Taiwan’s Hidden Treasure 

Today was an amazing day! I left the sweltering heat of Chiayi for the day and headed up to the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area. It is about a two hour bus ride from Chiayi. I first heard about it while watching a random travel show on Netflix, and I decided I had to see it for myself. This place seems pretty well-known around Taiwan, and perhaps other Asian countries as well, but I don’t think many American travelers know about it. Maybe that’s a good thing, because the way it is now, it is so peaceful. There were a lot of tourists and big tour groups in the main part of the park by the roads, but once I got onto the trails, I barely saw anyone.

I hiked all the way to the top of Tashan, one of the mountain peaks. It is a pretty steep hike at times, especially towards the end, but it was worth every blister on my foot. The scenery is so majestic, I felt like I was walking through a fairytale.

When I reached the top, I was surprised to see a power generator of some sort right by the summit, but there is still a nice platform to enjoy the view. It was really foggy today around the mountain, but that made everything more mysterious.

There is a temple in the park, and the fog even started rolling down around that!

If you ever find yourself in Taiwan. I highly recommend a visit to Alishan. Most signs in the park are in both Chinese and English, so it is easy to navigate around. The only thing I would do differently if I were to return is I would get a hotel room in Alishan park instead of staying in Chiayi. This would give me more time to explore the park without feeling rushed to get back. There were some restaurants that smelled really good, but I didn’t have a chance to try them. I also found out that you can take a shuttle bus directly from the high speed rail station to Alishan. If I had known it was so easy, I might have gone for a hotel in Alishan. Oh well, I still had a great day.