Day 2 (Taroko – Fanlu):
After a simple breakfast at 7-11, we headed towards the mighty mountains of Taroko national park. It is called the “Cross Island Highway” and it is one of the most dangerous roads of the world with narrow, steep hill roads with lots of tunnels and a high possibility of broken roads and landslides. However, the views in the drive through the road are breath-taking and definitely worth the adventurous drive for a brave driver. I personally enjoyed the drive more than the scenery out there. From the entrance of provincial road 8 to tiensiang, we stopped at numerous places to enjoy the views. The marble rock mountains are one of its kind and are said to be comparable with the Grand Canyon, US. It is truly a wonder. Morever, the roads constructed in this difficult terrain is an engineering marvel by itself.
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| near Lotus Temple in Tiansang |
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| The view from the cross-island highway at Sinbaiyang on the way to Hehuanshan from Taroko. |
If you miss the 7-11 before the entrance of taroko road, then the next 7-11 is in tiensiang. The prices at the eateries tiensiang are overpriced. Hence, Its better to pack some snacks. After Tiensiang, the altitude gets higher and higher as you go and the climates becomes cold. A lot of beautiful mountain views await you all along the cross-island highway. Our next stop was at Sinbaiyang, where the view of mountains was really eye-catching. At some points, the road becomes very narrow that only one vehicle can pass through. The drivers have to be careful to watch out for any oncoming vehicles through the mirrors located in corners all the time. As it was cherry blossom season, we were able to watch a lot of wild trees of sakura in the mountains. As we continued our journey, we did not stop until we reached Acacia Hill station where the view is surreal. The place of acacia-hehuanshan-cingjing can be rightly called the Alps of Taiwan. There is a big parking lot opposite to the hill station where visitors park their cars and walk to the hehuanshan peak. There is also a food joint and a place for travellers to cook/bbq. Further uphill, the road goes higher and higher until we finally reached the highest peak of Taiwan (accessible by road). The highest point was at 3275 metres. Hehuanshan is a truly unique place where its terran is entirely different and exists only in the acacia-hehuanshan-cingjing region. This is a must-visit place for any traveller. Since it was already late afternoon and we still had 200 kms to do, we rushed thorugh the hill road onto freeway 10 and then freeway 3 towards Chiayi, the freeway exit for Alishan forest recreational area.
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| Wuling |
Day 2 : Drive to fanlu
Since it was cherry blossom season in Alishan, all the hotels were full and the few rooms which were left were overpriced. So we booked a hotel in Fanlu township, which is on the alishan mountain range, but 17 kms far from the alishan forest area. Fanlu, by itself. was a beautiful landscape with a lot of tea estates. We took the Chiayi exit at about 6.30 p.m and it was already dark and we still had 30 kms to travel on the hills. It did not seem to be distant and we thought we would reach in about an hour until we took that wrong decision to take a wrong route. We followed google maps and as always, it showed the shortest distance route instead of the main route where many cars travelled. If the maps show any road other than the main route No. 18, then DO NOT TAKE IT. We took the other road and it was so scary. The street lights were very far from one another and the road was pitch dark with narrow bends and much steeper than the No. 18 road. As we reached almost near our hotel with only 2 km more, there was a sign saying that the road was closed. Everything was in Chinese and we did not even understand the problem but we could sense this was not right as there was not a single other vehicle in that road so we took the wise decision to turn back travel 9 kms to again reach No. 18 road and continue to Fanlu again travelling 15 kms. On the way, mist covered the entire way and visibility was less than 10 ft. It is strongly advised to travel to alishan before getting dark. We got down at Fanlu and it was as if we were walking amongst the clouds. Completely covered with clouds and mist, it felt like a heaven. We checked in the hotel, cooked some food in the hostel’s kitchen and discussed about the next day’s trip to the hotel people. They advised to start very early by 3 a.m to go to see the sun rise and it would be a wise decision because cars were allowed until the alishan entrance in early morning. Otherwise, all passenger cars have to parked at a place 10 km before Alishan and people have to travel by shuttle buses as it was a cherry blossom festival season weekend and the number of visitors were huge in number. We went to sleep with a feeling of sleep in in heaven-like place amongst the clouds.
