Trip to Alishan 阿里山の旅行

On March 9, my wife and I and our younger son traveled to Alishan in Chiayi County in Taiwan, where we caught the little train for which Alishan is very famous, and proceeded on a four-hour trip where the train climbed about 2,000 meters. After dinner and an "early night", we were up before 5 a.m. to get ready for a trip to see the sunrise. Later in the morning we went for a walk in the forest and saw many trees with their awe-inspiring blossoms.

登山鉄道。 In the lower parts of Alishan, the train wound its way past innumerable betel nut trees.

雲海。At close to 1,000 meters, a brief stop at a station enabled me to take this picture of a sea of clouds.

神木。Alishan has many huge sacred trees, sometimes over a thousand years old.

日出。Alishan has some spectacular sunrises.

Almost wherever one looks, one sees more mountains and mountain ridges.

This sacred tree was huge.

View from the platform next to the tree in the above picture.

Despite the beautiful scenery, traveling can be dangerous.

The post office at Alishan is housed in a beautiful building.

These flowers were actually potted and were right next to our hotel.

森林。Hsiu-chin and Morrison enjoying the walk through the forest.

The most famous sacred tree, which is 2,000 years old, unfortunately collapsed in recent years.

桜　さくらさくら。The cherry blossoms. Unfortunately, my camera was not really able to capture the beauty of these trees.

(Click on images to enlarge to see the flowers more closely)

吉野桜 Tokyo cherry

The train at Fenqihu (奮起湖) station, heading down the mountain.

Delicious local food and a model of the steam engine used in the past.

Unfortunately, our elder son was unable to accompany us due to spraining his foot the day before we were to go. Maybe we will go again some time to give him the opportunity to experience what was a wonderful trip.