Room 815

It is a great feeling to wake up and the first thing thing you see is fresh green vegetation soaked in morning dew right at your door step. However, that is not the case for us. Especially when we had to wake up at 3 in the morning!

Instead we were greeted by darkness, icy cold breeze and hordes of tourists.

Alishan isn't just famous for the mountains, alishan ladies, alishan hunk or the song that depicts them. What is it truly famous for is the SUN RISE, other than the humorous mayor who gets a chance to see it everyday.

We had reached the train station at 3.30AM, thinking that we would be the only few people there. What unfolded before us is what seems like the whole Alishan Population waiting for the train(150NT) to the peak of "Chu San" Chu Mountain.
This is what the interior of the train looks like BEFORE it was filled to the brim

On the way up to the peak, i suddenly remembered a blonde(no offence to all blondes out there) joke i came across.

A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead, all working for NASA, were trying to figure out where to go on the next trip. The brunette said, "We should go to Mars." The redhead said, "We should go to the Moon." The brunette and the redhead sat there arguing for a while. Suddenly, the blonde shouts, "Stop arguing! I know where the next expedition should be to ... the Sun!" The brunette and the redhead looked at each other and started laughing. The brunette finally said, "You can't go to the Sun. You would melt or burn up before you even got close!" The blonde said, "DUH... Not if you go at night!"

The highest mayor(red) in Taiwan! LiterallyThat is like 800 over HDB storeys!Awaiting the arrival of the SUN! And then it was over before we knew it

It was kind of disappointing that we did not manage to catch the sunrise due to the heavy fog. All we saw was the sky gradually lighting up the surrounding mountains and that was it, completed in a matters of minutes. All we are left with are breath taking pictures of the sunrise at the train station.

Feeling tired and sleep deprived, we went back to our hostel to sleep, not before taking some pictures and breakfast!

Train to the peak

11degrees, even colder than the night before

Some kind of meatballs that taste very much forgettable

Same with the noodles

There wasnt much stores around Alishan in the first place and being so early in the morning, most of it was not opened yet. I would say other than the steamboat, the rest of the meals were nothing to rave about.

The first view of the catholic hostel when coming in from the entrance

And you have to go down this long slope
Enter the door and you will find the front desk, the missing attendant can be found inside his private mini room behind the desk.

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The rooms in this hostel is expensive for what it is worth. The room is bleak and very basic. The private toilet is more like a big toilet with partitions. Sound proofing was terrible. We can hear conversation from the other room through the toilet! 1 door from our room to the toilet, the partition in the toilet and another door from the toilet on the other side to the next room. It was very chilly at night and there wasnt any heated. The only food that we can find in the 200m radius is cup noodles from the front desk. The place seems to be understaffed. There was only 1 person in charge that we saw and he couldnt get the dorm rooms(250NT/pax) ready for us in time so we had to take a room instead. Luckily there wasnt many people staying there.

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Currently the other accommodation in Alishan is restricted to mid to high end hotels. At non peak season, it works out to be of better value. Do look around before deciding on one.

At noon, it was time to roll down the mountains! on the much talked about Alishan train of course. The 3.5hrs ride was not as magnificent as i thought it would be. In fact, i slept through most of the trip(we woke up at 3am remember?).

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Another Alishan celebrity is the Railway Lunch Box or "铁路便当". The price is in the 200NT range. Again, this is another disappointment as all 3 of us thought that the meal simply...sucked. Not going to comment much, try it for yourself. As the adage goes, one man's poison is another man's treasure.

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An interesting event that took place on the train was when Amelia lost our Taiwan Phone! We had got the Taiwan phone(digital tour buddy they call it,links to it was posted earlier) from the tourism of Taiwan. We had used up all the credit so Amelia and Audrey went out to top it up as well as to get their Starbucks fix(yes they have an outlet on Alishan). We were halfway down the mountain when she realise that she could not find it. The train isnt stopping for another 2 hours and even if we were to wait it out and get off at the bottom, there would not be any transport to go up again, not to mention we have absolutely no idea where it could be. So all 3 of us started to panic and begin ransacking our packs, digging every single pockets. After 20mins of blood intensifying search.

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JK: Amelia, did you check your pockets?

Amelia: (Shuffling her jeans pockets)yeah it is not there.

JK: How bout your jacket pockets?

Amelia: What jacket pockets?

JK: (Pointing to the slits in the jackets) Those..

Amelia: (Tapping her side jacket) Ah, i found it...

JK: -_-"'

Then i went back to sleep. zzZzZZ(In)Famous Lunch Box
Looks not too bad, taste very much worst

Our destination after Alishan was Green Island(禄岛) and to get there we need to get to Taitung(台东) which was at the other side of the Formosa Island(Taiwan). Our day from noon till 10pm was spend on 3 different trains, one after another. We did not book any accommodation in Taitung but instead of being worried, i was feeling kind of excited. Before we left taiwan, michael had said that people in Taitung are very friendly and he even spend a night in a police station cause he could not find any place to sleep. Naturally being the dare devil me, i wanted to do that but was opposed by the 2 ladies. Lucky for them, we spotted many advertisement for minsu the moment we emerge out of the train. So no police station tonight for us. We walked around a little and found a hotel with giant neon signs 10mins away from the station. The place is called Xing Long"星龙" hotel. Bargained a little to 1500NT for a room for 3 and we gladly took it. The place looks very unoccupied, in the morning we only saw 1 other pair of customers. The room this time was better than what we had last night. Big room with 2 comfy queen size beds and full of toiletries.

