Taiwan 2024 Trip Overview - 7 days in Central and Southern Taiwan exploring Alishan, Tainan and Kaohsiung

In this spring trip to Taiwan from 27 March to 2 April 2024 to Taiwan, we spent three days exploring the scenic areas around Alishan in central Taiwan and then three days to explore Kaohsiung and Tainan, located in the southern part of the island.

The Alishan (阿里山) National Forest Recreation Area in Chiayi County, Central Taiwan is renowned for its misty forests, sunrises over a sea of clouds, views of mountain ranges, the historic Alishan Forest Railway, and cherry blossoms viewing in spring. The area around Alishan, especially around the town of Shizhuo (石棹), is also known for the tea plantations. This is where Taiwan’s most famous tea is grown, plus hiking through tea plantations, bamboo and cedar forests.

View of the tea plantations around Shizhuo.

It was after booking the flights and planning the itinerary to Alishan that I realised our time in Taiwan coincided with the cherry blossoms season in Alishan. This is both good news and bad news. Good news as in we could potentially experience the flower season in Alishan. Bad news as in there would be higher than usual visitors numbers and getting to Alishan via public transport could be a nightmare.

Where we stayed

Alishan is known for the 5 scenic wonders – sunrise, sea of clouds, railway, forest and sunset.

To view the famous sunrise at the peak of Alishan, one would have to stay at a hotel within the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area, get up at around 4 AM to take a train to the sunrise observation deck. Hotels in the park are limited and are way overpriced.

We decided to give this sunrise experience a miss and stayed at Siang Ting B&B (頂石桌湘庭民宿) located in Shizhuo instead. Shizhuo is a tea growing area located along the Alishan Highway 18, the main highway leading to Alishan National Forest Recreation Area. Every public bus going to Alishan would pass by Shizhuo.

Siang Ting B&B is a tea farm that offers homestay. We stayed three nights in this fantastic B&B with wonderful hosts.

On the mountainside above Shizhuo, there are some incredible hikes through tea farms and bamboo forests. So for us who likes hiking and nature, Shizhuo is an ideal place.

On the Sunset Trail near our B&B.

Gorgeous sunsets and sunrises with seas of clouds and fresh cool air could be enjoyed (weather permitting) from observation points near Shizhuo as well.

Shizhuo is a short distance away from Fenqihu, a historic railway village that should be included in any Alishan itinerary.

Trip report: Our stay at the Siang Ting B&B (頂石桌湘庭民宿), in Shizhuo.

My plan was to visit both Tainan and Kaohsiung after 3 days in the Alishan area. To minimise hotel transfer, we stayed all 3 nights in Kaohsiung and make a day trip to Tainan from Kaohsiung. Tainan is less than an hour by local trains from Kaohsiung.

My hotel in Kaohsiung City was the H2O Hotel. We really enjoyed our stay in the excellent, value for money hotel located close to the ZuoYing HSR Station in Kaohsiung.

H2O Hotel in Kaohsiung.

Trip report: Our stay at the H2O Hotel in Kaohsiung. 

 

The following is our itinerary for this trip.

 

Day 1 (27 March 2024) – Travel to Shizhuo and explore Fenqihu

               

Fenqihu Railway Station.

We spent our first day back in Taiwan exploring the small village of Fenchihu or Fenqihu (奮起湖) that was once a refuel middle stop for the old Alishan forest trains. The town is best known for 3 things – a mountainous town surrounded by bamboo and cedar forest, the old shopping street and the historic Alishan forest railway.

To get to Fenqihu, we must first get to Chiayi. We travelled by MRT from the airport to the Taoyuan HSR Station (20 minutes), took an 80 minutes ride on the Taiwan High Speed Rail to Chiayi and then took a pre-booked taxi to Fenqihu.

En-route, we made a short stop at the Siang Ting B&B, located amongst the tea plantations in Shizhuo. This is to drop off our luggage as it was too early for check in.

We arrived at Fenqihu slightly before 11 AM. Just in time to eat Fenqihu lunchbox from the original famous spot, Fenqihu Hotel before the crowds from the Forest Railway train arrives.

Trip report: From Taoyuan International Airport to Fenqihu (Alishan)

We spent the day exploring the old shopping street of Fenqihu, the historic Alishan forest railway and the hiking trails around the town.

