Sun Moon Mountain

Falling in love with Alishan.mpg

Falling in love with Alishan.

Alishan is best known for its sunrise, sunset, sea of clouds, railways and forest.

This is Alishan station, supposedly Taiwan's largest train station constructed of wood. Nearby is a trail that leads visitors into a forest of millenium red cypresses and Japanese cedars.

Guess how old this red cypress is?

Huang Yuan-ming, Guide
Its diameter at breast height is 13 meters, so it's about 2000 years old. There are 36 ancient trees here. Each of them are numbered and described in the signs.Today we visited some of Alishan's most popular destinations. Next week we'll be hitting some of the lesser traveled paths. Stay tuned!

This one here isn't quite the oldest, but it's the most popular and voted THE sacred tree in Alishan.

Some people make visiting this forest an item on their bucket list. And some couples even choose to get married here to make their wedding even more memorable and sacred.

Not far from the forest is Fenqihu, a town where tourists stop for meals and souvenirs. We have with us today an English friend. Everybody, this is Jack.

Incredibly foggy, it's like this in Fenqihu just about every day. Kind of mystical and enchanting.

This is an old bakery with a popular dessert called train cake.

Liou Jia-rong, Baker
My grandpa would use to sell these on trains. This flavor is Alishan oolong tea.
It really tastes like tea.
It's good.

Another item they sell on trains and also in town are lunch boxes. In its heyday, the entire town can sell 1500 lunches a day.

Michella Jade Weng, Presenter
Jack Harrison, Traveler
Sweet potato.
Is it good?
Tasty.
Not bad.

Jack Harrison, Traveler
It was great. I loved the 老街，walking along that street. Same with the train station. It was very cool. It was all foggy and misty when we walked through that, which was very atmospheric.
Today we visited some of Alishan's most popular destinations. Next week we'll be hitting some of the lesser traveled paths. Stay tuned!