A weekend full of 特色, part 2
A very long time ago, I wrote about the trip I took to Alishan with a group of other Fulbrighters. Now, at long last, here is part 2 of our weekend full of 特色.
When the rest of us non-morning hikers awoke the next morning, we headed downstairs to a breakfast full of 特色, including rice gruel, the requisite vegetables covered in some kind of mayonnaise, and a pickled dish that none of us found to be to our liking, though our hotel owner assured us it was a delicious 特色 of Rueili, even if it wasn’t a “美國的漢堡“ which is of course, what all Americans eat for breakfast. Every day.
Nevertheless, off we set for the hugely popular mountain town of Alishan. Full of so much 特色, even the mist is a 特色.
The sea of clouds:
A really cool, giant butterfly that landed in front of the clouds:
Then we set off to see the famed cherry trees of Alishan, only they were no longer really in bloom. Not that this mattered to the hordes of people we encountered there, but still. At the start of our journey to the path that followed the giant, ancient trees, we were informed as to the ambiguous nature of the fire risk that day:
The Three-Generation Tree, another feature unique to Alishan. The oldest part of the tree is several centuries old, and the tree has grown back three separate times, causing the unique formation:
Some of the trees were upto 900 years old, and walking around really reminded me of visiting the redwoods last spring with Becky and Mel:
Beautiful mountain rhododendron in bloom (potentially mistaken by the Taiwanese for the cherry blossoms):
After lunch we headed over to the train station to take the famed Alishan Toy Train back to Fengchihu, but not before getting to witness a semi-exploitative and entirely tourist-oriented Aboriginal performance:
Finally, it was onto the train (here Rebekah shows just why waking up at the crack of dawn was not the best plan ever):
with some beautiful scenery on the ride down the mountain:
We spent the night in Fengchihu and then headed back to Kaohsiung the next morning. All in all, it was a lovely weekend filled with nature, trees, and 很多的特色.
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