Shopping street in Fenqihu.

Things to eat/buy at the Old Street include the Aiyu jelly drink, wasabi stuff, donuts.  We took pictures of the famous Alishan Forest Railway trains at the train station.  There is also a small train museum but it was closed during our visit.    

We took the last bus scheduled at 5.00 PM from Fenqihu to Shizhuo. Our B&B in Shizhuo only provided breakfast. We had dinner in the 石桌佳味熱炒 restaurant at Shizhuo. Most of the restaurants in Shizhuo close at 7 PM.

Trip report: Exploring Fenqihu (奮起湖) and evening in Shizhuo (石棹)

 

Day 2 (28 March 2024) – Day trip to Alishan from Shizhuo

Breakfast with views of the mountains and tea farms below.

The plan for the day after breakfast was to do a day trip to the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area – the “Alishan” that draws the tourists.

Our hosts had the entire bus schedule from Shizhuo to Alishan and gave us a ride to the bus stop in Shizhuo. From there, we took a 45 minutes bus ride to Alishan.

We spent most of the day exploring Alishan. Alishan was like what we expected – interesting forests with giant trees, cherry blossoms (not at their best), historic railways and crowds.

Cherry blossoms at Alishan.

The weather was unusually warm this year, so we missed the peak of the cherry blossoms which came a few weeks earlier than usual. 

Alishan Forest Railway.

Giant trees in the forest of Alishan.

We took the 3 PM bus back to Shizhuo and had an early dinner. Following dinner, we took a short walk to see the sunset at the Dingshizhuo Observation Deck which is located a short distance from our B&B.

Unfortunately, clouds rolled in on the western horizon as the sun went down. So, we did not get to see a nice sunset.

From there, we took a short walk back to our B&B.

Trip report:  Day trip to the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area from Shizhuo by bus and evening in Shizhuo.

 

Day 3 (29 March 2024) – Hiking at the Shizhuo Trails System

It was another beautiful morning at Siang Ting B&B, just like Day 2.

Typical breakfast at Siang Ting B&B.

The plan for the day was to explore the hiking trails at Shizhuo. This is one of the reasons why we chose to stay at Shizhuo.

There are 5 incredible hikes in the hilly area near to our B&B:

• Mist Trail 霧之道 (880 meters)
• Tea Trail 茶之道 (1,030 meters)
• Cloud Trail 雲之道 (670 meters)
• Sunset Trail 霞之道 (530 meters)
• Sakura Trail 櫻之道 (990 meters).

The trails are all unique in their own way. Some are built next to the tea plantations, some through cedar forest and some are surrounded by lush bamboo forests.

Views of tea farms with the mountains beyond are a common sight.

In the midst of bamboo forest along the Tea Trail.

One of the best views on this day. At the top of the Sunset Trail.

 

We managed to cover all the above trails at a leisurely pace. During the hike, we had an awesome lunch at the 豊合豐禾 景觀餐廳 restaurant, located near the top of the Sunset Trail.

We ended the day with a delicious hotpot dinner at a neighbouring B&B.

     
Trip report: Hiking the Shizhuo Trails System (石棹步道群)

Day 4 (30 March 2024) – Travel from Shizhuo to Kaohsiung. Explore Lotus Pond Scenic Area and evening at Ruifeng Night Market

This is the day where we would travel from Shizhuo to Kaohsiung. I had booked a taxi to take us from Shizhuo to the Chiayi HSR Station.

This was also our lucky day. We managed to see the sea of clouds from our B&B on our final morning in Shizhuo. This is one of the highlight of a visit to the Alishan area.

  View of the sea of clouds from our bedroom.

We had time after breakfast to take a morning walk around our B&B one last time before checkout.   

One last look at the gorgeous Shizhuo scenery.

The taxi came promptly at 9.30 AM and we arrived at the HSR Station in 70 minutes.

I was contemplating if we should try the popular HSR Bento lunch set but decided otherwise. There would be better lunch options at Kaohsiung.

Stall selling the popular HSR Bento lunch sets at the Chiayi HSR Station.

