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Alishan conjures up cloud seas at sunrise.  If we were to start from Chiayi's train station, it could take up to 5 hours, leaving no time to hike.  Instead, Kent suggested we drive up, then ride the Forest Railway from the Alishan Station in Zhongzheng Village to the Scenic Area where the Sacred and Giant trees are located.  He also warned us it will be cold, weather up in the mountains will most likely be in the 40s. This would mean we will miss stopping at Fenqihu (and  the bentos and bamboo forests), a small price to pay.  It is a 2-2.5 hour drive.

Weather is wet and chilly as the bus climbs from the plains of Chiayi towards Alishan Range.  Mr. Lin is a good driver.  While the bus is shorter, it is still wide, and the mountain roads are narrow. We do pass rows of high mountain tea plantations, their long rows hugging the mountain and changing with the elevations, but there is no time to stop since there is a train to catch. We will miss the cloud seas, but can get a glimpse of what it would be like when we look down into the hollows as we climb the hairpin turns. We get into Zhongzheng, and Kent suggests we get something to eat from the 7-Eleven while he picks up our tickets at the Alishan Station. We are a pack of locusts (along with others) who sweep through picking up onigiri, sandwiches and tea eggs. The Taiwanese 7-Elevens are known for their tea eggs and roasted sweet potatoes.  My mom had to have her sweet-potato every day when visiting the island.

The station is new-ish (2007), with exposed cedar beams. Nice. I had read that the portion of the narrow-gauge train we will be riding stopped running for a while, but reopened in 2024.  The station sits at 2216 m (7270 ft). The trains and tracks were originally laid down by the Japanese to harvest the large Formosan Cypress (hinoki).  These were brought all the way down towards Chiayi. I have always wanted to ride the train to see the sea of clouds and the giant trees in Alishan. And...here we are, most of us bundled and wearing everything we brought.  Ah, to think we are so close to the Tropic of Cancer... I am toasty though, I always travel with extra buffs and gloves.  See the nice black and white headgear Pete is wearing?  It is a souvenir from a January trip to Iceland. He is grateful for the warmth.

The train ride is fun, all of us sitting in these old train cars resurrected from the Japanese era, meaning the 1930s in this case.  The train winds up the slopes, trees on both sides.  The air quality seems to change.  It is fresh, piney, and humid. We climb higher.  Fifteen minutes later, we are there. We get off at the Sacred Tree Stop (Shenmu).

I am home. The first word I ever learned to write is my last name, Lin (Forest 林), composed of two woods. It is an old ideogram, and I loved that it looked like a tree. In traditional families, the second character of a child's name often designates one's generation status.  In my father's family, all the boys of his generation had Sen (森also meaning forest) as the last character.  My third uncle is named 林木森 (Lin Mu-Sen), which translates to Forest-Wood-Forest.  And if you count correctly, there are six woods in his name.  Imagine his delight when learning to write his name!

I digress. I LOVE trees. We have explored so many old world growths since I left Taiwan, and I never tire of them. Per Wikipedia, the name Alishan is derived from the Tsou people's word Jarissang. Another source says it is derived from the word "Alit" which means "ancestor mountain."  Either case, the name has never been from the Han Chinese, and for me, I had always loved the fact that the name simply belonged to the Island and to the people who predated the Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and Japanese. I had envisioned a wilder place, with more primitive paths, but these trails are well-maintained and stepped, and well-used. It is a good thing because my eyes are everywhere but the path.  The first portion of the trail is to the Sisters Pond, and it is crowded with all the folks who came on the train.  I am not sure where they are all going in such a hurry.  Since Kent is leading us, I am just following, without a map. We are seeing old trees, and trees growing inside trees. Lots of giant trees already, and we are not even at the Giant Tree Trail.  OMG the  trees!  You start at eye level and tilt your head way back to see into the canopy, and even then, it is not enough! I can wax lyrical about the trees for days, but I won't.  I will let the images speak for themselves.

We stop to get a bite to eat near the stalls at the Shouzhen Temple.  There are stalls serving all kinds of food, and good coffee (locally grown). But my favorite has to be the steamed rice cakes in the shape of a leaf filled with a pickled and salted turnip.  I almost missed this plate of goodies, so casually was it presented.  Sorry, no good pictures. For less than $2, I taste memory. And the moment is poignant and so fleeting. There are facsimiles of this (especially in Vietnamese cuisine), and I have been duped before.  Kent is not impressed, and Kathi takes a bite and says it is good. Sigh, this is heaven, what is better than being able to taste one's dream?

While wandering the trails we hear a booming song from a nearby building. It was a female voice extolling the virtues of brushing teeth. Turns out it was from the nearby elementary school (Siang Lin). It was just after lunch and before the kindergarteners' nap time. We later asked how many students are in the school, and I believe the woman said 17 total.

Next time, I would try to get a room in one of the hotels in Alishan.  I would wander the forest the first day, and get a very good nap, and watch the sunset, and catch the stars, and wait for the sunrise, and then back to the hotel to sleep the next day away...

We get back to Chiayi around 6 PM.  On the way down the mountain, we stop by a local goods co-op and sample some cookies, and I get some high mountain Alishan tea.  Tonight is an open night, we can go back to the Night Market, or try the food hall in the mall close to our hotel.  By the way, Maison de Chine has a Japanese floor, where the rooms have tatami (next time). I run downstairs and across to this stand I noticed from the balcony the night before.  I wasn't sure what they were selling, but noticed the long line of people.  Turns out to be a stand run by three sisters that sold  deep fried pockets filled with scallions, eggs, peanuts and sugar (not all at once).  Very oily, and very delicious.

We split up for the evening and while others went to the food court in the mall, Kathi and I wander over to this tower structure.  It is an art installation by Wang Wen-Chih called the Song of the Forest.  Turns out he is well known for his woven structures, some of which is featured here.  This piece was a commission of the Alishan Forest Railway to be evocative of the sacred tree, the tunnel, and the tracks of Alishan Forest Railway.  It is an interesting space, both the approach and the view out the open lattice of the tower. It is a beacon at night. Turns out the others also came by after their meal. One can't miss it.  While I love the piece, I think the lighting designer could have been more delicate in uplighting this piece.  Everything appears to be at the same intensity.

Kathi and I wander further into the now closed Forest Railway compound.  There is no one around and the roads are blocked.  We are now wondering how to get out of here since there appear to be concrete jersey walls between the compound and the street.  Hah! We see a break, and gingerly squeeze our way to onto the Main Street.  We are standing on the road, getting ready to cross the street, but see all these motorcycles cutting in front of us into this box to our right.  Turns out it is how motorcycles are allowed to take a left turn in this four-lane road.  Motorcycles and mopeds squeeze into this box on the right and turn facing the cross street.  Then they simply cross at the light as we cross.  We do have a destination.  Kathi wanted to see the Hinoki Village, a cultural village located in the original dormitories of the Chiayi Forest Division during Japanese rule. We come up to it, and it is dark. The village is composed of low Japanese style bungalows facing each other across a public garden space.  We go up and shine our phone lights into the spaces.  Would have been nice to have seen the interiors.  All day sightseeing doesn't leave much time for other things.

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