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?
I’m very happy to read this. This is the kind of manual that needs to be given and not the accidental misinformation that’s at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this greatest doc.
1Good write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s website, maintain up the excellent operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
2Hi there! Quick question that’s completely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My site looks weird when viewing from my iphone 4. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to correct this issue. If you have any suggestions, please share. Many thanks!
3Hi, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam feedback? If so how do you stop it, any plugin or anything you can advise? I get so much lately it’s driving me crazy so any help is very much appreciated.
4I actually wanted to compose a small message to say thanks to you for all of the awesome advice you are sharing at this website. My particularly long internet look up has at the end been paid with good quality concept to share with my colleagues. I would tell you that we site visitors are really endowed to be in a fantastic site with very many brilliant individuals with great pointers. I feel very much happy to have come across the web pages and look forward to plenty of more amazing moments reading here. Thanks once again for all the details.
5I’ve been exploring for a little bit for any high quality articles or blog posts on this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site. Reading this info So i am happy to convey that I’ve an incredibly good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most certainly will make sure to don’t forget this web site and give it a glance on a constant basis.
6Join forces with us and profit from every click!
7Hey! Someone in my Facebook group shared this site with us so I came to check it out. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Superb blog and excellent style and design.
8Thank you for sharing with us, I conceive this website truly stands out :D.
9I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here. The sketch is tasteful, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an shakiness over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come more formerly again as exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this hike.
10It is the best time to make a few plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I want to counsel you some attention-grabbing things or advice. Perhaps you can write subsequent articles referring to this article. I wish to learn even more things about it!
11Its wonderful as your other blog posts : D, regards for putting up.
12I appreciate, cause I found exactly what I was looking for. You have ended my four day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye
13Thank you a lot for sharing this with all people you actually recognize what you are talking about! Bookmarked. Kindly additionally visit my site =). We could have a link alternate arrangement between us!
14Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch! “We have two ears and only one tongue in order that we may hear more and speak less.” by Laertius Diogenes.
15Very nice info and straight to the point. I don’t know if this is actually the best place to ask but do you people have any ideea where to get some professional writers? Thanks 🙂
16My spouse and I absolutely love your blog and find the majority of your post’s to be exactly I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs? I wouldn’t mind creating a post or elaborating on some of the subjects you write regarding here. Again, awesome web site!
17I have been surfing on-line more than 3 hours these days, yet I never discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours. It’s beautiful price enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made just right content material as you did, the web shall be a lot more helpful than ever before.
18Hey! Quick question that’s entirely off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My weblog looks weird when browsing from my iphone4. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to resolve this issue. If you have any recommendations, please share. Cheers!
19Just a smiling visitor here to share the love (:, btw great design and style.
20When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks a lot!
21great submit, very informative. I’m wondering why the opposite specialists of this sector don’t realize this. You should continue your writing. I am sure, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!
22Wow, marvelous blog format! How long have you been running a blog for? you make blogging look easy. The total look of your web site is fantastic, as smartly as the content material!
23This is very interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I’ve joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your great post. Also, I’ve shared your site in my social networks!
24Hi there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
25Hey there everyone The names Admin Read: На Кракен вы найдёте всё что нужно для дома офиса и хобби. Платформа kraken актуальные ссылки предоставляет товары по привлекательным ценам включая редкие коллекционные вещи. Покупка становится ещё проще с помощью акций и скидок. Кракен гарантирует безопасность сделок привлекая клиентов со всего мира. Именно ссылка на kraken создаёт условия для удобных и безопасных покупок. kraken ссылки:https://nauivanow.com
26wonderful post.Ne’er knew this, thankyou for letting me know.
27Very interesting points you have mentioned, appreciate it for posting. “You can tell the ideas of a nation by it’s advertisements.” by Douglas South Wind.
28You have brought up a very superb points, appreciate it for the post.
29Start earning passive income—join our affiliate network today!
30ветклиники вакцинация https://privivki-dlya-zhivotnyh-moskva.ru/
31Ремонт стиральных машин: комплексный подход к восстановлению техники. При наличии действующей гарантии на устройство обращение к специалисту является обязательным. вызов мастера по стиральным машинам https://remont-stiralnyh-mashin-v-msk.ru/
32Ремонт стиральных машин: комплексный подход к восстановлению техники.