We had ample time to collect our train tickets and took the 30 minutes ride into Kaohsiung’s Zuoying HSR Station as planned. We arrived at Kaohsiung slightly after noon. The representative from the H2O Hotel was on the HSR train platform to meet us and drove us to the H2O hotel in style.

As our room was not ready, we left our luggage with the hotel and took a short walk to the Hanshin Arena for lunch.

Trip report: Our Travel from Shizhuo to Kaohsiung and lunch at the Hanshin Arena.

After lunch, we took a taxi to the Lotus Pond Scenic Area.  

We had an afternoon for sightseeing at the Lotus Pond scenic area. Actually afternoon is the best time to visit, getting there at around 3 PM. The sun will start to go down making it a bit cooler and we plan to see the sunset over the lake. At night the temples are illuminated, creating multi-coloured reflections in the water.

Trip report: Exploring the scenic Lotus Pond (蓮池潭) in the Zuoying district, Kaohsiung.

After visiting Lotus Pond, we took a taxi to one of Kaohsiung’s very popular night markets, the Ruifeng Night Market for dinner. There are several night markets in Kaohsiung, this was the closest and it is also within walking distance to our hotel. Ruifeng Night Market’s opening hours are from 6:00 pm to midnight and it is closed on Monday and Wednesday! 

Trip report: Ruifeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市) in Kaohsiung.

Day 5 (1 April 2024) - Day trip to Tainan

Instead of staying a day in Tainan, we decided to make a day trip to Tainan from Kaohsiung.

Our plan for the morning was to explore the Anping area with sights such as the Anping Tianhou Temple, Anping Old Fort and Anping Tree House.   

Anping Tree House – The "treehouse" name refers to the living roots and branches of a large banyan tree that covers the old warehouse.

Anping Old Street is a good place for some shopping and lunch.  

In the afternoon, there are some interesting places to see at West Central District such as the Tainan Confucius Temple, Hayashi Dept Store, Snail Alley, Guan Yu temple, Grand Mazu temple, Chikan Tower and Shennong Street.

Shennong Street in Tainan.

The original plan was to have dinner at Shennong Street but there was no restaurants to our liking. So we went back to have dinner at Kaohsiung, followed by drinks at the rooftop bar of our hotel.

Trip report: Day Trip to Tainan from Kaohsiung.

   

Day 6 ( 2 April 2024) – explore Pier 2 Art Center and Cijin island in Kaohsiung

        

My original plan was to take the ferry to Cijin Island in the morning. We could rent bikes to explore sights on island. After a seafood lunch at the island, we could take the ferry back to mainland and explore the nearby Pier 2 Art Center in the afternoon.

We could then spend the evening exploring the Glory Pier and Love River Area. 

On the way back to our hotel, we could stop by Formosa MRT Station to see the Dome of Light and visit the Liuhe Night Market from Formosa Station. Time permitting, we could even do a quick visit to Sanfeng Temple to snap some photos of the lights.

How things changed when we were actually in Kaohsiung.

A colourful mural of the Kaohsiung Station at Pier 2 Art Center.

In the morning as we were enjoying our breakfast at the H2O Hotel, we decided to go to Pier 2 Art Center in the morning, followed by Cijin Island in the evening when it would be cooler and we get to see the sunset at the Cijin Beach.

Sunset at Cijin Island.

On hindsight, I think the original plan may be better although we did enjoy our visits to the Pier 2 Art Center and Cijin Island.

Trip report: Kaohsiung Pier 2 Art Center.

Trip report: Cijin (旗津 ) Island in Kaohsiung.

        

Day 7 ( 3 April 2024) – free and easy in Kaohsiung and travel back to Taoyuan Airport

Our flight home was scheduled at 9.45 PM, which means we had to be at the Taoyuan Airport by 7:45 PM. Travel to Taoyuan airport by High Speed Rail (HSR) from Kaohsiung, followed by a MRT ride from the Taoyuan HSR Station to the airport would take about 3 hours.

We had some free and easy time in the morning to see more of Kaohsiung. My original plan was to go see the street art at WAIIRIORS but once again, the plan was changed on the fly.

We decided to spend some time to explore the shopping areas in Kaohsiung and buy some local products instead.

One of our must try for this trip is the famous Taiwan Railway Bento sets.

Taiwan Railway Bento set.

Our 2-hour ride on the HSR from Kaohsiung to Taoyuan gave us the perfect opportunity to try them.

