We woke up at 3+am and as it was too early, no one was around and we had to let ourselves out of 新順利民宿.
We made our way to the meeting point (7-11) and got some food/drinks as breakfast. There were also several other folks presumably waiting to go on a guided tour too. A short while later, we saw our tour guide lady who quickly ushered us, along with some others, onto a mini-van.
She drove the van herself and went on to pick up a few guests from other accommodations. En route, she told us some history about Alishan, the sacred tree etc. and we finally made a stop at our 1st destination for star gazing. I have no idea where we were exactly – basically we were along a mountain road and she asked us to alight.
When we alighted and looked up into the night sky, it took my breath away! I never understood the term starry starry night until this day! G said it looked unreal too, haha. So pretty~~ I wished we could have taken a photo….but it would be impossible to capture that scene!
It was almost pitch dark as there were no street lights and the vehicle’s lights were also turned off so that we could star gaze properly. The guide went on to point out the constellations and stars in the sky in Mandarin but we were not able to understand everything that she said.
We were also informed to be on the look-out for shooting stars and got quite excited when we finally saw them! It was the 1st time that we saw shooting stars! It’s really not what it’s made out to be like in TV or film – it was just a small speck of rapidly moving light across the sky and that was it! 
Amazing experience, nevertheless~
Next, the guide brought us for a quick photo-stop to snap the Yushan National Park sign. There were many other people trying to take photos with the sign so it was difficult to get a good shot. This was at 5:30am.
Then, we stopped along the way to see the the famed husband and wife trees (夫妻樹) of Yushan.
Photo of the sky at this spot. As you can see, it was already quite light.
At about 6am, we got to our viewing point for the sunrise - there were also a few other groups here. The sun would be rising from the top of this mountain line…
We were given thick glasses (what do you call this?!) through which we should view the sunrise so as to not damage our eyes! Here’s how it looks like, quite cool huh?!
Finally, the moment we were all waiting for~
Later, G and I got into a discussion about sunrises and we both agree that the sunrise from a mountain top cannot be truly considered as a sunrise. This is because the sky was already bright (i.e. the sun had already risen) and we were just seeing the sun rising from the mountain. It would be nicer to see the sunrise from the horizon since the it will illuminate the sky as it rises!
Here’s G making the typical Korean heart sign! Do you notice something? The color tones of the cliff lined up perfectly with his arms to form a heart! I realized this only after we downloaded the photos, kekeke.
On our way to the sacred tree, we spotted some monkeys along the road – we stopped for awhile and there were 2 monkeys who jumped on to our vehicle!
Cute shot with the little one snugly held!
Suckling on~
Our final stop on this tour is the 2nd oldest sacred tree (鹿林神木) in Taiwan. In the background, you can see the mini-van which we sat on this tour.
There was a pathway leading visitors down.
This tree is a whopping 2,700 years old! The oldest one is 2,800 years old but apparently, it is rather inacccessible.
Another view across the mountain from the sacred tree location.
Phew, what a long post! Next part will see us taking the Alishan Forest Railway train to the Shermuh station.
recent comments