33Не забывайте использовать специальные средства для удаления накипи каждые несколько месяцев.
частный мастер по ремонту стиральных машин [url=https://www.remont-stiralnyh-mashin-v-msk.ru]https://remont-stiralnyh-mashin-v-msk.ru/[/url]
Длительная и надежная служба стирального аппарата требует постоянного внимания и правильного применения. ремонт стиралки https://master-remonta-stiralok-moskva.ru/
34Такие элементарные процедуры значительно увеличат время эксплуатации вашего стирального аппарата и позволят избежать многих поломок.
35ремонт стиральных машин в москве [url=https://master-remonta-stiralok-moskva.ru/]https://master-remonta-stiralok-moskva.ru/[/url]
Это означает что любые повторные неполадки будут устранены без дополнительных затрат. электрик на дом москва цены https://vyzov-elektrika-na-dom-msk.ru/
36Попытки самостоятельного устранения неисправностей способны вызвать тяжелые увечья или возгорание.
37вызов электрика на дом москва цены [url=https://vyzov-elektrika-na-dom-msk.ru/]вызов электрика на дом москва цены[/url].
Электричество питает наши дома обеспечивая комфорт и функциональность. вызов электрика на дом в москве https://elektrik-na-dom-moskva-nedorogo.ru/
38Именно поэтому услуги профессионального электрика на дом становятся все более востребованными.
39услуги электрика [url=https://www.elektrik-na-dom-moskva-nedorogo.ru/]https://elektrik-na-dom-moskva-nedorogo.ru/[/url]
Надежная служба готова прийти на помощь круглосуточно, обеспечивая спокойствие жителям мегаполиса.
40вызвать слесаря сантехника на дом москва [url=https://www.vyzov-santehnika-na-dom-msk.ru/]https://vyzov-santehnika-na-dom-msk.ru/[/url]
Важно обращать внимание на опыт работы специалиста и наличие у него соответствующей квалификации. вызвать сантехника на дом москва https://santehnik-na-dom-moskva-nedorogo.ru/
41Быстрое взаимодействие со специалистами гарантирует избежание крупных неприятностей и больших расходов на починку.
42услуги сантехника в москве на дом недорого [url=http://www.santehnik-na-dom-moskva-nedorogo.ru]https://santehnik-na-dom-moskva-nedorogo.ru/[/url]
Почему пользователи выбирают площадку KRAKEN?
Маркетплейс KRAKEN заслужил доверие многочисленной аудитории благодаря сочетанию ключевых факторов.
Во-первых, это широкий
и разнообразный ассортимент, представленный сотнями продавцов.
Во-вторых, интуитивно понятный интерфейс KRAKEN, который
упрощает навигацию, поиск товаров и управление заказами даже для новых пользователей.
В-третьих, продуманная система
безопасных транзакций, включающая механизмы разрешения споров (диспутов) и возможность использования условного депонирования, что
минимизирует риски для обеих сторон сделки.
На KRAKEN функциональность сочетается с внимательным отношением к
43безопасности клиентов, что делает процесс покупок более предсказуемым, защищенным и, как следствие, популярным среди пользователей, ценящих анонимность
и надежность.
I am curious to find out what blog platform you have been using? I’m having some minor security problems with my latest blog and I would like to find something more safe. Do you have any solutions?
44As I web-site possessor I believe the content material here is rattling great , appreciate it for your efforts. You should keep it up forever! Best of luck.
45Это значительно продлевает срок службы вашего холодильника и предотвращает повторные поломки. починить холодильник https://master-remonta-holodilnikov-msk.ru/
46Hey I am so glad I found your site, I really found you by accident, while I was browsing on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thanks a lot for a incredible post and a all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to go through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the excellent job.
47оказывает полный спектр лечебных процедур для любимых животных. Квалифицированные ветеринары и хирурги сделают все возможное чтобы сохранить жизнь кошке или собаке. Мы используем передовыми технологиями для точной диагностики включая полный чек-ап организма. Оформить визит можно круглосуточно так как наша ветеринарная клиника всегда на связи. Обеспечьте лечение и уход профессионалам своего дела ведь для нас важен каждый пациент. ветклиники в москве адреса https://veterinar-na-dom-moskva-24.ru/
48The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.
49Get paid for every referral—enroll in our affiliate program!
50