Trip report: Free and easy in Kaohsiung and trying the Taiwan Railway bento set.

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From Taoyuan International Airport to Fenqihu (Alishan)

27 March 2024

One of the key attractions we wanted to visit in this trip is the Alishan National Scenic Area, frequently known as Alishan (阿里山). A trip to Alishan is not complete without a visit to Fenqihu (奮起湖) as well. Fenqihu is small settlement that was once a refuel middle stop for the old Alishan forest trains.  The place that we are visiting on our first day back in Taiwan is Fenqihu.

We took a red-eye flight from Singapore to Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport arriving as scheduled at dawn. We cleared immigration and picked up our luggage pretty fast as there were not many flights arriving at this time of day.

From Taoyuan Airport to Chiayi

The fastest transportation in the western part of Taiwan is none other than the Taiwan High Speed Rail (HSR). In our previous trips to Taiwan, we had to take a bus from the airport to the Taoyuan HSR station. This time, we could use the MRT.

Note:   Taoyuan MRT (commonly known as Airport MRT) and the Taipei Metro (MRT) runs on the same tracks. The Airport MRT is an express service and is slighter faster. Fares for Airport MRT express or normal MRT commuter train are the same. Easy cards can be used. The appearance of express train is purple and that of commuter train is blue for easy identification. The express trains will depart from Taoyuan Airport every 15 minutes from 05:55, with the last train departing at 22:58.

We followed the signs in the arrival hall and took about a 10 minutes walk to the MRT Station (A12) located at Terminal 1.  Taoyuan Airport has 2 terminals. There is also a MRT Station (A13) serving passengers arriving at Terminal 2.

We topped up our Easycard (IC card used in Taiwan) at the MRT Station before boarding the MRT train. I could not remember which train we took (blue or purple). The journey by MRT to the HSR Station (A18) took about 20 minutes.            

There was a Go2Taiwan Buy One, Get One Free promotion on High-Speed Rail tickets on Klook for International Visitors. In addition, Klook offers a 20% discount! The only downside is that we had to pre-book our tickets and things will get messy if our flight is delayed and we are not in time to collect our HSR tickets (at least 30 minutes before departure time).  However, this was too good a deal to miss, so I had to carefully plan and allocate enough risk buffer when booking our ride to Chiayi.

Things went as planned and we had ample time to collect our pre-booked tickets from the ticket office at the Taoyuan HSR Station and catch the 7.34 AM train to Chia Yi.

Journey to Chiayi would take about 80 minutes by High Speed Rail.

We even had time to buy some drinks, snacks and tea eggs for a light breakfast from the 7-11 store inside the station before boarding.

7-eleven store inside the Taoyuan HSR Station. We took the MRT from the airport to this station. Approximately 20 minutes journey.

Delicious tea soaked egg that is sold in almost all 7-eleven store.

Taiwan’s High Speed Rail’s bullet train. It could reach speeds of 220 km/hr.

From Chiayi to Fenqihu

The traditional way to get to Fenqihu is by the popular Forest Railway from Chiayi Train Station that runs only once a day (twice on weekends). The journey on the narrow gauge historic train takes about 2 hours and is often fully booked out. This option is not practical for us since we are arriving from the airport to the HSR Station and it will take another 30 minutes to get to the TRA Station by shuttle bus or taxi.

A slightly faster way is by taking one of infrequent public buses from the TRA or HSR train stations in Chiayi.

The fastest way is by car. Since we did not rent a car, we took the next best option which was to charter a taxi using Tripool that took us from the Chiayi High Speed Rail (HSR) Station to Fenqihu. I decided to splurge a little and take the taxi instead of the infrequent public bus because there is a great risk that we may not be able to get a seat on the bus due to the peak Cherry Blossom season in Alishan. 

Our pre-booked taxi, a white Toyota SUV, was waiting for us as planned when we took the exit 3 at the HSR Station.

Note: There are actually quite a few taxi drivers offering rides to Alishan at the train station. So, pre-booking a taxi may not be necessary. I think the fares are quite competitive.

The journey by taxi was definitely faster and more comfortable compared to the public bus. So, money well spent!

