阿里山 (Ali Mountain) and 日月潭 (Sun Moon Lake)
I went in June with Auntie and Uncle and their Godson and daughter in law to 2 of Taiwan's most famous sights - Ali Mountain and Sun Moon Lake. Much gratitude to them for the wonderful trip!
Ali Mountain is a red cypress forest. Most of the forest is second growth since the trees were extensively harvested during Japanese occupation. The railway originally used to transport timber is now open to take tourists up the mountain. It is quite unique since it runs up the mountain face in a zig zag pattern, the front of the train becomes the back of the train as it zig zags up the steep mountain, instead of turning corners. It is OLD! Accidents and service issues are not uncommon -- it was out of service when we were there due to a fatal accident in April.
It's been so incredibly hot in Taipei - the cool mountain breeze and cypress trees reminded me of California!
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| Strolling around the forest with our tour guide. He grew up in the mountains so he knew a lot of information on the local history and it was really interesting to hear his prospective on his "backyard" becoming such a tourist attraction. This is a second-generation forest, trees are relatively young save for a few old growth trees. |
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| Skinny Cypress trees |
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| Many tourists peel the bark from the trees because tour guides tell them that it makes good tea or to smell the fragrance -- protective covering has been used to prevent this but it often does not help. |
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| See the hog? |
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| My A-yi and one of the oldest trees in the forest. |
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| I love clouds. You will be seeing a lot of cloud pictures. We went up to see the famous AliShan sunset but the clouds rolled in at the last minute! -- I still thought it was beautiful. P.S. I love Taiwan's clouds and mountains! |
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| The clouds sped by pretty quickly - the cloudscape changed every few minutes -- it was beautiful!! |
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| You can't help imagining the refreshing, clean and crisp air, right? |
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| This is actually sunrise the next morning! Gorgeous! |
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| Sunrise from the mountains - a must see when you are visiting AliShan. |
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| A-dieu and A-yi |
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| Love the mountains and clouds that go on forever. |
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| 日月潭 Sun Moon Lake - This is the largest body of water in Taiwan. A hydroelectric dam was built here during Japanese occupation - I'm not sure how big the lake was originally. What is interesting is that the Japanese completed many demonstration projects for emerging technologies in Taiwan, before implementing them in Japan, such as the hydroelectric plant at Sun Moon Lake. A lot of improvements in Taiwan's infrastructure and modernization took place during the Japanese occupation. |
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| Pagoda hidden in the clouds |
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| ri yue tan = sun moon lake |
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| Early morning - so tranquil! |
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| Early fog uncovers the still waters and lazy mountains. |
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| View from the gondola lift. |
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| At the pagoda that was on the top of the hill. |
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| View from the hotel. |
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| Group picture! |
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| A-dieu's cicada friend -- They are so loud - I hadn't heard them before coming to Taiwan -- they are surprisingly loud for such a little creature! They seriously sound like some kind of power tool. |
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| Adding in a random cloud picture taken from the window at school - looks like coral! |
