Taiwan 2014 Day 6: Another day in Alishan

August 13, 2014

Heading off to Alishan forest again today but made two critical changes from yesterday's itinerary-

1. Opted out of free Chinese breakfast ( It looks even greyer today)

2. Opted out of the first bus to the local town ( "Let us walk" said someone )

However, the short ten minute bus journey took us an hour and fifteen minutes to walk. Although the high mountain views definitely made the walk worthwhile and the tiered tea plantations were stunning we nearly missed the bus to Alishan and had to grab a quick breakfast to eat on route.

Our aim today was to walk along a new trail in the forest, leading us to the Ogasawara Mountain Viewing Area. Although the weather forecast predicted better weather for today, the rain persisted.

When we got to the mountain viewing area the sun made a sudden appearance and it became quite hot, but it wasn’t strong enough to burn the mist away from the mountain peaks. So even though we didn't see Mt Chun-Ta, Mt Hsiu-Ku-Luan or the East Peak at 3940m this lack of mountain scenery was soon forgotten because we spotted a couple of wild monkeys in the trees which we watched and tried to communicate with for about an hour.

Our view

Unfortunately, as someone forgot to charge their camera battery (which I’m sure we won’t let them hear the last of 😂) we don’t have any photos of the elusive monkeys.

After a dry and pleasant walk back to Alishan station, we had another delicious meal at the same small restaurant, opting for the usual veggie choice of wild mountain veg and tofu and sweet & sour fish. Although the sweet & sour sauce wasn't as tasty as my good friend Sue Shins' from Long Eaton, it was still very enjoyable.

Before catching the bus back to our hotel, we spent a lovely hour learning about and drinking the local Alishan Oolong tea with a family that grows it organically. Someone made a substantial purchase, and it's a good thing I packed the fold-away Chinese tea transportation trunk. As we waited for our train, we read an interesting history of the railway, making our time fly by.