Thursday, December 21, 2006
Taiwan Day 5 - Alishan
7/12/06
We left early this morning to catch the train to Chiayi. However, the earliest train would reach Chiayi at 110pm, whuch would cut us quite close to the departure of the Alpine Train to Alishan. Moreover, the train to Chiayi was so packed that YP and myself were allocated to separate carriages. Not that she minded... cos she ended up talking to an old man for 3 full hours, in which the old man then presented her with a box full of 20 Tai4 Yang2 Bing3 (Sun biscuits) as a gift, and an enormous pear. Haha! While I entertained myself with the scenery...
And I came upon these contrails... which reminded me of the company at East Coast, and of Shutch in US with me last year.
I dashed out of the train when it pulled over at Chiayi. I rushed to the ticket counter to purchase tickets for the Alpine Train. To my horror, my biggest fear surfaced.
Guy behind counter: "Yi3 jing1 mai4 wan2 le4." (It's sold out already.)
Oh man! Why like that?
And all this time while I was trying to remain calm and plan for the next course of action, a lady kept tugging at me and asking where I was going. I thought it had to be some sort of scam, but I was desperate... and she might have a way out for me. I just needed to be shrewd. So I talked to her to find out more.
Lady: I have 2 tickets for the alpine train.
Me: A-huh... (matter-of-factly... But my actual thought was...."Whoah... There's still hope! My only concern was how much extra bucks she wanted to make off this desperate soul.)
Lady: Same price as the train station.
Me: Really? (My eyes shot wide open when she didn't even try to make an extra dollar off me! Strange right? Then what's her motive?)
Lady: Have you booked a hotel?
Me: Nope.
Lady: How about Yingjia Hotel?
Me: Okie... How much? (I had studied Lonely Planet thoroughly and knew the hotels and their price range.... luckily...)
And she quoted me the same price as in Lonely Planet... what? She's really not going to make any extra off me?!!
Lady: Have you booked your sunrise tour?
Me: Nope. (But knowing that I will book it anyway cos that's THE thing to see in Alishan. And considering whether to trust her or not.... I did anyway!)
So we paid her deposit and she wrote stuff on the receipts she had given, gave us her namecard, and led us to the Alpine train and ushered us to our seats. There, I met an NIE GESL friend! He asked if I had just arrived, and was curious to know how I had managed to obtain seats. Apparently, he had arrived 2 hours before and had bought the last 4 seats on the train! My my.... I really have to thank God for sending an angel down to bless us!
Anyway, this is the Alpine train, and YP and myself in it. Exciting right? It's really like a toy-train... and it transports us through different vegetation, based on change in climate... from trtopical to sub-tropical to temperate. It resembles a botanic tour! From coconut trees, pineapple plantation to betel nut trees to cabbage plantation to bamboo trees to fir trees!! *grin*
Did you know that betel nut trees are these tall? (I didn't... but YP learnt it from her friendly companion - the old man. Haha!)
Cut in the mountain for the Alpine Train's track. (How will that destabilze the mountain? But for the sake of tourism dollars?)
After 3 hours of a noisy but interesting roller-coaster-like train ride, we finally arrived at Alishan... the most-talked about place. And they really do play "Alishan the gu-niang" on the train! Hahaha!
Railway track at Alishan
My first photo at Alishan... where it was seriously freezing. (Well, it's real winter there, I would say. And poor me had to survive with just my windbreaker, or resort to renting a winter coat from the hotel.
And this is why it's worth it... Cloud-covered mountains.
When we arrived, the sun was due to set. And my oh my... it was so enchanting! So much so that I was even disgruntled over the hotel staff picking us up from the station! We hurriedly checked in, dumped our stuff in the room and can you believe it... YP even ran up and down the slope to get back to the station just to catch the sunset! I was impressed, and ran even faster!
Isn't it all just so enchanting? You really just wonder at God's creation, so much so that it makes your heart skip, just by admiring his art.
This is the picture of Alishan, nice hor?
I took this photo leh.. impressive right? It was a photo of the picture on the wall! Hahaha!!
We were hungry as we hadn't eaten the whole day, and the fact that we were cold made our tummies growl even more. But we were also short of cash, so we had to eat something economical yet filling. We decided on a hotpot place... the price was reasonable and one hotpot could fill us both up comfortably. Also, the lady mentioned that she could offer us free rice. Hahaha! So gian4 beng3 hor? I even pushed the offer to the waiter, saying that we were offered free rice. (I usually wouldn't be so cheap-skate... but I guess when you're poor... you do things out of the ordinary... Hee. Desperate measures, just for 2 bowls of rice...)
The hotpot and heap of rice that made us grin from ear to ear and warmed our bodies and made our tummies happy.
Can I please start on my rice now?
Notice the 2 rabbits? They made me laugh continuously! Haha! "First you bite one ear off, then you bite the other... now it has no more ears..." (To the tune of "Nobody likes me... everybody hates me... I'm gonna eat some worms..." Hahaha!)
What a satisfying meal! *Grin*
Back at the hotel, where we resorted to a photoshoot. We repositioned the lighting and all to get the best effect. Professional hor? =)
And we retired to bed... on that hard hard bed, with our long pants, socks, and jackets, snuggled under the huge and heavy blanket... tossing and turning till it was dawn. Time for the sunrise tour!