En-route, we made a short stop at the Siang Ting B&B, located amongst the tea plantations in Shizhuo. This is to drop off our luggage as it was too early for check in.

We arrived at Fenqihu slightly before 11 AM. Just in time to eat Fenqihu lunchbox from the original famous spot, Fenqihu Hotel before the crowds from the Forest Railway train arrives.

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Exploring Fenqihu (奮起湖) and evening in Shizhuo (石棹)

27 March 2024

We spent our first day back in Taiwan exploring the small settlement of Fenchihu or Fenqihu (奮起湖) that was once a refuel middle stop for the old Alishan forest trains. Although the name implied that there is a lake (湖) nearby, there is actually no lake in the vicinity.

A vintage Alishan Forest Railway train at Fenqihu Station.

The name comes from how mountains surround the town on three sides, forming a “dustpan” which the town sits in. The Taiwanese Hokkien term for dustpan sounds like Pùn-ki-ôo (ôo sounds like 湖). Anyway, the town is best known for 3 things – a mountain town surrounded by bamboo and cedar forest, the old shopping street and the historic Alishan forest railway.

Fenqihu is located 1400 meters above sea level making it a nice cool place to visit during the hot season in Taiwan. It could also be misty or foggy as the clouds rolled onto this mountain town.

Getting to Fenqihu!

The traditional way to get to the town is by the popular Forest Railway from Chiayi Train Station that runs only once a day (twice on weekends). The journey on the narrow gauge historic train takes about 2 hours and is often fully booked out. A slightly faster way is by taking one of infrequent public buses from the TRA or HSR train stations in Chiayi.

The fastest way is by car. Since we did not rent a car, we took the next best option which was to charter a taxi using Tripool that took us from the Chiayi High Speed Rail (HSR) Station to Fenqihu.

We arrived at Fenqihu slightly before 11 AM. Earlier in the day, we had taken a red-eye flight from Singapore to the Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport arriving as scheduled at dawn. Everything went perfectly as planned during our travel from the airport to Fenqihu by a combination of MRT to the Taoyuan HSR Station, HSR train to Chiayi and pre-booked taxi to Fenqihu.      

Where we stayed     

En-route, we made a short stop at the Siang Ting B&B (頂石桌湘庭民宿), located amongst the tea plantations in Shizhuo (石棹). This is to drop off our luggage as it was too early for check in. We planned to take the public bus back to the Shizhuo after exploring Fenqihu.                      

Shizhuo is located along the Alishan Highway leading to the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area and is only 10 minutes drive from Fenqihu. We are staying at Shizhuo for 3 nights. This is an ideal place to stay and explore the area surrounding Alishan.

The taxi dropped us off near the Fenqihu Bus Station. As the public bus is infrequent and there is few or no taxi to hail, it is prudent to recce the location of the bus stops and confirm the bus timings for our return trip to Shizhuo. 

Fenqihu Bento boxes for lunch

Since we did not have a decent breakfast, we went to look for the places that serve the famous Fenqihu bento boxes. The Fenqihu bento lunchbox is a “must try” in this old town.

A bit of history as to why the Fenqihu Bento lunchbox is a “must try” in this old town.

 

Fenqihu has been the primary midpoint stop of the Alishan Forest Railway that was built by the Japanese in 1912 to haul timber down from the Alishan Mountain. Trains running up or down the line in the old days reached Fenqihu at about lunch time and while the locomotives were taking on coal and water, the passengers used to the time to satisfy their hunger! Hence, the birth of the Fenqihu Bento lunchboxes.

There are quite a few places selling these lunch boxes ranging from 100 TWD to 170 TWD, depending on the quality and amount of protein inside.

The most popular or famous bento lunchbox is sold at the Fenqihu Hotel. Although the prices are amongst the highest (160 to 180 TWD), the food is still value for money.

Outside the Fenqihu Hotel with a giant model of their signature metal bento box.

We ordered a chicken bento set and a pork bento set to share. Soup with pieces of ginger is self served, free of charge but is almost tasteless.

Each bento at the Fenqihu Hotel came in a traditional metal box with lid. You could even bring the metal box home as a souvenir if you are willing to pay for it.

Once opened, it reveals a large piece of the selected protein sitting on a bed of steamed rice topped with crunchy fried cabbage, bamboo shoots, and strings of red chewy stuff that taste like tofu and half braised egg (should be a whole egg, come on!).