Looks creepy at night
A face lift in the day

Room 815

The next day we head to Green Island, the place where we cant wait to be there. Stay tuned!

Day 5 in Taiwan

Day 5 in taiwan and we are enjoying every single moment of it. Travelling is a very liberating experience for both the body and the mind. Sometimes you end the day with a aching and bruised body and you know that you wont trade the experience away for anything. I like to travel, to see the world and to experience whatever it brings with it. It doesn't matter whether it is a pleasant experience or not, as long as it authentic. It is the only time i feel that i am a part of this world, the only time when i can finally taste freedom.
We laid our eyes on this the moment we opened them Tranquility
Home-made breakfast

We have the whole morning to ourselves before leaving for Alishan(阿里山) at noon. So we decided to walked around and see what this lake has to offer. We chanced upon this electric bicycle booth the night before and decided to pick up 1 for each of us.(NT500/3 hours). A useful practice for us before riding an actual scooter in Green Island. The girls initially had some problems controlling the bicycle but after a little practice, they were as good as professionals and start to complain how slow it is -_-"'

Me and my ride Audrey speeding down the lane
She needs to stop to pose properly
Island inhabitants
I(tried) mount the camera on the bicycle This place isn't populated by tourist, so get there before it changesThe beauty of mother nature
I am happy when i eat
So is amelia
There are several stop points scattered around the area where you could rent or exchange your bicycle for a fully charged one free of charge.
"Go that way to see the giant lake monster, it ate my friend just now!" O_O Great place, great company what more could i ask for
We rode for about 3 hours and passed by rice terrace and many farmers home

There are actually many ways to tour area the area which include walking, round trip bus, the ubiquitous boat ride and of course electric bicycle. They are great methods and each offers a totally different experience. Don't miss this place out in Taiwan.

After our ride, we pack our stuff and took the same Green Bus back to the train station. Next destination, ALISHAN!Farewell gift
Train station
Get here if you want to go Sun Moon Lake

Our trains stops at Chiayi and were immediately greeted by touts offering transport to anywhere near. The moment they know we are going to Alishan, they quickly pulled us along with them. We had missed the only train up to Alishan that day and came an hour after the last bus up left. So we had to find other means to get up there. An old lady claiming to be official tour operator(she had a tag) offer us 1200NT/3person up to Alishan. We have heard stories where passenger sometimes were left halfway in no where and were extorted for more money. We didnt want to become a victim of it. I went to a 7-11 nearby and chatted with the store attendant a little and found out that a taxi ride up would cost 2000NT. Immediately the 1200NT offer sounds too dubious. The old lady kept hanging around us and we couldn't shake her off at all. We even wanted to run in 3 different directions on the count of 3 so that we can get away from her but decided that would be too crazy, it was a fun idea though. In the end, we got amelia to walk away to a taxi away from the touts while me and audrey distract her. We were quoted 1800NT by a middle aged man with a smiled benignly. He saw the old lady chasing after us and knew exactly what was happening. He quickly helped us with our bags and drove off.

5 "A" for choosing the right taxi:

1) Avoid bug-liked pestering touts with a super good offer

2) Ask locals who you know isnt involved in the business(7-11 attendant in my case)

3) Analyse the situation and make a decision

4) Abandon your Tout in a swift manner

5) Ascertain your driver. decorations of religious items or family pictures in vehicle is a good indicator. Also look into the eyes, more often than not, they tell you everything you need to know. The journey up is a winding 4hours elevation in thick fog The fog is so bad the visibility is only about 5meters.

On the journey up, we were telling the driver about where we come from and our journey the last few days. We kept conversing with him, partly to keep him awake. We dont want him driving us down a cliff. Minutes passed and the sky darkened as the sun began to set. We came to a dark and lifeless Alishan. Not quite the atmosphere we had expected since this is a popular tourist spot in Taiwan. We went to the Catholic(1800NT/room) hostel which was the cheapest listed in LP and booked our room for the night. We dropped our bags and went around looking for food.

Our home for the night
Everything was closed, and we were the only people around.
13 degrees Celcius!! We didn't expect this temperature

We walked for about 10 minutes and we saw lights in the fog!! We were starved and all the hostel had was cup noodles so we ran towards it and guess what we found. A whole area crowded with steamboat shops!! We picked one that was slightly more expensive than the rest but have a very cosy cottage ambience. We wanted to treat ourselves to a good meal(280NT) after the run. At this place, we met the funny owner who we saw running up and down every 10mins or so. The steamboat we were using were aerosol canned operated and they would generally last for about 30mins or so. He told us that everytime the flame goes out, customers would always try to reignite it and the moment he hears the clicking sound of the steamboat, he would run up and changed it for them. His run is actually more like sprinting up the stairs. I pity him running up and down so many times so after his 2nd change for us, i decided to not click the ignition and went to change the can myself(i saw where he keeps them ). This place does serve good food and the decors are one of the best i have seen Entrance
Decorations
Stairs leading to the 2nd floor seat area
Bears need food too
Alishan Shan Re Chu (Alishan Sunrise) Restaurant Food galore!
The food not only looks good, they taste good too
Our food platter for 1
Set for 1 person(not bad for 280NT)
Table full of food Audrey couldnt finish her food and decided to make fried tang hoon. What a waste! We left the place feeling satisfied

We had to wake up early the next morning to catch the train for Sunset viewing. This is the main reason anybody would come up to Alishan and we couldnt leave without it. Our hostel person was saying we need abit of luck to see it because the weather is foggy these few days. No matter what, we are still going to hope for the best.