Cold and miserable, I went to sleep very early. As a consequence, I woke up very early also. The sun wasn’t quite up, but the sky had lightened and everyone else was asleep. While not cloudless, it was clear and pleasant, so I got out for a walk before the others awoke.
Recently, I upgraded to Photoshop CS3, which has a dramatically improved photomerge capability. Most of the time it produces excellent panoramas, and today I planned to give it a real workout. One of the problems with Taiwan’s mountains is that everything is so dense and the hills so steep that everything is “in your face.†With the widest lens I’ve got, I can’t take pictures of most of the “sights.â€
This time, I’ve burned through a massive number of photos designed to be stitched together, which I’ll do before I post them to flickr. I’ve put together a flickr set of my panoramas. I’ve put this together partially because Flickr’s thumbnails are cropped to fit, so it’s not always possible to tell the photo is a panorama unless you look at it.
Not all of the “panoramas†are really left-right widescreen affairs, either. They’re technically “photomerges.†Sometimes I used to capture vertical scale, such as towering trees, and others just to compose a fairly ordinary photograph that I couldn’t capture with a single shot.
After my walk, I returned for the all-you-can eat breakfast which is included with the price of the room. At the hotel’s coffee shop, a cup of hot black tea costs NT$ 100 (over US$ 3), but at breakfast, it’s included free. I made sure I got US$ 20 of tea with my breakfast.
Our checkout was at 11:00, but the train to our next destination wasn’t until after 1:00PM. We walked around the hills in the morning, checked out and went into town to have lunch and caught the train to our next stop, Fenchihu.
This was a very short trip to Alishan, cut even shorter by the rain when we arrived. It’s such a pleasant place, but there’s not a lot to do once you’ve seen the sights, which are just in a very small area. I’m actually more jazzed to explore Fenchihu more completely. Our first trip there was very short and confusing, so I’m hoping to get a better chance to explore.
The four-hour train ride up the Alishan Forest Railway was entirely in a torrential downpour. It’s a slow, rough, precarious train ride on ancient narrow-guage tracks, originally put in at the turn of the last century by the Japanese. The train is short on amenities, but at least it has a toilet. (The first time I road this train, back in 1998, the toilets just dumped right onto the tracks. There was a general prohibition from using the toilet when passing through the small towns.)
In many ways, the train itself is part of the tourism draw of the area.
I’m going to cut corners and glean info from my previous trips’ narratives rather than repeat myself. In 1998:
From Chiayi we took the “world-famous†Forest Railway, an old, small gauge train built by the Japanese in 1912 that winds it’s way up the steep and beautiful mountains from 31 meters at Chiayi to over 2000 meters at the town of Alishan.
I was repeatedly told that the Forest Railway is world-famous, but have yet to meet a non-Taiwanese person who has heard of it. It’s quite impressive, nonetheless.
The entire journey begins in a tropical rain forest, and takes you through semi-tropical forests and then finally into a temperate forest where ancient pines grow.
Shrouded in clouds, the mountains around Alishan (including Alishan, which is also a mountain) are eerie. The small clouds crawl across the surface of the mountains like living creatures. At anytime, these roving amoebae-like monsters might swallow the ground you stand upon.
Nothing has changed except the toilets. Nine years later and I’ve still never met anyone who’s heard of it, unless they’ve been to Taiwan. I would think it would be more well-known among railroad buffs… and perhaps it is.
The railway is precarious, there’s no other word for it. At times, looking out the window it is impossible to see anything below you except a several hundred meter drop. It’s been hacked into the sides (and right through) the rugged mountains by brute force, without an inch of tolerance.
In 2003, the train slipped off the tracks killing 17 people. It’s easy to see how these sorts of things can happen.
The ground in Taiwan’s mountains is prone to liquefaction resulting in frightening mudslides. Several people are killed each year during heavy rains. That thought was passing through my mind the whole time we travelled up the rails in the downpour.
At one point on this journey, the train slammed suddenly to a stop, while the engineers got out and inspected the tracks ahead. It as impossible to see what was up there, but after a few minutes, we proceeded slowly without further incident.
The final stop, Alishan, is one of those landmark “highest in the world†railways stations, but I don’t remember what the disclaimer on that one is. Highest in southeast Asia, highest narrow gauge rail station, highest station built by the Japanese between 1900-1920… I just don’t remember. It’s not the highest in the world, but it is some sort of highest station.
The grade and terrain is so difficult that the engineers of the railway had to create a unique solution to get the train to the top. They were forced to build switch backs into the rail line, allowing the train to work back and forth up the last stretch of the mountain.
When we reached the halfway point, the town of Fenchihu, it was raining cats and dogs. The town is “famous†for its bian dan, the Taiwanese version of the Japanese bento lunch. At the stop, which is about 3 minutes, vendors rush onboard the train selling them. Considering our luck with food so far, we figured the rain was so hard they’d just stay home. Luck was with us and, rain or shine apparently, they brought us welcome salvation in the form of food. Of course, bian dans are frequently pork chops, but I didn’t care. (I believe in this part of the country, they’re made with wild pigs that run in the mountains rather than slopped by Taipei’s garbage.)
