Amazing, incredible. Usually these words sound trite and
overused, but these are the words that describe the experience.
Starting with a jump to Kending, I took the high-speed rail down
to the Zuoying station. I got off planning to take the bus down to
Kending, but was intercepted by a betel nut chewing Minibus driver
who "very" persuasively offerred me a ride down to the paishawan
beach area, with another guy, who I'd later find out was the boss
of an a small beachside resort area called HappyPanda. Using my broken
chinese, I talked with them on the way down, and dropped off my
luggage at The Surf Shop, a very reasonable and comfy hostel, where
I stayed a night for only 400NT. Note: I was freaking out somewhat
along the ride down, might have been the driver alternating between
talking on 2 cell phones, smoking, and chewing betel nut while flying
down the road. The other taiwanese passenger wasnt the least bit worried.
Jumping forward, I arrived at the private beach area, very clean btw,The
went for a swim, and enjoyed the late afternoon sun, and a 80NT (~$2) Corona.
Awesome. The water is turquoise blue, and very warm, perfect for a swim.
The next day I met up with my CS friend, and her friends, a couple. We went
to Kending national Park first off. Strangely enough, Taiwan paves all "hiking"
trails with stones or stairs, a bit put-offish, havent figured that out. Next
went to a beach for a bit of swimming. Somehow I bumped into a jellyfish, felt
that, and decidedly stayed closer to land after that.
Found a "fairy cave," the best cave at the park, filled w/ stalagmites.
That night, stayed at a place on the main kending Road. There's plenty
of scrumptious night market food to try. Another key element, was watching
out for the imported Thai Lady-boys, doing their thing to attract customers
for a bar. I walked around.
Took the early bus to Kaohsiung, about 8:45, then took the train to Chiayi.
Arriving in Chiayi, I was paranoid about difficulties of renting a scooter,
since police crackdowns in Kenting make it difficult to rent, however Chiayi,
renting a scooter was a breeze. For a mere 400NT/Day, got a nice newish scooter,
then blastoff to Alishan! We took Highway 18, which is pretty straightforward.
A really gorgeous ride on the scooter, it's a must, really. It takes at least
2 hours along highway 18. Passing by betel nut trees, Alishan tea plants,
and looking at the gorgeous mountain ranges.
Arriving to Alishan, we parked and checked into a hotel in the ZhongZheng
Village. The village is quiet, consisting of a few restaurants, hotels tucked
in, and the huge Alishan Railway, boasting about the Sunrise view.
After dinner, we hit the bed early to wake up for the 4:30 AM train to the Chushan Sunrise viewing point. at 4:00AM, it was still pitch black. Temeperature wasn't so cold at 15C. The train was full of to be sunrise viewers. Arriving at the viewing
point, people waited expectingly. The sunrise came at 6:00 AM, but was pretty
obscured by the clouds, but stunning nonetheless. The same train that took us to the top at 4:30 AM, was later in the day derailed by a falling tree. 5 ppl died, and 55 injured as it flipped over and landed 3M below. That was a shakeup, watching a minimum of 15 ambulances driving into the park, and a helicopter airlifting out critically injured.
Down the mountain, then to breakfast, rice porridge, mianbao (bread), and tasty
hot soymilk. A nap was necessary after breakfast, then it was off to Hiking. There's
tons of gorgeous trails inside. You could easily spend a few days there to do Justice. There was a shocking amount of mainland tourists, especially for off-season.
After hiking there, it was off to Fengchihu, a little village a bit down the mountain, home of the beautiful cedar trail, and Fengchihu historical trail. The
views were beautiful, but the large amount of stairs is taxing on energy.
SEE Alishan, its a must.
This is an experience that'll stick with you forever.
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