Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Trains

A year-round attraction there in Alishan is the trains, which hearken back to the days of WW2.  They wend their way among the hills of the park before heading off to towns near and far.  We found ourselves on one of these, which carried us to the city of Chiayi some hundred miles away.

Taiwan 2024 - Alishen, Cherry Blossoms

'Twas the season for cherry blossoms, so the crowds were bigger than usual there at Alishan.  Whenever the sun came out I rushed to get a pic of the blossoms while they were backlit, per below, but you can see there was some competition for these kinds of shots, per bottom:

Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Elevation Sign

 

Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Foggy Rooftop

Alishan is almost 9,000 feet in elevation, so even though we were there in mid-March it was mighty cold; everyone was bundled up in heavy jackets and scarves, including us.  The clouds still enshrouded the mountain early in the day per the fog shot above.  Later in day it cleared somewhat per the pic below:

Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Another Two-Generation Tree

 

Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Three-Generation Tree

Many of the trees that stand so wide and tall are of younger generations.  In the pic above, the stump in the foreground is considered "first generation" and behind it a "second generation" offspring, as it grew from the same root system in place for the first.  Two generations can also be seen in the tree system that Chenjean is standing next to in yesterday's post.

The most famous of these is the "three generations tree", with signs everywhere pointing out how to get to it.  Thus it was almost always crowded, but I did manage to get a few people-less pics, including the two below:

Taiwan 2024 - Alishan, Humongous Trees

One of the things on our to-do list was visit Alishan.  A friend from church recommended it, and since we were close anyway it was easy to hop on a bus for the two-hour journey.

Alishan is famous for its huge trees, as can be seen here and in the pic below.  Thousands of these were exploited by the Japanese during the occupation, but there were enough left over for later generations to enjoy.

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Tea House Entrance

This last post from the Northeast Coast is a two-shot panorama of a graffiti-covered entrance leading to a tea house.  Turned out a little better than expected considering they were handheld shots in low lighting conditions.

Next stop:  Alishan

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Hound with a Mission

The last of our stops along the Northeast Coast was this really awesome town way up in the mountains, about 7,000 feet in altitude.  This was close to the bottom of a long stairway that bisected the town.  There were so many tourists there that I didn't get many blogworthy posts.

But here was was one I couldn't miss, this dog wearing goggles that had a GoPro mounted on its back.  And what do the goggles say?

"I like Taiwanese girls"!

Wonder if this fellow was hoping the sign would serve as a chick magnet, the way sports cars are supposed to do here in the U.S...

Taiwan 2024 - Northeast Coast, Pristine Water

This is the only shot that captured the deep blues and turquoise of the water along the northeast coast of the island.  The foreground was so crappy that I just took it out...