We left early this morning to catch the train to Chiayi. However, the earliest train would reach Chiayi at 110pm, whuch would cut us quite close to the departure of the Alpine Train to Alishan. Moreover, the train to Chiayi was so packed that YP and myself were allocated to separate carriages. Not that she minded... cos she ended up talking to an old man for 3 full hours, in which the old man then presented her with a box full of 20 Tai4 Yang2 Bing3 (Sun biscuits) as a gift, and an enormous pear. Haha! While I entertained myself with the scenery...
And I came upon these contrails... which reminded me of the company at East Coast, and of Shutch in US with me last year.
I dashed out of the train when it pulled over at Chiayi. I rushed to the ticket counter to purchase tickets for the Alpine Train. To my horror, my biggest fear surfaced.
Guy behind counter: "Yi3 jing1 mai4 wan2 le4." (It's sold out already.)
Oh man! Why like that?
And all this time while I was trying to remain calm and plan for the next course of action, a lady kept tugging at me and asking where I was going. I thought it had to be some sort of scam, but I was desperate... and she might have a way out for me. I just needed to be shrewd. So I talked to her to find out more.
Lady: I have 2 tickets for the alpine train.
Me: A-huh... (matter-of-factly... But my actual thought was...."Whoah... There's still hope! My only concern was how much extra bucks she wanted to make off this desperate soul.)
Lady: Same price as the train station.
Me: Really? (My eyes shot wide open when she didn't even try to make an extra dollar off me! Strange right? Then what's her motive?)
Lady: Have you booked a hotel?
Me: Nope.
Lady: How about Yingjia Hotel?
Me: Okie... How much? (I had studied Lonely Planet thoroughly and knew the hotels and their price range.... luckily...)
And she quoted me the same price as in Lonely Planet... what? She's really not going to make any extra off me?!!
Lady: Have you booked your sunrise tour?
Me: Nope. (But knowing that I will book it anyway cos that's THE thing to see in Alishan. And considering whether to trust her or not.... I did anyway!)
So we paid her deposit and she wrote stuff on the receipts she had given, gave us her namecard, and led us to the Alpine train and ushered us to our seats. There, I met an NIE GESL friend! He asked if I had just arrived, and was curious to know how I had managed to obtain seats. Apparently, he had arrived 2 hours before and had bought the last 4 seats on the train! My my.... I really have to thank God for sending an angel down to bless us!
Anyway, this is the Alpine train, and YP and myself in it. Exciting right? It's really like a toy-train... and it transports us through different vegetation, based on change in climate... from trtopical to sub-tropical to temperate. It resembles a botanic tour! From coconut trees, pineapple plantation to betel nut trees to cabbage plantation to bamboo trees to fir trees!! *grin*
Did you know that betel nut trees are these tall? (I didn't... but YP learnt it from her friendly companion - the old man. Haha!)
Cut in the mountain for the Alpine Train's track. (How will that destabilze the mountain? But for the sake of tourism dollars?)
After 3 hours of a noisy but interesting roller-coaster-like train ride, we finally arrived at Alishan... the most-talked about place. And they really do play "Alishan the gu-niang" on the train! Hahaha!
Railway track at Alishan
My first photo at Alishan... where it was seriously freezing. (Well, it's real winter there, I would say. And poor me had to survive with just my windbreaker, or resort to renting a winter coat from the hotel.
And this is why it's worth it... Cloud-covered mountains.
When we arrived, the sun was due to set. And my oh my... it was so enchanting! So much so that I was even disgruntled over the hotel staff picking us up from the station! We hurriedly checked in, dumped our stuff in the room and can you believe it... YP even ran up and down the slope to get back to the station just to catch the sunset! I was impressed, and ran even faster!
Isn't it all just so enchanting? You really just wonder at God's creation, so much so that it makes your heart skip, just by admiring his art.
This is the picture of Alishan, nice hor?
I took this photo leh.. impressive right? It was a photo of the picture on the wall! Hahaha!!
We were hungry as we hadn't eaten the whole day, and the fact that we were cold made our tummies growl even more. But we were also short of cash, so we had to eat something economical yet filling. We decided on a hotpot place... the price was reasonable and one hotpot could fill us both up comfortably. Also, the lady mentioned that she could offer us free rice. Hahaha! So gian4 beng3 hor? I even pushed the offer to the waiter, saying that we were offered free rice. (I usually wouldn't be so cheap-skate... but I guess when you're poor... you do things out of the ordinary... Hee. Desperate measures, just for 2 bowls of rice...)
The hotpot and heap of rice that made us grin from ear to ear and warmed our bodies and made our tummies happy.
Can I please start on my rice now?
Notice the 2 rabbits? They made me laugh continuously! Haha! "First you bite one ear off, then you bite the other... now it has no more ears..." (To the tune of "Nobody likes me... everybody hates me... I'm gonna eat some worms..." Hahaha!)
What a satisfying meal! *Grin*
Back at the hotel, where we resorted to a photoshoot. We repositioned the lighting and all to get the best effect. Professional hor? =)
And we retired to bed... on that hard hard bed, with our long pants, socks, and jackets, snuggled under the huge and heavy blanket... tossing and turning till it was dawn. Time for the sunrise tour!
# posted by Banana Saviour @ 11:26 AM 