Sakura Series - Taiwan
2024 Forecast
Taipei 101 first flowers
Tianyuan Palace backyard
Taipei Flower Test Center
Pingjing St. Lane 42
Broadwood Park
Sunshine Sports Park kawazu sakura
Wuling Farm (武陵農場)
SYS kawazu sakura
Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village
CKS Memorial Hall
Shibafen Yoshino Sakura
Hope River
Dongfang Temple
Tianyuan Palace
Neicou Stream Trail
Orange Garden Cafe
Yangming Park Visitor Information Center
Yangming Park Service Center Bus Stop
Huashan Road
Qianshan Park
Zhongshan Hall Entrance
Tenglong Sakura Farm
Flower Test Center Shōwa Sakura
Neihu Creek Trail
Shulin Land Office
Xióng Kōng Cherry Blossom Forest
Lung Yen Sakura Forest
Yangming Park cherry stream
Yangming Park fountain
CKS Memorial Hall Tairyō sakura
Wugu District Tianyi Road
CKS Memorial Hall yaesakura
Loving Farm
Yong Long Farm
Zhongbaling Sakura Road
Sun Link Sea
Tai'an Police Station
Cherry Hill Slope
Hsinchu Park
Taipei 101
Kāng Gào Kēng Creek
New Garden City
Broadwood Park
Tianyuan Palace backyard
Pingjing St. Lane 42
Alishan Ranger Station
Alishan House
Alishan Police Station
Alishan Forest Railway
Alishan Station
Alishan Entrance
Alishan Gou Hotel
Alishan Magnolia Garden
Wulai tour
Wun Chang Elementary School
Bishanyan
Sanzhi Sansei Trail
Sakura Series - Taiwan
Nei Cuo Stream
Orange Garden Cafe
Sansei Trail
Tenglong Sakura Farm
Yangming Park Cherry Stream
Yangming Park Fountain
Flower Test Center
Broadwood Park
New Garden City
Yinghua Park
Pingjing St. Lane 42
Yangmingshan Visitor Center
Taipei 101
Tianyuan Palace backyard
Sakura Series - Japan
Kamonyama Park
Near the Nippon Maru Memorial Park
Shinko Park
Minato-mirai 21 area
Tokyo Tech Suzukakedai Campus
Onda River
Tenryuji
Byodoin
Kiyomizudera
Himuro shrine and Yakushi-ji Temple
Hōryū-ji Temple
Nara Park attractions
Tokyo Tech Ookayama Campus
Sumida River
Tsuruma Park
Gion
Maple Series
Taipei Aowanda
Shimen Dam
Alishan
Aowanda
Shanlinxi
Taoyuan Valley Garden
Fushoushan Farm
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| Yehliu to Jiufen? Yehliu to Shifen? Cheaper than yellow taxis |
The "Taipei kong mahal" (My beloved Taipei)
Always in my heart
MRT birdman
Valentine's Day
Tulips Festival
2018 Taipei Lantern Festival
City of Azaleas
Linji Huguo Temple
Nanjichang Night Market
Gudetama Chef restaurant
Dalongdong Bao'an Temple
Shilin hollyhocks
Ningxia Night Market
Ximending graffiti
Discovery Center of Taipei
Chunghwa Postal Museum
Double-Decker Bus
Shilin Cold Balls
Jingimoo
GomanMango
mud volcanic ice
Fire and Ice Dumpling
Opium Fen-Yuan
Ichiran Ramen
Liu Shandong Beef Noodles
hydrangea flowers
National Palace Museum
Other attractions in Taipei
Taipei on a budget
Japanese buildings
Dāoxiāomiàn beef noodles
Presidential Office Building
Yongkang St. and Elephant Mountain
CKS and SYS Hall
City tour
Beitou ramen
MRT Monopoly Game
Winter city tour
Zhicheng Park
Shilin Plum Blossom
Art museums
Shopping in Taipei
Summer desserts
Qingtiangang
Qixingshan hiking
2015 Calla lily
2016 Calla lily
Beitou tour
Beitou-Zhuzihu tour
NTU
Confucius Temple
2015 Dadaocheng Festival
Puppet Museum
Fantasy Ice World
2016 Bread Show
Strawberry picking
2015 Rose Garden
Modern Toilet
Shilin Night Market
NASA Exhibit
Raohe Night Market
Longshan Temple
2013 Taipei Zoo
Maokong Gondola
Lupin flowers
Taipei 101 day visit
Taipei 101 night visit
Tiger Mountain
Din Tai Fung
Taipei Story House
2014 Flower Show
Chrysanthemum Show
Miramar Ferris wheel
Miniatures Museum
Archery
1600 Pandas
Wulaoguo hot pot
Upside Down House
2016 101 Fireworks
New Taipei
Tamsui Pumpkin Tunnel
Shifen Waterfall
2017 Sand Sculpture
Dragon Caves
New Taipei tour
2016 Kite Festival
Pingxi Crags
Bitou Cape
2016 Sand Sculpture
2015 Christmasland
Juming - Jinshan
Houtong - Pingxi
Sandiaoling Waterfall
Jiufen foodtrip
Guanyinshan hike
Yehliu Ocean World
2014 Kite Festival
Pingxi Rail tour
Jinguashi tour
Vigor Kobo Pineapple
British Consulate
Yehliu Geopark
2014 Sand Sculpture
Paragliding
2014 Christmasland
2014 Pingxi Lantern
firefly watching
Yingge Ceramics Street
Jiufen tour
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