Trip to Alishan and Jiayi

Vacation Time!   In June we took a quick 4-day vacation down to central Taiwan to visit our friends, the Yen family, and for a quick over-night visit to Alishan (Mt. Ali).   Alishan is 2200 m (7200 feet) above sea level, and is the most popular mountain resort in Taiwan.

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We took a high-speed passenger train down to Jiayi, where we spent the night with the Yens. They live just north of Jiayi in Minxiong. Here are some photos of the trip to the Yens' house.

We had originally planned to take a bus up to the top of Alishan, and then to take the narrow-gauge railway back down. Unfortunately, part of the road was washed out, making it unsafe for buses (but still OK for cars). We wound up taking a taxi up the mountain ... which was only a bit more expensive than the bus would have been. The driver stopped at a tea farm owned by his friends, where we saw how tea was processed and had a wonderful cup of tea. The scenery was amazing.

Notice that we're suddenly wearing long sleeves! It was below 20 deg. Celsius (68F) on the mountain. Taiwanese people think this is chilly, but we thought it was very comfortable. The afternoon we arrived it was 'cold' (low 60s F) and rainy. What fabulous weather -- reminded us of Seattle! The kids did get a little bit of cabin fever, though.

The next morning, we did NOT get up bright and early to see the sunrise (this is what you're suposed to do at Alishan, famous for its spectacular sunrises) but instead slept in until after 7am, and then did a short (4 km / 2.5 mile) loop hike around Alishan. Like most popular Taiwanese "hikes", this one was on a well-paved sidewalk, complete with stairs. We saw retired engines from the narrow-gauge railroad, a pond full of tens of thousands of tadpoles, hiked through the cherry trees (no longer in bloom, of course), past a Taoist temple and a school, and then past a Chan (Zen) Buddhist temple and convent, and then back to our hotel.

In the afternoon, we took the train back down the mountain to Jiayi. The scenery was spectacular -- no camera could do it justice, especially not through a train window. It was interesting to see the vegetation change as we came down the mountain: the scenery up high was very similar to what we're used to seeing in the lower-altitude regions of the northwest US, but as we got lower and lower the plants became more and more tropical.

You learn something new every day. What we learned on our way back to the Yens' house was that pineapples do not grow on trees. They grow on the ground!

Pictures below include a litchee tree laden with ripe fruit, a dragon-fruit plant (looks like a cactus) the front of the Yen's house and the view out the window of a traditional, older-style Taiwanese house, and Mrs. Yen cooking a fish in the kitchen. There are also pictures of a container of silkworms -- before they consumed a whole basket of leaves!

This is the university where Mr Yen (a history professor) teaches. This is one of the newest universities in Taiwan, and great pride is taken in the fact that it resembles an American university campus. Ironically, unlike more typical Taiwanese campuses, this one is broad and sprawling, and extremely inconvenient for those who do not drive, and thus it promotes reliance on private vehicles and all of the problems and environmental costs that increased car use entails, rather than encouraging continued use of public transport. What a shame to see Taiwan emulating the US in this respect, rather than promoting the use of its excellent public transportation. (The campus IS pretty, though.)

On campus the children enjoyed watching the black swans and walking around with Mrs. Yen.