Chicken Bento and Pork Bento from the Fenqihu Hotel. The free soup is self served using paper cups.

The soft roast pork bento is their specialty, with traditional secret recipe passed down through the family for 80 years.

According to the above signage, the 1.5 cm thick tomahawk pork is cooked with simple ingredients such as sugar, soy sauce and garlic. The result is soft roasted pork that perfectly presents three levels of texture (chewy, soft and tender) with salty and sweet taste of soy sauce and sugar with fragrant garlic sauce, creating a unique local taste for Taiwanese people. I must say, the pork is deliciously good.

We came early, before the forest railway train from Chiayi arrives, so we practically had the whole eating area to ourselves. We took our time to enjoy our food and snap some photos.

Eating area inside the Fenqihu Hotel with tables and chairs made from timber that are abundant in the area.

Recycling bins for the metal boxes, chopsticks, general waste and food waste.

After lunch, we took some time to explore the lobby of the Fenqihu Hotel and see some unique artifacts. These include wooden clogs of all sizes and an antique bridal carriage.

A pair of giant wooden clogs.

A row of clogs with messages from guests of the hotel hanging from the ceiling.

Fenqihu Old Street (奮起湖老街)

Hunger satisfied, we went to explore the old street.

The old street is only 500 meters in length and runs almost parallel to the railway line. Part of the street is covered while most are uncovered.

The cool mountain air made exploring the shops that lined both sides of the street a very pleasant experience.

Beside the bento boxes, there are also various local delicacies to try, including the Aiyu jelly drink. The Aiyu is the gel extracted from the seeds on the surface of a type of fig first discovered in Chiayi, the county that Fenqihu & Alishan is in.

After lunch, the iced Aiyu jelly is a good choice. We drank one that is served in a cup together with calamansi lime. Refreshing but we could not really figure out the flavour from the Aiyu seeds.

Open-air part of Fenqihu Old Street lines with shops and red lanterns.

The shops had many small toys and trinkets for sale, many of which were made of wood.

Murals of historic trains along the Old Street.

There are many vendors selling locally-grown tea and coffee. 

The friendly but not pushy sales persons manning the stalls and stores often offers us samples of their goodies to try before buying. Before we know it, we were lugging bags of wasabi-flavoured snacks, Alishan high mountain oolong tea, black sesame-flavoured snacks, dried dates, candied nuts and even a wooden toy train for our grandson.

One friendly store owner even offered to keep our loot safe in their shop so we could buy more and yet explore the area hands-free until the end of day. Offered was gladly accepted.

What we bought at the Old Street!

A grove with square bamboo, next to the Fenqihu Station.

We went to the Fenqihu Railway Station located above the old street but the train from Chiayi had already departed. Since the train is infrequent, we are free to walk on the tracks.

Clouds were rolling in while we crossed the tracks to the bamboo forest.

The misty looking scenes are common in the Alishan area.

Located diagonally across from the train station is a bamboo forest with some very unique bamboo. Most bamboos have round or circular stems. The cross section of the Fenqihu bamboo stems is actually square with rounded edges. Also they are much more slender. It was not very easy to discern the square cross section of the bamboo by sight.

These bamboos originated from Mount Emei in Sichuan, China. After being introduced to Japan, they were then brought by the Japanese to Taiwan in 1924 and could only found in Xitou and Fenqihu where square bamboos were first grown.

I took pictures of the square bamboo but the photos do not show the square form distinctively.

Hiking around Fenqihu – Cedar Boardwalk and Old Logging trail

Fenqihu has numerous hiking trails surrounding the town, collectively known as the Fenqihu Trail System. My wife and I both enjoyed hiking in our oversea trips. After viewing the bamboo forest, we proceeded to hike on some of the trails surrounding Fenqihu.

Signboard showing the trails around Fenqihu.

From the bamboo grove, we went to hike the 2 km long Cedar Boardwalk Trail first. Cedar Boardwalk (杉林棧道) is on the south side of Fenqihu. This is a trail known for the tall cedars and various ecological sights. 

From the bamboo grove, we followed a  steep slope down to the Earth God Temple (土地公庙).  The temple is small but well adorned with decorations on the roof. There was nobody except us in this quiet part of town.

