Taiwan - Chiayi (Alishan National Park)

Day 4 Part 1 - (20 May 2012)

The only thing I managed to take picture for my breakfast was this cereal.
The hotel's breakfast buffet was fulled with people from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan tourists.
We had to line up so freaking long just to take our food. And the bad part about it was that, everyone was so greedy, that the moment it reached our turn, nothing left for us except breads.

FML!

I was so lazy to line up again for the next refill. Hence I just had breads and cereal.
:(


We departed from the Hotel at 7.30am and arrived Alishan Park at 10.30am.
3 hours ride in the bus is a pain in the ass.
I slept in the bus for the entire journey. To make things worst, it was raining heavily.

The average temperature in Alishan during summer time is around 14 to 24 celsius degree.
During my visit, it was about 12 to 15 celsius due to the rain.
The moment I step down from the bus, I was freezing okay!
Super cold.

We took a train in order to get to the peak of the park. The reason why we didn't get the chance to hike all the way up was due to 2 reasons which are due to the heavy rain and also because most of the tour members consist from elderly age people. So it's quite impossible to ask them walk all the way up with such weather at such age. Even me myself don't have such stamina lor.

After looking at my weak stamina, I don't think I'm fit enough to climb Mount Kinabalu.

As for the entrance fee, I'm not so sure whether you have to pay or not. Since it was covered by the tour package. However according to http://wikitravel.org/en/Alishan the entrance fee is about NT$ 150 to NT$ 200 depending on whether you took the public transport or by car. Cheaper price for students with a student card - NT$ 100.


Just click on the wikitravel link in order to understand how to get there by train or bus (if you plan to visit there by yourself rather than following a tour).
The price to take a cab/taxi is very expensive. So, the cheapest way is to get there by train or bus. Make sure you survey and plan properly or else your trip is going to be shitty. hahaha :P


As for the 10 minutes train ride to the top of Alishan from the Railway Station cost NT$ 50 for one way and NT$ 80 for two ways. I strongly advice you to take the 2 ways ride instead. Unless you love to walk so much, then don't buy any tickets at all, and just walk all the way up there. lol.

Luckily I wore my jeans that day.

I thought of wearing shorts. If I were to wear shorts, I bet I'll froze to death in the middle of Alishan Park. 

 With one of our lovely tour guide :)

10 minutes ride to the top of Alishan mountain.

See that whole group of people marching by?

China Tourists!

The funny thing about this was that, one of the girls from that tour group asked me where I came from because she overheard me speaking to Mark in English.

At first, I didn't know that she was actually talking to me.
Then I noticed that nobody answered her, so I turned my head towards her direction and she was staring at me expecting for an answer. I was quite shocked actually. Then I replied her nicely saying that I'm from Malaysia.

I was amazed that she replied me this (I'll translate it in english)
"I thought Malaysia speaks Malay"
HAHAHAHA!
Wow! I didn't know that she knows that. I was expecting her to say "You're chinese right? Why the fuck don't you speak mandarin then?"
hahahaha!

Because I always get such response to any chinese that I met. They seems pissed and annoyed when another chinese doesn't know how to speak proper chinese.
-_____-
Ehh my problem la. You so pissed/annoyed/unhappy what for?
I can't speak proper chinese that is my lost. You don't have to make me feel worst about it. Giving me lectures on how important the language is and how bad it is for me for not knowing how to speak it.
Give lecture what for? Give me money instead lah. So that I can use it and go for tuition. Talk so much also no use.
Hmph!!

Mark with his new umbrella from Taiwan.

 Portable toilet

 Love my cute purple umbrella

We began our journey to venture Alishan.
The excessive walking helped to warm my body up from the mad cold weather.



Less talking, more pictures.

The scenery there was amazing. I love that place so much.
It would be even lovelier if you could get there earlier to catch the sunrise.
They said the sunrise in Alishan is beautiful.

There's also a temple somewhere inside Alishan Park.

This place is really magnificent!
One should not miss this popular tourist attraction when you visit Taiwan.
A must visit place or you will cry and regret once you get back to your respective country. lol

 Waiting for the train to take us back down.

Lunch of the day

Seems like most of the dishes are meant for vegetarian.
Hmmm... Lunch wasn't that good for me. haha!
Yes I am so fussy and particular when it comes to food.



After lunch we headed to Tsou Ma Lai Farm.
Stay tune for the next post :)