Nan-t'ou Things to Do

Another tourist town in the Nantou area most tours end up in. The town of Jiji is famous for its train station which is almost a replica of any Japanese train station. I was shocked when I saw it because it was an almost exact copy of the Biei train station in Hokkaido. The platform signs are also reminiscent of their Japanese counterparts.

The shops around the station also try to retain the "cutesy" air atypical of Japanese sights. Many souvenir shops surround the station and as you drive away from the station, you are once again whipped back into the rural countryside - what a stark difference.

It stirkes me that many Taiwanese are still nostalgic of the old days where Japan colonised the island, especially when the latter had contributed greatly to the prosperity and infrastructure of the island.

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HoHuanShan is the highest point on the highway system in Taiwan. It is nice to come up. If you are lucky you can see skiffs of snow when you come up from December to February. -Be warned if there is any chance or skiffs of snow ACTUALLY present expect huge traffic jams. Taiwanese people are MAD to see snow and the lightest dirtiest scummiest slush qualifies as a huge experience for them.
The traffic is BAD if it snows.

But the view is amazing, and on normal non-busy days HoHuanShan is a nice place to get out and wander around and take a look at the easiest high point to get to in Taiwan.

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In nantou county there exists a mighty span of bridge that connects one tiny run down road to a small flat farm area across from it. This mighty span is the Dong-Pu bridge. It is a small suspension bridge suitable for walking, and is a wonderfully pointless view of the area around you, but it is cool to hop on and look down at the tiny little river beneath you, and some tiny waterfalls beneath you.
It screams make work project for tourists to view, but suprisingly is not too cheesy other than the pig statues standing at the one side of it.

On the farm side of it you may be able to wander around. Apparently there is a granite wall to look at if you follow the path long enough. It didnt sound tempting to me, so we turned around after locating a statue of a taiwanese native and his dog and another statue of a well-hung bear with very bright testicles... ?

On the parking lot side, up the hill is a small teahouse. It wasnt open when we arrived in the morning but I would imagine it is open for lunch and supper. It looks clean and has a nice view.

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From Tatajia, the road winds downhill towards Alishan, soon reaching the famous Luling Sacred Tree (鹿林神木). Luling Sacred Tree is a 43-meter tall, 2,700 year old giant Chymaecyparis formosensis. It is the second largest sacred tree in Taiwan, and its diameter is probably greater than the diameter of a giant sequoia. Getting to the tree only takes a short, 40-meter boardwalk (all downhill, so it’s all uphill coming back). The tree lies at an elevation of 2,300 meters (about 7,500 feet) above sea level.

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Tatajia's most popular trail is a 3-km round trip trail to a Big Tree. In good weather, this trail supposedly has some unbeatable views, but my visit (fog everywhere, visibility about 20 meters) wasn't so great. From the Tatajia visitor center, the trail heads immediately uphill for 600 meters; then it descends slightly until you're 1100 meters from the trailhead at a paved road. From here, turn left on the road and follow it for 5 minutes (0.4-km) to the Big Tree. It is not the biggest tree most people are going to see, but it does look very beautiful, especially in the fog.

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Tatajia (Tatachia) (塔塔加) is the highest point on the road to Tatajia/Alishan Highway (about 2500 meters). There is a Yushan National Park visitor center here. Honestly, I was somewhat disappointed by Tatajia, not because there's anything wrong with it but because there was dense fog so there was no view. According to the plaques there, on a normal day, there are views of the entire Alishan range and the Yushan Range. The visitor center there provides some basic visitor information, and hands out free maps, etc; they can also recommend which hikes in the area are best.

Tatajia is the starting point for climbers and hikers heading up Yushan (3954 meters). Climbing Yushan requires a mountain entry permit and all hikers must be in some type of organized group. The trail to the summit is 22 km round-trip and takes two days.

The Husband and Wife Trees (the Couple Trees) sit beside the road to Tatajia, near the entrance of Yushan National Park. These trees, now apparently dead, are still standing together; they're rather photogenic. If you notice, there's a lot of fog in this photo. As we drove uphill from Guanshan, the fog increased, and by the time we had reached these trees the road was completely enveloped by fog. Arriving in the early morning decreases your chance of running into it; the later in the day you come, the more fog there'll be.

Guanshan (Kuanshan) (關山) is further down the Tatajia road from Guanfeng. Apparently, the view at Guanfeng used to be good (meaning right after the construction of the road to Tatajia), but since then, many trees have grown, almost totally obscuring the view. In fact, only the Yushan main peak was visible from here. The viewpoint covers a wide area with a good sized parking area, but not many people stop here anymore.