That is me checking out the Earth God Temple near the Cedar Boardwalk Trail.

Crossing the tracks again in the misty cool weather.

The trails are well marked with signage like this.

The terrain around Fenqihu is quite hilly and there are some stairs leading down to the Cedar Boardwalk from the temple.

There were not many hikers on this day. The weather was nice and cool, although a bit humid due to the clouds rolling onto the mountain.

Well maintained boardwalk made the hike easy. No need for hiking shoes and poles.

More stairs! The Cedar Boardwalk trail has some ups and downs but it is worth the hike.

Misty cedar forest.

Bird-nest ferns perched high up on the almost vertical trunks of the cedar trees. Apparently the young shoots of this fern is harvested and served as a vegetable dish in Taiwanese restaurants.

After walking a bit on the trail, we decided to U-turn and head back towards the town again.

As we were exiting the trail, we came across a hut, painted bright blue.

Apparently this hut was featured in the Taiwanese movie called Starry Starry Night.

Yummy snacks to eat at Fenqihu 

A treat awaited us at the exit of the Cedar Boardwalk trail. Freshly made donut is one of the yummy snacks to try while in Fenqihu. Although there are a few stalls selling the donut snack, the Bai-nian-gui-mu’s (百年檜木) doughnuts is best known.  

Each donut costs 25 TWD and one is not enough because it is so good. We decided to buy 4 donuts for the two of us.

There was a queue but the queue moves fast.

“Buy 10 pieces for 250 TWD get 1 free”, says the sign. We saw many people buying boxes of the donuts to bring home.

We found a place to sit, amongst the tall trees that is probably at least a hundred years old, to finish our delicious donuts.

The donuts have a sugary sweet, brittle surface but with soft and chewy inside. 

Walking up the slope towards the old street, we came across another popular stall on a side road selling another highly recommended local delicacy - the glutinous rice cake from the Grandma's Caozaiguo (阿嬤 草仔粿).

The rice cakes are offered with different fillings to choose from. They are all served for takeaway in plastic bags.

We bought this flavour.  Surprisingly it is still warm in the cold weather. A testimony as to how fast the food flies off the shelf.

The overall taste of this homemade rice cake is simply yummy. It has a chewy texture like a mochi, not overly sweet and packed with savoury ingredients for only 40 TWD each.

Apparently Alishan is famous not on for its high mountain oolong tea but coffee too. We took a pit stop at a cafe located at the top of the slope. This cafe (奮起湖山嵐小築) is also a B&B offering home stays.

This cafe sells quite expensive Alishan Champion Coffee. 360 TWD for a cup and this was not the most expensive option on the menu.

This cafe sells quite expensive Alishan Champion Coffee.

              

The lady boss was also very friendly. She let us smelled the coffee powder before proceeding to make the drip coffee. She also gave us a page with information on the different coffees and notes on how to taste it. Unfortunately, it was in Chinese but I used Google Translate to read it.

The view of the mountains from the cafe was nice.

A cherry tree right in front but the tree has passed its peak.

We ordered a cinnamon bun (100 TWD) to go with our coffee. The lady boss actually told us to eat our bun first, washed our palette with the plain water before tasting the coffee.

Overall, the coffee was good but I would probably not pay so much for a cup of coffee again in Taiwan.

Old Old Street of Fenqihu

We saw signs indicating an Old Old Street and decided to go explore. From the coffee shop, we walked downhill, passed the donut stall and continued following the signs to the Old Old Street of Fenqihu (奮起湖老老街).

We soon saw the entrance to the Old Old Street.

Red lanterns with the words “奮起湖老老街 ” meaning “Fenqihu Old Old Street” printed on them.

There are old houses and shops with posters of celebrities of the yesteryears. These shops gave a nostalgic feel to the place. It is “dead“ street compared to the more lively Old Street next to the train station.

All the shops, except for one selling snacks, were closed. The old man manning the stall was trying his best but we told him we had already bought the snacks.

Stalls at the Old Old Street were mostly closed.

From there, we had to trudge our way back up to the train station.

The Amaryllis seemed to be the flower of the season. We saw many houses with pots of colourful amaryllis blooming on the front porch or gardens.

