Alishan National Forest, Taiwan

 Notes from the journal:

6/6

  • The address for our hotel in Chiayi was wrong and took us to a building that also happened to be a hotel, so we were really confused and after lots of messages with our actual hotel, we managed to find it.

6/7

  • Walked across the street to board our bus to Alishan and got off at Shizuo on the way to hike amongst the oolong tea fields. It was very scenic with lots of clouds but we were unable to buy a cup of tea since the tea shops only sold in bulk. 
  • Got back on the bus and went to Alishan, walked around the entire park for a couple of hours. The forest was very misty and lush with giant trees, streams, flowers, and ponds. 
  • It started pouring on the bus ride back and the roads started to flood, with small mudslides. The ride up was very scenic and we saw lots of monkeys on the side of the road.
  • Back in Chiayi we went to a very yummy local restaurant where Tyler tried congealed duck blood (it was…interesting). Stopped for boba on the way back to the hotel.

6/8

  • Ate a breakfast of whole yams and ice cream from 7/11 before taking the High Speed Rail 1.5 hrs to Taipei.


Read if I referred you to this post:

  • We definitely recommend Alishan and that area of Taiwan. It was Tyler’s favorite part of the country and my second favorite after Green Island. It is difficult to pre-book tickets online aside from buying them on Klook, which allows you to get on and off the bus a few times and covers entrance to the park. The ride is about 2 hrs each way and is very curvy. We didn’t get a chance to go to Sun-Moon lake but I’ve heard that’s beautiful too.
  • I would recommend a stop in Shizuo to walk through the tea fields (there are multiple trails).
  • Alishan National Forest Recreation Area is not very big and the entire park can easily be walked in a couple of hours. I would recommend this over the train due to cost and having to wait a long time between trains. We easily walked between all three stations and didn’t take any trains.















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