5:55am, Alishan sunrise train ride
We're packed like sardines in a cold can, but at least we have comfy seats while another 30 people are standing in this train car. Sleepy… Up with the 4:40am iphone alarm. The room and floor is cold, but sure is warm under the heavy duvet. We get dressed, pack up some hot water and snacks, and are driving out the windy road in the darkness by 5:10am. No stars or moon out, but can see lights in the valley. Will there be a sunrise today??? We park outside the train station, and buy tickets (150NT return). Head upstairs and stand in line, beating the large tour buses by a few minutes, which allows us prime seats. We wait around 10-15 minutes on board until the 5:50am train leaves (a few minutes late).
I'm wearing lots of layers this morning, and my scarf. So this is the official Alishan experience. Sure gets a lot of hype, and people. We'll see if it delivers… Maybe time for a few minutes of zzzzs on the ride. The peaceful etheral airy asian music piped through the speakers doesn't quite mix with this jam packed tourist vessel.
7:14am, Chushan Station
The sky was covered with clouds when we arrived at Chushan Station. The whole mass of people marched up the steps to the viewing platform. The crowd was getting excited about the faint pink showing in small patches amid the cloud covered mountains. We walked further up the road to another viewing platform, and had to jump a "no crossing" barrier to reach the top (a lady said it was ok). Great 360 degree vistas from the top, but still lots of clouds blocking Yushan Mountain, Taiwan's highest peak at 3940m. Just a few other serious photographers were at the platform with us. It was calm and peaceful away from the crowds.
We hung out, but after no improvement in the skies, we returned to the train early to get some seats. Much less people on the return trip it seems, cause many people walk back to town (1hr walk), but our breakfast at the hostel is from 7-9am, so we need to get back ASAP to catch it.
Train is moving now, just a few people standing…
9:40pm, Teapot Homestay, Rueili
Had a few minutes of shut eye on the train down, then drove back to the hostel for our breakfast (great soymilk, and overall a thumbs up), after which we declared a 1 hour nap time.
At 10am, we were back up and started the drive out of Alishan. The skies were now clear above, with a growing haze among the mountains and valleys. Made decent time driving down the windy road, and after ~40 minutes, turned onto the road leading to Reuili. Little did we know, this marked the beginning of a WILD ride.
We continued up more windy roads, lined with tea plantations, past Fenqihu. The road led us up to the scenic tea plantation village of Taiho, where sweeping views of tea orchards lined the mountains. Soon after, we reached a fork in the road, with a sign saying the road to Rueili was under construction, and this was a detour. This was a surprise, but the guys in the visitor center yesterday said the road was open. We drove into the detour road, which was much narrower, and often gravel/dirt.
Spectacular Taiwan mountain tea towns...
Our route would lead us over these hills...
Fortunately traffic was light, as oncoming crossings would be rough in many spots. As we kept driving, the road deteriorated a bit more, passing more construction zones from recent typhoon washouts, but the signs kept directing us to Rueili, and we followed them. This mountain road was extremely scenic, and fairly easy to drive, compared to many CO roads I've encountered in a 2WD car while bagging 14ers. Still, this slow bumpy road, complete with large drop-offs on the sides, was quite "thrilling" to Betsy and Irene, who weren't sure what they were getting into. They were handling it great, and trusted our experience on these types of roads.
After a slightly uncomfortable crossing with an on coming vehicle, we reached another fork, where a truck happened to pass by. We flagged it down for directions. They said we were on the right track, and that the road was rough ahead, but passable by our car. Sounded like it would be no problem, since the road was already getting rough, and we were doing fine. We turned left, and drove down an even more narrow and windy scenic road, with tons of wild flowers, bamboo, and even a banana tree dressing the mountain side. We stopped often to take pics out the car window. Then grooves in the road started getting a bit deep, and I had to be careful we had enough clearance to pass the high mud in the center of the road. All my rough road experience in CO was keeping me sure we weren't getting in over our heads, though the thought of a car breakdown in these remote mountains did enter my head once or twice.
More flowers and plantations...