The meal also featured something that I think was sausage, a chunk of something I think was ham and something that Irene says was fish cake, but I’m inclined to believe it was another sausage made entirely of pork fat. I didn’t care, I was at the point of starvation.
When we arrived at Alishan, if anything, it was actually raining harder, and it was cold – something like 12ºC (54ºF), which was a far cry from the temperatures of 32º (90ºF) in Taipei. Once soaked, wearing clothes appropriate for Taipei, it was bitterly cold.
The first time I came there was a train station. The next time, which was 2 years ago, the train station was gone (possibly lost in the 921 earthquake) and a new one was under construction. Instead you disembarked at a “temporary†station, which is just a platform. You then have to pay to get into the Chaoping Park, which is what the area is actually called.
The new station still isn’t built. According to my father-in-law, it was finished and failed building inspection. It had to be torn down and started again. Sounds to me like somebody didn’t grease the inspector’s palm enough. Obviously, that story could be apocryphal, too.
So we disembarked at the “temporary†station, which they’d thoughtfully put up small canopies so you could hide under, but the choke point at the pay station was crowded and everyone got soaked. Then you have to walk down a steep hill with all your luggage to a bus which will take you to the hotel.
The rain never let up and we were stuck indoors for the rest of the evening. A check with the front desk revealed that, with the weather being what it was, no one had been seeing the sunrise or the sea of clouds, so we decided to sleep in and hope that the morning would be clear for getting out and hiking.
I love the high speed train, and don’t want anything to sound like a negative, that’s why this is a different post. It’s not really about the high speed rail, but it is related.
The High Speed Rail station in Chiayi is ultramodern, efficient and even has both a 7-11 and a MOS Burger. (MOS has really moved into this country whole hog. They even have a concession location at the National Concert Hall.)
Here’s the problem: While the HSR arrives at the Taipei Main Train Station in the center of town, the stops along the way tend to be outside town – way outside town. We arrived “at†Chiayi exactly on time, but we were literally nowhere. We had to take a shuttle bus to the main train station.
It was lunchtime and we hadn’t eaten, not even breakfast. I thought about stopping at the MOS Burger in the station but, when we asked how long till the bus arrived, were told it was “any minute.†As it happens, I know that there is a MOS Burger within 2 blocks of the Chiayi Rail station that we’d be catching the next train at. We decided to wait rather than risk missing the bus. The connection time wasn’t tight, but it wasn’t leisurely, either.
As the bus arrived (after 15 minutes) so did the torrential rains, again. Perhaps it is because Chiayi is in the tropics, but the rain was even worse than in Taipei. The time ticked away and the bus slowly made its way through the rain. This bus driver was apparently the only one in Taiwan who won’t run scooters off the road or fudge through red lights if no one is looking. We hit every red light and at one point were stuck behind a scooter who was literally weaving back in forth (in the torrential downpour) in front of the bus – as if he was trying to slow us down.
When we finally arrived at the station, we only had 2 minutes, and there is only one train up the mountain each day. We started running across the station, which, like most stations in Taiwan, there are tunnels under the tracks, so we had to run up and down the stairs. Irene and I were both packed down with very heavy backpacks, but she had to pick up James (26 lbs) and I had to pick up Michelle (40 lbs) and run at full speed.
We just caught the train. I was so winded I thought I was going to pass out. Fortunately, the train up the mountain is 4 hours, so I had plenty of time to rest. Too bad I was still without food.
A second rainless morning in a row, but we didn’t have time to enjoy it. We had to catch the 11:18 High Speed Rail train to Chiayi, so we could catch the 1:30 forest railway to Alishan. The trip to Alishan is one we’ve taken several times before, but this is the first time we’ve been able to use the High Speed Rail to Chiayi, which knocks hours off the total journey.
The High Speed Rail is only recently completed and is based on Japanese Shinkansen technology. (There was a big stink as it was originally bid to the French/German Eurotrain consortium, but then, for some unknown, probably nefarious – or at least political – purpose, they switched the award to Shinkansen.)
Taiwan has been in desperate need of this for a long time. The island is only about 100 miles long, but it takes 6 or more hours by train to travel along the length of the west coast. The HSR cuts the time from top to bottom (and the two largest cities) to only 90 minutes.
At 300Kmh, the towns, cities and rice fields of Taiwan fly by smoothly, making the journey pleasant.
Being from a part of the world that really doesn’t use trains, this really seems a wonderful way to travel to me. I wish the economics were viable to put these between Phoenix and Tucson or Phoenix and Las Vegas, or Sand Diego, Los Angeles… hell, practically anywhere!
I got a chance to check out the front and the back of the train when we disembarked. There was no sign of splattered, rare birds.
(That’s been a concern, once the trains started running, some rare birds were too slow to get out of the way and got plastered, causing those concerned to try to get the whole multi-billion dollar project scrapped right after it got completed. Personally, I see it as applying darwinian forces on the birds, breeding smarter, faster ones for future generations.)