Tip: We should have continued our hike along the Cedar Boardwalk trail where the southern exit leads to this Old Old Street.

Fenqihu Forest Railway

The highlight of Fenqihu would be the train station and the trains. The Alishan Forest Railway trains are usually with red livery.

Typical Alishan Forest Railway train at Fenqihu.

We were just in time to see a unique train with blue, white and yellow livery when we came back to the station . This is the "Vivid Express," a new tourist train on the Alishan Forest Railway that is set to launch in May 2024. The colour scheme is inspired by the collared bush robin, a bird species endemic to Taiwan. 

The Vivid Express train with blue, white and yellow livery at the Fenqihu Railway Station.

We joined the crowds gathered around the train. Some were on the tracks, snapping photos of this train.

The logo in front of the train features the collared bush robin.

We took a sneak peek at the insides of this train from the extra wide glass windows. The interior has a warm yellow ambiance, with plush, swivel seats that faced the windows, a key characteristic of a sight-seeing train. Some cabins have seats that faced each other with tables in between for family groups.

The blue train soon departed and it was around 2 PM when the usual Alishan Forest Railway train in red livery arrived at the station from Duolin. This train made a brief stop at Fenqihu before making its way down the mountain to Chiayi city. 

 

Hiking around Fenqihu – the Wooden Horse Logging trail (木馬棧道)

After viewing the trains, we went for our second hike of the day. This time, we went to the Old Logging Trail (木馬棧道) located across the railway station, on the opposite side of the Cedar Boardwalk Trail.

Signage marking the start of the Logging Track. The ruins of a Shinto Shrine and the verdant forest are near this but we did not go explore.

A unique part of this trail is the wooden “tracks” on the path.

A sign explains the origin of the “tracks” and the name of the trail.

"When the Japanese built the Fenqihu section of the Alishan Railroad, they used timber from neighboring forests for cross-ties and other materials. The logs were at first transported manually, but as the closest forests were depleted and the source of timber became more distant, waste wood was used to build tracks along which logs were at first pulled and later transported on sledges called "wooden horses." These were operated by two-person teams (mostly husband and wife), with one person steering the sledge in the front and the other pulling the back in the rear to keep the sledge from going too fast downhill."

We covered only a short section of this trail. By now, our lack of sleep from our red-eye flight was taking effect and we craved for some hot drinks.

So we made a return to the Old Street to get a cup of hot Alishan tea and waited for the 5 PM bus that will take us back to Shizhuo. This is the last bus (number 7302) that leaves Fenqihu for Chiayi, passing by Shizhuo.

Dinner at Shizhuo.

It was a short ride from Fenqihu to Shizhuo. Payment of the bus fare is by tapping the Easycard on the IC card reader on the bus.

At Shizhuo, we went to recce the bus stop to take note of the bus schedule for our next day’s trip from Shizhuo to Alishan National Forest Recreation Area.  

Shizhuo in the evening. The bus stop to Alishan is just opposite the 7-eleven store.

Most of the B&Bs in and around Shizhuo do not offer meals except breakfast. There were a few restaurants serving dinner at Shizhuo. Most of them would be closed by 7 PM. We went to a restaurant (石桌佳味熱炒) serving local Taiwanese food.

We ordered the set dinner for 2 persons that cost 600 TWD. We mistakenly thought that the set meal included the deep fried bitter tea oil chicken, a dish that was highly raved by reviewers.

A tea oil chicken hotpot soup was served instead. It was our mistake in not reading and understanding the Chinese text in the menu.

A tea oil chicken hotpot soup. 

The rest of the dishes in the set menu were not bad.

Wild boar stir fry with spring onions in pepper and wasabi sauce.

Cold tofu with a delicious wasabi sauce. This is another signature dish in Shizhuo.

Stir fry cabbage. Somehow, the freshly harvested cabbage in the mountains of Taiwan always tastes so much better than the ones we ate at home.

During dinner, I received a call from Jun Qi, the host from Siang Ting B&B, enquiring where we were. There are many tea farms, including Siang Ting B&B, located high up on the slopes above Shizhuo town that offered homestay. He offered to pick us from the restaurant after our dinner. We gladly accepted. Otherwise, it would be a 20 to 30 minutes trek uphill to our accommodation.

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