A-li-shan Things to Do

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This tree, a Taiwanese red cypress tree, has been around for 2300 years! It was tall and huge and was named as the Alishan Siang Lin Sacred Tree. It is also one of the monuments of the Alishan Forest Reserve. It has another name - Guangwu Cypress, as it had been around during Emperor Guangwu's (Han Dynasty) time!

We saw red maple leaves on Alishan, and some wild cherry blossoms. The cherry blossom is a major attraction every March, and our guide told us that many visitors would make their way up to Alishan to view the flowers. All the wild cherry trees would be full of pink flowers by then.

The nature reserve is run by an indigenious tribe - the Zou tribe. These fishes are a protected species, and they feed on algae on the rocks in the rivers. When feeding, they turn their bodies belly-up, and expose their silver bellies. When viewed at a distance, these feeding fishes appear as silver streaks in the river.

Our guide brought us to this place (Ai Yu Bo's House) to eat our railway lunchboxes and to enjoy a cooling desset - Ai Yu. Ai Yu is made from a fruit, the fruit is grounded into powder which turns into jelly when mixed with water. Each bowl of Ai Yu is topped with bits of passionfruit...Yummy! This place has been visited by scores of Taiwanese celebrities, e.g. Jacky Wu (popular host), Fan Wei Qi (singer) etc.

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As trains travel slowly and the journeys are long, some people with good business acumen started selling "railway lunchboxes" at the train stations to the hungry passengers. These lunchboxes are actually quite famous, and some people are actually known to travel from Taipei to Fen Qi Hu, just to eat these lunchboxes!

We ate these railway lunchboxes for lunch at Fen Qi Hu, and it tasted really good.

During the old times, there used to be commercial logging activities on Alishan. The trains and railway system were used to transport the logs down from the mountains. Nowadays, these trains are used to transport people from Fen Qi Hu to Alishan. The trains travel at a slow speed, and there are only 2-3 trains arriving / departing from this train station every day.

The climate and altitude of Alishan was also suitable for the cultivation of wasabi plants, which were introduced to Taiwan by the Japanese. Some stall owners were selling the wasabi plant and its sauce, others were selling wasabi-flavoured sausages.

Inside the Alishan Forest Reserve, there is a Sisters Pond. As we went there during winter, the water level is lower (the water level would be much higher during the summer season). There is a legend behind this pond. It was said that 2 beautiful sisters, belonging to one of the indigenious tribes on Alishan, drowned themselves in the pond in an attempt to save their tribe (hence the name, "Sisters Pond"). After their death, their enemy (a hunter from another tribe) passed by this pond and the water rose up to engulf him.