were other layers of flavor as well. While I wouldn’t go out of my way to find fresh wasabi now that I have tried it (or pay top dollar for it), I can definitely say for sure that I did enjoy it and would be interested to see how this would taste on sushi and raw fish, or paired with other foods.
I wasn’t left wondering for too long – turns out the woman in the next stall (who is the wasabi stall owner’s daughter) was selling mountain pig sausages, which supposedly pairs perfectly well with fresh wasabi. As it was almost time to board the train at this point, we bought the sausages and the woman at the wasabi stand loaded a generous shaving of fresh wasabi on our sausages as well. While on the train ride back down the mountain, I ate the sausage.
Mountain pig sausage with freshly grated wasabi.
I honestly cannot really differentiate between regular pork sausage and mountain pig sausage, so the sausage tasted to like typical Taiwanese sausage – meaty, almost a little dry wth a slight jerky quality, sweet, and savory with a bit of char. The wasabi added a little bit of extra spice to the sausage and was a perfect complement – I ended up getting quite a bit of wasabi in one of my bites and felt the nasal burn, but it wasn’t overwhelming. The grassy notes of the freshly grated wasabi complemented the meaty sausage perfectly. (I wonder if wild pigs eat wasabi too?) This was definitely the perfect snack and it was enjoyable watching the forest and sunrise while taking the train back to Alishan Station and snacking too.
I’ll leave the post with some images of the scenery in the daytime, as well as the walking trail, which I hope to try next time.
Map of different walking trails and ways to ascend the mountain.
View of the train platform.
View from the station.
View of the station.
Before heading back to our hostel for a quick nap, we stopped by the 7-11 in the train station, which is itself housed in an interesting traditional-style building, for some quick snacks and drinks.
7-11 housed in an interesting looking building. The characters read “Alishan Station.”
There was a very pretty dog at the entrance, who looked like it was doing quite a diligent job of “guarding” the entrance. I wished it the best of luck before we headed back out and onto our next adventure.
The guardian animal of the convenience store?
https://shorturl.fm/333uL
1Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your webpage? My blog site is in the very same area of interest as yours and my visitors would certainly benefit from a lot of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this okay with you. Thanks a lot!
2https://shorturl.fm/L2uwK
3Thanx for the effort, keep up the good work Great work, I am going to start a small Blog Engine course work using your site I hope you enjoy blogging with the popular BlogEngine.net.Thethoughts you express are really awesome. Hope you will right some more posts.
4Nice post. I was checking continuously this weblog and I’m inspired! Very useful info specifically the last part 🙂 I take care of such information much. I was seeking this particular information for a very long time. Thanks and good luck.
5Hi, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
6https://shorturl.fm/lv2nc
7https://shorturl.fm/A5WVQ
8I was suggested this web site by way of my cousin. I’m no longer certain whether or not this post is written through him as nobody else recognize such unique approximately my problem. You’re amazing! Thank you!
9I love your writing style really enjoying this site.
10Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Superb choice of colors!
11I have recently started a site, the info you offer on this website has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work.
12I will immediately clutch your rss feed as I can’t find your e-mail subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly allow me understand so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
13I discovered your blog site on google and check a few of your early posts. Continue to keep up the very good operate. I just additional up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading more from you later on!…
14I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I do not know who you are but definitely you are going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
15Nice post. I was checking continuously this blog and I’m impressed! Extremely useful info specially the last part 🙂 I care for such information much. I was looking for this particular info for a long time. Thank you and best of luck.
16Generally I don’t read article on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do so! Your writing style has been amazed me. Thanks, quite nice post.
17https://shorturl.fm/xsuu4
18Wonderful goods from you, man. I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just too fantastic. I actually like what you have acquired here, certainly like what you’re saying and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take care of to keep it wise. I can’t wait to read much more from you. This is actually a wonderful site.
19Its great as your other blog posts : D, thanks for putting up.
20The root of your writing while sounding reasonable in the beginning, did not settle properly with me after some time. Somewhere throughout the paragraphs you were able to make me a believer unfortunately just for a short while. I still have got a problem with your leaps in assumptions and you might do nicely to fill in those breaks. In the event that you actually can accomplish that, I could certainly be fascinated.
21Thank you, I have just been looking for info approximately this subject for a long time and yours is the greatest I’ve discovered till now. But, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you certain in regards to the supply?
22Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all of us you actually know what you are talking about! Bookmarked. Please also visit my web site =). We could have a link exchange contract between us!
23If youre investigating several financial providers its worth looking at this broker and its alternatives like the iq_brokers option or iq_broker to identify which one meets your expectations ideally. Quite a few people report that exploring the iqbrokervip tier offerings includes some added options worthy of evaluating. Users can read detailed insights and member thoughts on iq_brokers where the forum talks about everything from the iqbrokers platform to iq_broker trading reviews. Its consistently beneficial to obtain as extensive information as you can before committing to your pick.
24Whenever youre looking into platforms for direct video interactions discovering the different aspects of livejasmin can be quite informative. Whether youre interested in livejasmin_cams or the livejasmin_studio tools every option includes unique choices for members and talent as well. For a thorough guide and some valuable recommendations look at livejasmin-stream for extra details. Furthermore livejasmin_video and livejasmin-stream features ensure consistent and excellent viewing opportunities that improve audience involvement. Its great to looking into these capabilities to fully enjoy your experience on the platform and appreciate consistent live streams.
25Can I just say what a relief to find someone who actually knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more popular because you definitely have the gift.
26Thanks , I have recently been searching for info about this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I have discovered till now. But, what about the bottom line? Are you sure about the source?
27https://shorturl.fm/KQXD8
28https://shorturl.fm/BL6GG
29You got a very great website, Sword lily I detected it through yahoo.
30Fantastic site. Lots of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks on your sweat!
31Thank you for another informative site. The place else may I am getting that type of information written in such a perfect manner? I have a undertaking that I am just now working on, and I’ve been on the glance out for such information.
32Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care
33magnificent post, very informative. I wonder why the other experts of this sector do not notice this. You should continue your writing. I am sure, you have a huge readers’ base already!
34Вы можете оформить алкоголь круглосуточно чтобы получить его быстро и удобно прямо к вашему порогу. Сегодня всё больше людей предпочитают заказывать алкоголь с доставкой и обеспечивают комфорт и оперативность. В большинстве городов развились сервисы которые позволяют купить алкоголь онлайн и получить его дома и указать удобное время и место доставки. Для этого достаточно выбрать нужный товар на сайте или в приложении оформить заказ и оплатить его. Доставка алкоголя осуществляется быстро зачастую в течение часа или двух. На доставке требуется предъявить документ подтверждающий совершеннолетие клиента. Оформляя первый заказ можно воспользоваться различными бонусами и специальными предложениями. Таким образом доставка алкоголя — это удобное решение для тех кто ценит время и комфорт.
35I think this is one of the most vital info for me. And i am glad reading your article. But should remark on few general things, The website style is perfect, the articles is really nice :D. Good job, cheers
36This design is incredible! You certainly know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Great job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
37Good day very cool site!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Superb .. I’ll bookmark your website and take the feeds also…I’m happy to find numerous useful information here in the post, we want work out extra strategies on this regard, thanks for sharing.
38Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this site. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s difficult to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and appearance. I must say you’ve done a awesome job with this. In addition, the blog loads extremely quick for me on Internet explorer. Outstanding Blog!
39https://shorturl.fm/FfgnS
40There is perceptibly a lot to realize about this. I believe you made various nice points in features also.
41I was just seeking this information for a while. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, at last I got it in your site. I wonder what is the lack of Google strategy that don’t rank this kind of informative websites in top of the list. Normally the top web sites are full of garbage.
42https://shorturl.fm/xc47E
43https://shorturl.fm/vs8Ql
44Hi, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam remarks? If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can advise? I get so much lately it’s driving me mad so any assistance is very much appreciated.
45Thanx for the effort, keep up the good work Great work, I am going to start a small Blog Engine course work using your site I hope you enjoy blogging with the popular BlogEngine.net.Thethoughts you express are really awesome. Hope you will right some more posts.
46There are definitely a variety of details like that to take into consideration. That could be a great point to carry up. I provide the ideas above as normal inspiration but clearly there are questions just like the one you deliver up where a very powerful factor will probably be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if finest practices have emerged around issues like that, but I am positive that your job is clearly identified as a fair game. Both girls and boys feel the affect of only a moment’s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.
47After I initially commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now every time a remark is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any manner you’ll be able to remove me from that service? Thanks!
48Your style is so unique compared to many other people. Thank you for publishing when you have the opportunity,Guess I will just make this bookmarked.
49https://shorturl.fm/0Kyul
50