Today was the day we were awake for more than 21 hours. If you're a not-so-disciplined motorcyclist tourer (like us hahaha), you'd know.. that most touring trips are also sleep-deprived ones.
With approximately 150KM to cover for the day, we took our time to really enjoy Alishan by..
waking up at 3:00AM to catch the 04:00AM train ride up to Zhu Shan Station for the sunrise.
This is the timing that people who are still clubbing haven't even sleep can!
From our hotel, it was a short 500m walk to the Forest Railway Alishan Station but it included a flight of stairs and.. I hate stairs. Well at least everyone else were also climbing the stairs with me haha.
We arrived at Alishan Station and purchased our tickets.
As this period was the Flower Blooming Season, there are limited tickets sold per day to ensure crowd control so yes, be an early bird to catch the worm!
There are only two train departure timing from Alishan Station to Zhu Shan Station, one at 04:00AM and the other at 04:30AM. This two train services are normally packed and it's important to get in line early so you can get on the train because if you miss both trains, you'd have to walk up to Zhu Shan instead, and that will take at least 2 hours.
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| PC: keywordsuggest |
By the time you arrive, the sun might have already started to rise. I think I'd be too shag after walking 2 hours of gradual inclined slope I'd find a corner to sleep while everyone else is busy snapping photos of the gorgeous sunrise.
The train was sardine-packed.
If you want a seat, I'm telling you, our Singaporean-kiasu-auntie attitude will get you one.
Dash in, use your elbow to jab others and make way to your ideal seat location, slam your fat ass on the chair and there you go! Oh, and if you have companions, you stretch your arms out like a mother hen to "reserve" the seats and pray that the other aunties won't just sit on your hand. Goodluck!
Well for me, I was lucky you know.. I gracefully walked in like a swan and found a tiny space so I conveniently just sat down.
Hahaha.
This was the old school kind of train that took about 30 minutes to reach Zhu Shan Station. If you want to opt for the complete forest railway experience which is known to be extremely scenic, you can hop on from the bottom at Chiayi but that will take you several hours to reach the top. You can find out more here.
05:00AM
Arrived Zhu Shan Station and, another flight of stairs to climb before we get to the viewing spot!
It was pretty crowded as most of the tourists, eagerly anticipating to see the sea bed of clouds while the sun rise, were already here.
We went ahead to "chope" (reserve) the best spot for viewing the sunrise, and had our cameras on standby.
06:02AM
It's currently just 4 degrees. The sun have yet to rise, but our hands holding the cameras were freezing already.
Prior to leaving the hotel earlier on, I advised the boys to layer on their clothing because it would be cold up there and ironically the temperature will dip as the sun rises. But they said "Aiya no need one la!" Act one garang (aka strong).
Whahaha end up, look who's suffering now?
And I was there, all calmed and composed in my thermals and Gortex :p
06:51AM
Finally, the sun started to rise but due to uneven hot/cold air movement that led the clouds to be all over the place, it wasn't as breath-taking as how everyone anticipated it to be.
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| PC: northwest travel |
That's the thing about sightseeing, it's better to manage your expectations to avoid being overly disappointed when mother nature doesn't co-operate. It definitely helps to be in good company though! Alternatively, if you have the luxury of time, you could extend your stay to increase your chances of catching what you want to see! :)
Nevertheless, it was still a beautiful sight to behold, overlooking the endless rolling hills and mountains out there.
By now, we were pretty much frozen already, so were our facial expressions hahaha.
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| Never see people so happy to drink ginger tea before |
before hopping onto the train and heading back down to Alishan Station.
The scenery through a short distance from Zhu Shan to Alishan Station was already so scenic, can't imagine how gorgeous the views will be to sit through the entire train ride from the base of the mountain.
We may not have witnessed the magnificent sunrise today, but we were sure basking in the abundance of the eminent flower blossom season!
Look at just how pretty they are!
11:00 AM
Checked out of the hotel and back to our bikes, as it's time to descend from Alishan.
The weather now is perfect for riding. Cooling at 12 deg with the warm sunshine and vast blue skies above us. No sweat!
We took a slow relaxing ride down the mountain,
passing through endless rows of cherry blossoms,
as we headed from Alishan towards Tai Chung.
It was a weekend, hence we took a longer time making our way down the mountain as traffic was pretty heavy. The scenery around us started to change too as we descended. No more cherry blossoms but the smooth curvy mountainous roads were still there to put a grin our faces :)
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| Life of a photographer, camping by the side to capture the boys having a good time gliding through the corners |
Wheeeee~
Carefully avoiding the highway, we followed the road signs toward Tai Chung instead of relying on the GPS because you never know sometimes it might accidentally lead us onto it, and we definitely wouldn't want another high speed chase by the police!
After more than 5 hours and passing through a few foggy areas, we arrived into Tai Chung safely with the skies dimming by the minute.
Fullon Hotel LihPao Land
福容路88號
No.88 Fullon Road, Houli District, Taichung, Taiwan 421
4 Bedder with Private Bathroom
Cost per night: $326
Checked into the hotel and man.. the bed looks soooo tempting! I just want to collapse on the bed like a potato and not move at all... Shaggggg.
But no! Because tonight's a special night, where Pirelli dealers from all over the different states in Taiwan come together to celebrate the brand and most importantly, have a good time! So I hurriedly showered, dressed up and headed down to the hotel's ballroom where the dinner was held.
Despite my physical fatigue, as Pirelli's brand ambassador, it was such a delight meeting the entire Pirelli Taiwan family here.
There were stage performances, fun games and prizes to be won that really set everyone in a joyous mood.
Many thanks to Jason from Pirelli Taiwan for this exclusive invite to the wonderful dealers dinner where everyone made time out to attend this awesome get-together annual occasion.
What a great way to wrap a day! Three cheers to Pirelli Taiwan as I can't wait to witness the brand soar to much greater heights in exciting times ahead!
Time to retire for the night as tomorrow, we'll be closing our two wheel adventure loop soon, heading from Tai Chung back to Taipei!
[Singapore. Taipei.Yilan.Hualien.Kenting.Alishan.TaiChung]
[Mileage Clocked: 1,038KM]
[Weather/Temperature: 15°C/Sunny]
Next stop: Taipei