This trip was planned at the back of
my mind shortly after the Taiwan trip last September although I didn’t expect
it to materialise so soon. This is the first time in ten years that I had not
planned to go to Europe in end-spring as I’m wont to do due to a few factors.
See, my passport was expiring and I wanted to wait a bit before renewing it.
Then there’s the football season which ends later this time around. I had also
planned to save my leave for a tour but had to wait until the MATTA Fair to
find out the departure date (the tour didn’t materialise for me though as it
would take place in early September and that’s not a good time for me to be
away from the office as August is a busy month). When I found out that the
passport renewal would be reduced to RM200, I decided to travel to Taiwan
instead, bought my flight ticket and renewed my passport. I then sorted out
accommodation and planned the trip (must admit the planning wasn’t as thorough
as past trips).
Wednesday, 29 April 2015
We landed at Taoyuan International
Airport at 06:20. Bags took a while to emerge. My initial plan was to buy the
1819 bus ticket to Taipei Main Station and from there buy train ticket to
Chiayi. As things turned out, I took another route down to the airport bus
station and as I was walking towards the counter, I noticed there are bus
services to a few cities including Chiayi from the airport via Zhongli Station.
The ticket was only NTD240 which is a lot less than the airport bus and train ticket
combined and the next bus out was at 07:30. Alhamdulillah. I had my breakfast
(which was the late-night supper from MAS) while waiting for my bus to Zhongli
Station.
We arrived Zhongli Station at 07:49
and I waited for the 08:10 bus to Chiayi. Bus was late though; it only arrived
at 08:30. There was a bad standstill on the freeway as we were heading out of
Taipei but it eased gradually.
We arrived at Chiayi Bus Station just
before 13:00. I made queries at the Visitor Centre before buying return busticket to Alishan for the following morning (NTD236 for one way) and then finding
my hotel. I was pleased to see that my hotel was all of five minutes from the
train station. I rested for a bit before venturing out again after 16:00. I
wasn’t so pleased though when I found that There were so many tea stalls there
that I wondered how any of them stay in business long enough! And of the dozens
of restaurants and stalls around, I couldn’t find any selling seafood or
vegetarian food. None. Zilch. Nada. In the end, I bought some snacks for
dinner.
Thursday, 30 April 2015
Woke up at 05:15 and had a quick
shower. A light breakfast followed. I left the hotel at 05:50 and went to the
train station to fill up my water bottle before boarding the 06:10 bus to
Alishan (the first bus out). The lady across the aisle from had a backpack
bearing a familiar logo so I asked if she was Malaysian too. The trip took
slightly over two hours and we had to get down at the entrance to the AlishanNational Scenic Area and pay the entrance fee of NTD150. The lady from Malaysia
helped translate for me. After paying for the ticket, we re-boarded the bus
before getting down at the bus stand at Alishan (the last stop). I went to the
Visitor Centre first – where I learnt that it’d take 2.5 hours to walk around
the area - before heading for the train station. I had intended to take the
Alishan Forest Train to Sacred Tree station and then back before taking the
train again to Zhaoping station.
There
was a notice at the train station stating that the ticket office would open at
09:30 (first train out is at 10:00 anyway, to Zhaoping) so I settled down to
wait. I was getting restless (it was barely 09:00 and I had another hour before
the train was due to depart) and then I noticed a sign that said the train ride
to Zhaoping would take six minutes but one could also walk there and reach
there in 30 minutes. I looked around at the growing number of people outside
the station heading somewhere and thought, what the heck, I might as well walk
and if I did, I’d reach Zhaoping even before the ticket office at Alishan train
station opened! So I walked back to the Visitor Centre to ask for directions
(the chap didn’t speak much English though) and set off. And guess what? A lot
of the locals were already walking so it looked like they all chose to walk
rather than wait for the train.
I
walked on to Zhaoping and turned into Zhaoping Park. Sadly, the cherry blossoms
were no longer in bloom ;’( oh well. I walked on and saw signs to Sisters Pond
and decided to head there. At Sisters Pond, there was a trail to Tashan. I
hesitated and dithered before finally deciding to give it a miss (a good thing
too as I just realised now it’s a 6.8-km trail!). I walked on and asked for
directions to the Scented Wood Arch Bridge. I was told it’s after Shouzhen
Temple so I followed signs to the temple. I must have walked miles already by
then but I must say that the Alishan area is so easy to navigate and I can say
that for I walked its length in my FitFlop (I decided to leave my Converse out
of my suitcase at the last minute).
I
followed the trail to the Three Generation Tree, Alishan Museum (everything was
in Mandarin though), Xianglin Sacred Tree and the Giant Trees Boardwalk. I then
followed the trail descending down all the way to Sacred Tree Station. I
couldn’t thank God enough that I decided to walk to Zhaoping first and back
from Sacred Tree instead of the other way round; if I had walked or taken the
train to Sacred Tree Station first and return back to Alishan station from
Zhaoping, I’d have to climb up from Sacred Tree Station to the Giant Trees
Boardwalk and Xianglin Sacred Tree. That would be a very painful strenuous
exhausting climb indeed. I could still walk back to Alishan but no way was I
going to climb back up to the trail so train it was. And luckily for me, there
was a train at noon (this time is not stated in the online train schedule
though). So I paid NTD50 for the single ticket back to Alishan (a round trip
ticket costs NTD80) and waited for the train.
The
ride took only six minutes and I was out of the station with three hours left
to my bus ride back to Chiayi (I indicated 15:10 as my departure time from
Alishan when I bought the bus ticket). I remembered that I managed to change
the train ticket from Taipei to Kaohsiung last September and decided to try out
my luck. Luckily again for me, there was a couple from Shenzhen in front of me
who were also on the waiting list and they understood enough English to help
translate for me. The bus driver for the 12:40 trip finally let us on after
ascertaining those who had purchased the ticket for that slot had all boarded. We
arrived back at Chiayi at 14:45 and I walked back to my hotel to rest after
buying a train ticket to Taitung for the following morning.
I
went out after 5 p.m. to search for dinner and found myself walking again to
Wenhua Road Night Market. I was in luck this time: stumbled upon a stall
selling sushi and noodles so I asked if the seller could prepare me a bowl of
seafood noodles. I walked back to the hotel after dinner.
To
be continued
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