旅行は私の人生なのだ

2010.2.8

【The Bloom on the way to Fenqihu】

The Alishan Forest Area is divided into two areas, the shops area nearby the entrance and the forest area with few hotels.

When planning the trip, I've consider the convenience for watching sunrise with the child, so that's why I choose the hotel we stay last night.

About five o'clock, the sky is still dark, but we are ready for going to the sunrise-watching point.

As we think that there should be few people on the way to the summit, some tourists have been already in front of us.

By the way, if you are senior, the Alishan provide free shuttle car carrying you to the summit.

I think we should meet the only car on our way to the watching point for several times, and the driver always tells us that the summit is quite close.

Around six o'clock, we reach the watching point, and the number of the people is more than we expected.

The street vendors sell the souvenirs, just like the sticks or seals made from the cypress.

And one of the vendors provides the hot honey tea for us.

During the time waiting for the sunrise, the staff introduce the history of the Alishan sunrise.

Though the weather is cold, the atmosphere of waiting the sunrise is hot.

Unfortunately, today is too cloudy that we don't see the sun "Rise", and the sky just get bright.

It's a pity that I could not shoot the photos of the sun, but I still take many pictures with special feelings.

On our way back to the hotel, we take photos on the rail.

The train to the summit is still not available now.

Before the breakfast time ends, we get the last time to eat something and store a little food for enjoying on the way in the forest.

As we move forwards the forest area, I'm glad that the tourists are few.

I don't like to meet the crowd or hear the noise in the forest.

Why do the tourist shout at such a peaceful place just for taking pictures? 

I don't like these noisy things.

The trees in the forest area are mostly under 1000 years old, and it's great to walk slowly between the trees.

In Taiwan, some illegal cutting of the treasurable trees is still happening somewhere.

Actually, I don't like these bad things and I think the government should punish them very seriously.

Because people don't protect the trees and the land, the mudslides and mudflows are very common in the mountain area these years.

And as the typhoons pass, the roads will be terminated, and the business of the locals will decrease a lot.

Anyway, everyone should think more of our environment and do something good to it.

According to the guided map (here), we follow the route to the Older Sister Pond (姐潭) and Younger Sister Pond (妹潭).

I personally feel that the view of the Older Sister is better.

　When you walk along the route, you could look carefully at the shapes of the trees.

You will find some interesting things like this.

This tree is like a Pig.

And this tree formed a shape of the Heart. In Taiwan words, we call "永結同心" and it means that the couples will love forever.

The nature is very amazing and full of secrets, just like different shapes of these trees.

In the half way, there is a little rain and I suddenly find that I didn't prepare the raincoat for my camera.

It's good that the rain is small and stops very soon.

So, if you travel somewhere, the umbrella will be a good choice when you don't have camera raincoat.

Though Alishan is a scenic area, there is still a school here for the locals.

You may wonder how many students they have, but I think it will be excellent to be the student of this school.

If so, I could see the flowers and the trees everyday.

As entering the area of the old trees, you may see that every important old tree has its own credit.

The credit shows the number and the age of the tree.

Like this tree below (with white color branches on the top), it's 2000 years old.

These old trees are very heart-impacting.

Even my camera could not catch the whole picture of that 2000-year-old tall tree.

Maybe I should consider buying a wide-angle lens.

And Prita leads her niece to do the praying for the tree

Arrived at the Sacred Tree Station, we take a rest here for a while.

This station is no longer in use now, but is still a comfortable scenic spot except for the memorial.

From the strange memorial, we continue walking along the footpath to another area.

In order not to be bored with watching these trees, we play the game of guessing the age of these trees.

Most of them are under 1200 years.

The final one and the oldest one is the 2300-year-old sacred tree "香林神木" in Alishan, though this tree is already the second generation of the Alishan Sacred Tree.

On our way back to the hotel, we find the tree named "Elephant Trunk (象鼻木)".

If you look at this tree in a specific position, you could find the face and the long nose of the elephant.

For about three hours, we finally finish our big walk in the forest.

As we reach the hotel, we amazingly find that there is a bloomed cherry tree just near our hotel.

 We are so lucky to see the early bloom in Alishan.

Finishing out trip in Alishan, we take the shuttle bus to the shops area, and then ride towards the next destination, Fenqihu, where is not far away from here.

This is also my first time to Fenqihu.

On the way to Fenqihu, we see another beautiful bloom tree beside the tea house.

I think this one must be the most beautiful bloom tree in our trip, thus we spend a lot of time here to catch different views of the tree.

That's wonderful!

Additionally, I take a photograph with the scene of art.

Fenqihu is a famous half-way-point to Alishan.

Because most tourists will rest here, the lunch-boxes and snacks are the special feature of this place.

We walk along to food street to see what we have to buy for our colleagues, and then visit the trains.

The train station is still in use, but the train is not running yet for the effect of the typhoon.

Walking into the train house, you could see the old trains here.

Because we have to go back home tonight, we ride directly to the Chia-yi city.

Before taking the train, we order the famous food in Chia-yi, the rise with shredded chicken.

The wonderful 2-day Alishan trip is reaching the end~~