We reached another confusing fork in a wide dirt filled valley, that looked a bit like a motor-cross race track, and had the good fortunate of a car approaching from behind, who was able to guide us onward. At the bottom of the valley, the dirt road turned muddy, and for the first time I started to feel a little concern, as climbing up hilly mud is no good. But the patch was short, and we didn't sink in much, and we climbed up another hill. Then the road started getting choppy, with pieces of asphalt/concrete mixed in with the dirt road. One particularly narrow piece of road was concrete on one side of the road, and dirt on the other, with a sharp drop off to the right. I passed it before anyone could get too worried about it.
I was starting to get concerned that the road would continue to deteriorate, despite all the votes of confidence from drivers along the way. At one point, I bottomed out (fairly lightly, and on the side). I sure didn't anticipate bringing Irene and Betsy into this type of vehicular adventure, but at least the scenery was breathtaking, and no walking was needed. It felt like a in-depth safari through the stunning remote mountains of Taiwan. But the crux was still yet to come… While climbing up a dirt road, we encountered a 25' section of loose dirt and rock. Fortunately the road was plenty wide, though a heavy ground mover machine was sitting on half the road. Wendy and I stopped and investigated the slope, throwing large rocks aside. Then I approached the slope and slowly ascended, but the wheels spun, and I retreated back. Everyone got out of the car, and I noticed there was a guy in the Catipiller machine. Irene was able to confirm that the road was indeed passable the rest of the way, and that there was another way leading out of Rueili, so we wouldn't have to return this way. With just me in the car, I gave the slope another try, knowing I needed more speed to make it up. Apparently, the constuction guy asked Irene if I had ever driven a mountain road before, and wondered why I wasn't flooring it up the hill. I made it over half way up on the next attempt, but the tires started spinning, so I reversed back down. 2 more attempts got me a bit further, and packed the ground a bit, before I finally cleared the soft dirt. As we drove on, I noticed the parking brake was on (Wendy set it when we stopped). Wonder if that might have made things a bit tougher climbing up the rubble…
After some measured attempts, I gunned the car up past the obstruction. This Ford Tiera did a good job today...
Anyway, I was about ready to be done with this road, and fortunately, the rough dirt road soon gave way to pavement, and we arrived at the Rueili visitor's center. It wasn't til after we stopped that I could appreciate the "scariness" of the drive, since it was "all business" while at the wheel.
We picked up maps and info on hikes at the visitor center, and drove into the town of Rueili, built on a hillside, with amazing vistas (but super hazy this afternoon). 1st on the agenda was finding lodging. We had some recommendations from the visitor center, and found our first stop at the Teacup Homestay to have a great room and great price (2400NT for 4 person room - ~$80).
It was 2:30pm, and we had time for a hike, but first the Changs' all had some noodle soup from a street vendor (I was still stuffed from breakfast, given the 6-7 cups of soy milk I had).
Then we walked from the homestead to the trailhead of our hike. We knew it was 1.5hrs one-way, but the surprise was a ~1000' drop down steep steps through a scenic bamboo forest. It was one LONG staircase.
...down 1000'...
At the bottom of the valley, we traversed up and around to the other side, passing impressive cave and rock formations, including the Bat Cave and Shallow Grotto.
These bat caves no long have any bats, but look pretty cool...
After crossing a suspension bridge, we had to climb up 400', on a freshly built boardwalk (recently built after being washed out by a typhon) to reach the far trailhead, where we called the hotel to pick us up (~4:30pm).
On the ride back to our hotel, we saw a bun car, and asked to stop to load up. Instead of an ice cream truck, it was a bun truck...
Back at the hotel, it was dinner time. We opted to try a 5 dish (plus soup) meal at the hotel's restaurant, for 640NT (~$21 covering 4 people). It was some of the best tofu I've had, and the most tender chicken (free range from their stock). Afterwards, they invited us to join in on tea. I also decided to try a Taiwan Beer (the only brand they make in the country), which was a bit better than Budweiser, and exceeded my extremely low expectations (just had to try it).
I opted for Taiwan Beer. I great change of pace after so much tea recently. The bathroom in our room was impressive. Amazing deal, ~$80 for a 4 person room...
We've been discussing options for tomorrow, and our plan has evolved to: more hikes in Rueili tomorrow morning, the head to Sitou Forest in the afternoon to spend the night there.
Wi-fi here was a surprise. This place is awesome! We'll see how breakfast is… Certainly feels like we're one of the few tourists in town. Very quiet in this beautiful small mountain town...Here's some of Betsy's photos during the day...
