旅行是心靈的探索: Alishan 阿裡山 (3.11.12

We reached Alishan at about 2pm. After checking in to our accommodation, we explored Alishan. Alishan is actually not very big. We managed to explore most of it in 3 plus hour. There are 5 main wonders in Alishan namely sun rise, sun set, sea of clouds, forest and the train. In this trip, we did not get to see sun set because of the thick clouds but we managed to see a bit of sun rise. We also walked through the forest and tried the train.

Flowers blooming

Red maple tree. It is one of the few maple trees that I saw which has turned red.

Alishan train

Alishan train station

Tickets for sunrise tommorow

Train carriage

Train tickets

Zhaoping train station

Maple tree that partially turned red

Tall and straight cedar trees

Tree stump

姐妹潭 Sister pond

永結同心 Heart shaped branches

Walkway in the forest

Magnolia garden

One of the few blooming magnolia I saw

Temple in the mist

Alishan in the mist

Old mysterious building

Highest primary school

Supposed to be able to see sunset but cannot see because clouds too thick :(

What we supposedly could see

We went back to our accommodation and slept earlier than usual so that we could wake up in time to watch sunrise tomorrow. We woke at round 3am and took the 4.30am train to Zhushan. We waited for about one hour plus for sunrise but we could not really see it :( I would like to go to Alishan again and see sunrise.

Long queues of people waiting to get on the train

Train platform

Train coming into the station

Inside the carriage

Finally reached our destination

Walking to the pavilion to see sun rise

Although we did not really manage to see the sunrise, the scenery was still quite beautiful. Clouds turned pinkish and yellowish, swirls of clouds like cotton candy, thick sea of clouds :)