阿里山日月潭二日游（下）
9 Feb 2011 06:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mayoraaseiAhaha so I finally got around to writing the second part of my tour.
The next day we got woken at 5am by a phone call, fortunately. We put on practically everything we could find in our suitcase and walked out to brave the cold.
With the windows up and about 10 people squeezed into a minibus, it wasn't actually that cold...until we were told to get out and walk.
At the crack of dawn
Our first stop was a protected tree approximately 2700 years old. Apparently there once was a much older tree that had fallen in a mudslide quite recently. We had to climb down about five flights of very steep stairs to reach the bottom. The trunk was so thick that you'd need more than a dozen people to hug it.
On the way we crossed over to Yushan, which was the highest mountain in Taiwan and in north-east Asia. For many years it was restricted territory but has recently opened up for tourist access, but only with a permit.
Husband and wife tree
There were a pair of trees that were also several centuries (if not more than a thousand years) old. They're on a slant that's been increasing over the years (kinda like the tower of Pisa? XD) and as with many old trees they've tried to support it and fix the soil in many ways, but it won't be long before they topple.
Sun Moon Lake view from the mountains
Supposedly you could see the Sun Moon Lake from the mountains, but in the murky light we couldn't tell.
On the way our guide congratulates us on catching a bright clear sky. Apparently the cold front cleared the cloud cover which had been there for the last few days. He tells us that people who catch the train up often couldn't see the sunrise because they're at a lower altitude, under the clouds. He laughs and tells us that for the last two days, he could hear the train captain in the distance, leading his passengers on a song called, "I'm a little rain cloud."
It was closing in on autumn, so the mountain is sprinkled with natural grown maples. Taiwan is a tropical country, and apparently the locals have never seen orange leaves before, and the people in our mini-bus would not stop SCREAMING over...really malnutritioned, brown maples ==;;;;;;;
The drive from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake is a solid 2 hour bumpy ride through the mountains. We stopped halfway at a solitary isolated restaurant. The food was surprisingly nice, although almost entirely vegetarian. Mushrooms are always amazingly fresh in Taiwan...as opposed to Australia ==;
Home-grown vegies in the mountains
They had their tiny little vegie garden by the side. It seemed such an idyllic life, living in the middle of the mountains with almost no one around you, living off your land, and earning some spare cash cooking for passing truckies.
By early afternoon we reached Sun Moon Lake and hopped on a three-stop ferry trip. Once upon a time there were fish in the lake, but nowadays they're protected and fishing is prohibited. The whole thing has become a tourist area now...five star presidential hotels, shopping streets, designer temples, etc.
And then it was back to 臺中...which had giant Arashi posters in the station XDDDD
Photos
The next day we got woken at 5am by a phone call, fortunately. We put on practically everything we could find in our suitcase and walked out to brave the cold.
With the windows up and about 10 people squeezed into a minibus, it wasn't actually that cold...until we were told to get out and walk.
At the crack of dawn
Our first stop was a protected tree approximately 2700 years old. Apparently there once was a much older tree that had fallen in a mudslide quite recently. We had to climb down about five flights of very steep stairs to reach the bottom. The trunk was so thick that you'd need more than a dozen people to hug it.
On the way we crossed over to Yushan, which was the highest mountain in Taiwan and in north-east Asia. For many years it was restricted territory but has recently opened up for tourist access, but only with a permit.
Husband and wife tree
There were a pair of trees that were also several centuries (if not more than a thousand years) old. They're on a slant that's been increasing over the years (kinda like the tower of Pisa? XD) and as with many old trees they've tried to support it and fix the soil in many ways, but it won't be long before they topple.
Sun Moon Lake view from the mountains
Supposedly you could see the Sun Moon Lake from the mountains, but in the murky light we couldn't tell.
On the way our guide congratulates us on catching a bright clear sky. Apparently the cold front cleared the cloud cover which had been there for the last few days. He tells us that people who catch the train up often couldn't see the sunrise because they're at a lower altitude, under the clouds. He laughs and tells us that for the last two days, he could hear the train captain in the distance, leading his passengers on a song called, "I'm a little rain cloud."
It was closing in on autumn, so the mountain is sprinkled with natural grown maples. Taiwan is a tropical country, and apparently the locals have never seen orange leaves before, and the people in our mini-bus would not stop SCREAMING over...really malnutritioned, brown maples ==;;;;;;;
The drive from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake is a solid 2 hour bumpy ride through the mountains. We stopped halfway at a solitary isolated restaurant. The food was surprisingly nice, although almost entirely vegetarian. Mushrooms are always amazingly fresh in Taiwan...as opposed to Australia ==;
Home-grown vegies in the mountains
They had their tiny little vegie garden by the side. It seemed such an idyllic life, living in the middle of the mountains with almost no one around you, living off your land, and earning some spare cash cooking for passing truckies.
By early afternoon we reached Sun Moon Lake and hopped on a three-stop ferry trip. Once upon a time there were fish in the lake, but nowadays they're protected and fishing is prohibited. The whole thing has become a tourist area now...five star presidential hotels, shopping streets, designer temples, etc.
And then it was back to 臺中...which had giant Arashi posters in the station XDDDD
Photos
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Date: 2011-02-15 01:14 am (UTC)