I left a request for an early wake-up call, but didn’t get it. (I’m told I did, but said, “ok, ok, I’ll get up.” and then didn’t.
I can’t believe Irene fell for that, the oldest trick in the book – the old sleep-talking to stop someone waking you trick.
Anyway, we didn’t have much time when I got up – no time for breakfast, but I convinced them to let me run down to Mr. Cong You Bing and grab some food while they packed up the kids in the car.
It didn’t quite work to plan and we got started 10 minutes late. Considering that the train wouldn’t wait for us if we missed it, it was critical that we arrive on time.
Mr. Huang drove like a madman. More so than usual, dodging lanes, cutting through back-streets, cutting people off and in one case, ran a red light. Not like red light running back in the States either, in this case he deliberately came to a red light and then just slowly kept pushing his car into the intersection until the other traffic had to stop and let him pass.
No one else even seemed to think it was very abnormal, either.
We made it in plenty of time to catch the 3 hour train-ride to Giahi. (Last time I was here, it was spelled “Chiayi”.) We only had two seats and the train was packed, we spent the entire 3 hours trying to shoehorn four people into those two seats. The trip back will be similarly crowded.
October 1st was supposed to be the opening day of the Taiwan High Speed Railway, a Japanese bullet train that would cut the travel time from Taipei in the north all the way to Khaoshiung in the south to only 90 minutes.
The company building it ran out of money and is now truing to get the government to bail them out. I really wish it was working now!
Last time, we followed the same train schedule, but then we had to catch a taxi from the Giahi main station to the Forest Railway Station. 12:30PM arrival at one station and 1:15PM boarding at the other made for rushed visit to town.
This time, 7 years later, they’ve extended the Forest Railway line into the main station, so we had 40 minutes to look around and grab a bite to eat.
Wishing for a McDonald’s, but rewarded instead with a MOS Burger, we hauled our luggage two blocks around town and had a meal. Based on our last trip, I wasn’t expecting much to eat at Alishan, and this trip is a full day longer.
The run up into the mountains is still just as harrowing and impressive. The jungle, for it is truly a jungle of palms and bamboo, slowly gives way to pine trees, twisted and gnarled with age, covered in moss, sitting high up in the clouds.
The Forest Railway is another 3.5 hours, but this time there were enough extra seats that Michelle could have one on her own.
We arrived in Alishan around 5:00PM, the sun almost ready to go down, the clouds completely settled into the mountains. There was little to do but go to our hotel and see what awaited us.
We are staying at the same hotel we did 7 years ago, the Alishan House. Before it was a sparse hotel with wooden beds (as opposed to mattresses) and hot water only during certain hours of the day. We didn’t spend much time there, so it didn’t matter much.
The hotel has been completely renovated, but I’ll talk about that in another entry.
Michelle and I went out and took some pictures. I let her take her first photographs, with mixed results.
Recently, I read an article in a tourist magazine explaining “real” Taiwanese food and why most westerners have trouble stomaching it. it consists of incredibly fatty (more fat than meat) pork and lots of entrails. I mention that because that’s what the hotel restaurant served for dinner.
If anyone is interested, entrails look and taste like squid, just not as chewy. I pass that on based on Irene’s comments, I wouldn’t touch them.
I had some lawn clippings (bamboo shoots), pork fat (tasty, if you can pock the meat out – very tender) and some chicken soup and fruit. Not exactly my first choice of dinner but good enough.
Tomorrow we get a wake-up call at 4:20AM to see the sunrise. I’d better get good pictures!