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In Taiwan, the most beautiful place to watch sunrise is the Alishan Forest Recreation Park. Due to its gifted advantages: a location at an elevation of over 2000 meters above sea level, with Jade Mountains in the east, next to the Jade Mountain National Park, with the Chianan Plain in the west, surrounded by all high mountains, and cool weather all year round, an average of 10.6 degree Celsius, the Park is very famous for the sunrise, the cloud sea, and the rosy clouds just before the sunset here. The Alishan area sits astride on all tropical forest zone, subtropical forest zone, temperate forest zone, and frigid forest zone of Taiwan, so it got very unique scenery. You get to see them all in one trip, unbelievable! Its rich forest resources result in a multi-dimensional ecological appearance. Especially for the “cypress” trees here; they are famous worldwide. It is also the best place to go watch birds from mid and high elevations.
The Alishan Forest Recreation Park was an important wooded land when the Japanese were here. In order to get the economic benefits out of the cypress trees, the Japanese built railways and chopped off the woods for 30 years. When Taiwan was returned to the Chinese after World War II, the original cypress trees were almost gone. Therefore the Taiwan Forest Forestry Bureau made Alishan and the Jade Mountain area, a total of more than 39600 hectares of public forests, “the Alishan Forest Recreation Park”, to protect the natural resources here. However, the forest railway was unexpectedly recognized as one of the three greatest mountain-climbing railways in the world. Starting in Chiayi while terminating in Alishan, the railway has three spiral screws and one Z-shape climbing up in its first sideline, which are all amazing engineering accomplishments, showing how bold the Japanese were, to overcome all the geographic difficulties and to get the economic benefits. There are also some sidelines in the park: the Divine Tree Line, the Mianyue Stone Monkey Line, and the Chushan Sun-Watching Line. After the 921 earthquakes in 1999, however, the Mianyue Stone Monkey Line was so badly destroyed that they had to close it down. Trains going on the Divine Tree Line are still irregular. Only the Chushan Sun-Watching Line operates normally: taking eager people to go up in the mountains to see sunrise.
The park can be divided roughly into three landscape areas: area one is the Alishan Forest Recreation Park, area two includes the Chushan Sun-Watching Track and the Towards-High-Mountains Sun-Watching Track; and area three includes the Mianyue Line, the Datashan Track, the Aji Vertical Walk and the Afong Vertical Walk. Most people visit area one only. You may go to area two if you like more challenges, or area three, the most difficult one. There are many landscapes in area one, all connected to each other. Here are some routes to go forest bath for your reference: start at Jhaoping Park towards the Sisters' Ponds, the highest-density cypress area in the Alishan Forest Recreation park, going along the track by the pond, the “Three Brothers” cypress tree landscape is there aside the wooden bridge by the Missing Pavilion, at the end of the track is the “Four Sisters” cypress tree landscape, walk further, you will see the “Forever Love” dry decayed cypress landscape, with another two cypress trees right next to it, making a view of three, all together. Then pass the Mulan Park, the Shoujhen Temple, and the Hanging Bridge. The trip is about 1 kilometer in length. It feels like walking in a green tunnel, very nice and cool even in hot summer. Going further, starting at the Alishan Hanging Bridge, pass through the original cypress tree logged-form road area behind the Hsiangshan Elementary School. This route is mostly downwards. The section is also about 1 kilometer long. If you start at the old Divine Tree, the route will be all upwards until the Hsiangshan Junior High School, so it will take much more energy if you choose to hike this way. At last, a Steam Train Exhibition is there near Jhaoping Park and many cherry blossoms are around, making it an excellent photo place here.
Although it is in the high mountains, accommodation and dining here are all very convenient. In the early days, tourist spots were mostly around the old Jhaoping Station. Since the new Alishan station and the Alishan highway (Tai 18 Line) were open, more and more new hotels and restaurants open up near the new station, making it a rather busy business district and thus the old station fades out accordingly.
Alishan has been known since long for its five spectacular views: the mountain-climbing railways, the forests, the cloud sea, the sunrise, and the rosy clouds just before the sunset. The Forest Recreation Park is a good place to relax. You may take an easy walk, or hike light, to receive the energy from the forest flowing all over the body and to indulge in the aroma essence of the forests, with birds singing and insects beeping in the background. The moment when you let go your heavy burdens is the moment when the party for the body, the heart and the soul begins. Trips for two or three days are all good, depending on your need. |
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