Finally got out for our first pizza in Taipei on this trip. I’ve placed the review over at pizzalocust, and there’s not much call for me to double-post it here.
Instead, I’ll just post this picture of myself, enjoying a glass of water at Sabatini in Taipei.
In the basement of the Taipei 101, like most other shopping complexes in Taiwan is a food court. While they all tend to have similar restaurants, just as food courts in malls back in the States are much he same, there is some slight variation from mall to mall depending on the clientele.
The Taipei 101 appears to attract foreign businessmen and that’s reflected in the food court.
We arrived right at the opening time for lunch and chose the Karen Teppanyaki. My exposure to teppanyaki is fairly limited as the total teppanyaki places in Arizona can probably be counted on 1 hand.
Teppanyaki, for the uninitiated, is a Japanese style of food grilled at specially-designed tables. The chef prepares the food in front of you while you watch. Back in the US, Benihana’s is probably the most widely known name in teppanyaki, but whereas the cooking at Benihana’s is more of a floor show with lots of flourish, knives being flipped and food being tossed around, Karen Teppanyaki was more matter-of-fact.
We placed our orders (I had the filet steak, Irene had the prawn, fish and rib steak) and the cook set about preparing our meat to order. he worked in a no-nonsense, but very efficient and well-practiced manner, and in a matter of minutes we had our food. In addition to the main dish, the meals also include rice, fried vegetables (lettuce, I think), bean sprouts and miso soup.
Without a broad base of comparison, I can say the steak was tasty and cooked as I’d asked it to be. The sauce it was served with was mild, but added something to the steak. Typically, I’m used to a teppanyaki sauce with a stronger ginger flavor, but that wasn’t the case here.
The steak was served topped with slices of crispy-fried garlic which, after a bit of getting used to, is pretty good.
As I’m on vacation, I didn’t actually bother to pay attention to how much it cost, but I’d provisionally recommend it as tasty food and as good as any teppanyaki I’ve had previously.
Saturday was the last day for Computex, and the only day they allow general admission. As I didn’t arrange my registration from overseas before we came and I wasn’t sure if the title of CIO would get me into the door (they’re mostly looking for bulk buyers) we waited for general admission day.
It’s a good area to get food – a lot better than what used to be immediately around Comdex Las Vegas – so we ate lunch in the basement of the 101.
In the afternoon, the rain actually stopped for several hours. While my wife and brother-in-law haggled over a discount on getting glasses, I finally got the chance to head off on foot with nothing in mind than to see the sights. While life in Taipei carries on fairly normally in the rain, I couldn’t help noticing that the streets were more active and lively, as people just wanted to get outside. Street food vendors were setting up everywhere they could. Continuous rain downpours couldn’t have been good for outdoor businesses.
Once again dinnertime meant “family time†and we all went out to eat at Ali Baba’s kitchen. Ali Baba’s is a long-standing Taipei restaurant run by Pakistanis with decent food, that they know I like. My mother-in-law, who is the one insisting on the family dinners, hated it. “It’s all too spicy,†she said, without trying a single bite. I think she had a salad and some fruit.
It’s horrible of me but not only did I enjoy the food, I enjoyed my mother-in-law’s dislike of it. It made up a bit for Friday’s dinner, which is what triggered my penguins post in the first place, which I haven’t finished writing yet.
Today it stopped raining for most of the afternoon. Two days in a row where I went outside and didn’t get wet. Could this be a promising trend? Tuesday we’re supposed to take the high speed rail to Chiayi and then the rickety old narrow-gauge, Japanese colonial-era railway into the central mountains. Assuming they haven’t been washed away in a mudslide.
Once upon a time I’d have killed for the opportunity to go to Comdex in Las Vegas to see the new technology and ogle the showgirls.
Through no planning of our own, Computex, the world’s second largest technology show was in Taipei this week, so I made the effort to visit.
Booth after booth after booth of USB keys and hard drive enclosures and water cooled PC and girls in skimpy outfits and thousands of geeks with cameras taking pictures of the girls and the hardware.
I made a few half-hearted attempts to catch the spirit, but it’s just more of the same, year after year. Ho hum.
The rain has let up some today and, even when raining, is fairly light. We took the kids to the Miramar shopping center, which is quite a long bus ride.
On the way back, some teenagers got on the bus. They were all friends and having a good time. Michelle and I were in the back of the bus because that has the highest seats for Michelle to see out the windows (and the roughest ride.)
One girl, just one row up and across the aisle leaned forward, tapped one of her friends on that arm and said in Chinese, “Look at the foreigner and his cute little daughter.†(That’s a loose translation, since I don’t understand much Chinese, but it was a pretty simple sentence and all words I understood.)
Naturally, I turned towards the girl who was talking about us and I smiled, because what father doesn’t smile when people say his kids are cute?
The thing is, it embarrassed the girl completely. She assumed I wouldn’t know she was talking about us. Her friends immediately started laughing at her. One of them said, “[Something I couldn’t understand], he understands Chinese.†and then the next one said in English to her, “You are so stupid.â€
I felt bad for her, but couldn’t think of anything to say to her.
