Taiwan - Alishan Cherry Blossoms Apr 08 - Part 1

A glimpse of such scenery is like the fleeting expression of a baby - so precious one scarcely dares to blink...

5th April 2008

the hype

was going up to taiwan early april 08 and realised that cherry blossoms are in season at alishan for those same few weeks! i was up there on an exchange program almost 14 years ago (i must clarify that i am not as old as you think in your mind now...) and i could recall waking up at some painfully early cold hour to squeeze into a totally packed train to watch the sunrise...still, in my very vague recollection, i remember i was blown away by the sight of the rising sun.

coming back to 2008 for this trip, i did some googling before i left to see what the big deal was about. i was really hyped up by this paragraph...

"From the second half of March, a mountain full of cherry blossoms marks the beginning of the Alishan Cherry Blossom Festival. A variety of cherry blossoms show their beauty in a dazzling floral display that satisfies visitors until mid-April. Delicate Yoshino white cherry blossoms contrast beautifully with the blue sky, while slightly-larger Oshima cherry blossoms are innocently white. The varying shades of Azumahiga, Yaebenishidare and Fugenzo cherry blossoms push the beauty of pink to its limit. A glimpse of such scenery is like the fleeting expression of a baby--so precious one scarcely dares to blink... "

sounds pretty awesome huh? :)

(anyway for the full article, you can go to http://www.taiwanfun.com/north/taipei/articles/0304/0304Diversions.htm)


alishan railway

you had a few options to make your way up to alishan but undisputedly the most interesting one would be to take the alishan railway from chiayi. The railway train itself dates back to 1906 and weaves and turns through the most unbelievable route as it is built along the contours of the mountain.

check out the route on the back on this train ticket, doesn’t the messy blob on the lower left corner remind you of a mass of spaghetti on a fork?

after hours of winding up dizzying heights offering breathtakingly and vastly different views of the mountains(depending on the side you are on), at times going through the clouds., at times worming through small tunnels dug into the mountains, you reach alishan just before night falls…



alishan evening

alishan gave me a markedly different impression this time. maybe because everyone was there for the cherry blossoms, it felt quite a bit more crowded then last time. still, the human masses are not enough to distract you from the gorgeous hues of the exquisite blossoms against the spectacular mountains…


it felt exhilarating to be there surrounded in the cool mountain air but at the same time, a sense of urgency and almost poignant loss as it certainly felt like there was just not enough time to capture all the breathtaking beauty…





high

after dinner it was time to go up the dark corners of the mountain searching for (and finding!) the fireflies in the bushes…. can’t miss them as they flying right next to you, lighting up your face in the cold darkness... guess the kid in me still gets a tremendous kick holding them in the hand and freeing them (if they don’t get crushed in the process)…

dotting the skies above were thousands, millions, or maybe even billions of stars (in short countless!) sparkling in all their brilliance….

in all possible applications of the word, the day certainly ended on a high.