Part II - Alishan to Chiayi {Travelogue}

[If you missed out on the first part, here is the link to Part I]

The second part of our trip started with a homemade breakfast at the hotel (which I would consider more of a B&B than a hotel). Sorry, no pictures are available as I was relaxing too much and enjoying myself. Not that I can't enjoy myself while lugging around a camera, but it's nice to also just be in the moment. 


This section looks like there aren't as many food pictures, but don't forget to scroll down and see! There's food that you can get in the mountains that just taste so much better because of the locale. I do think though, that if you have time while visiting Taiwan that you make at the very least a day trip to visit the Alishan National Forest. If you're lucky, and the weather is nice, you get an amazing view. If you come during February-March, you should be able to see the cherry blossoms there. In the winter when we were there, they were very much bare.


This tree has three generations growing out of it. Too bad it's off limits. It would be fun to climb around on it.


Some of these trees - well, a lot of these trees - are very old. At least to me anyway, 2000 years is pretty old.



Little bit of construction around this pagoda. Wouldn't be surprised if it had to do with the influx of foreigners who don't pay attention to the walkways and destroy the nearby flora.

Puppy!



After walking along the trails, you're bound to end up at a clearing with a food court and a temple. We were just in time for the show.


Mountain boar sausages. Juicy.

It used to be that these were just regular bare trees. Then certain people came to town, ripping the bark off to smell and see if the trees are hinoki.

Here's the sign to go with the wrapping.

Can you see the pig?


So there are two ponds called the "sister ponds" - one is the elder sister pond, and the other the younger sister pond. Legend says that the two sisters loved the same man. Rather than fight over him, they jumped into neighboring ponds choosing sisterhood over a man. The elder sister has the bigger pond with the nice bridge and seating area while the younger sister has a tiny pond. 



The last I heard, they plan on stopping the running of these trains because of the maintenance and how often they have to fix the trains and tracks after the typhoons.


I have no idea what this huge bee/waspy thing was, but after I took this picture, I ran away.

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

After hiking around for a few hours, we decided we'd had enough (the clouds rolled in and we couldn't see anything anymore... note to self - this is why you should go at sunrise instead of lounging at the B&B). I called to check that the restaurant would be open for lunch (the one I mentioned in the previous entry), and they were. I immediately ordered much of the same so my travel buddies could taste and compare. 

Bitter tea oil noodles with garlic.

Quick sautee mountain boar.

Alishan wasabi with fresh tofu.

Day lillies sauteed with some mushrooms.

Bitter tea oil chicken - this one is my favorite.

Quick sautee dragon whiskers.

Poor strays everywhere :( 

We had just eaten, but the day was still young so I took them to Fenqihu. It's an old town and where the first train bento lunch was served. If you are in the area, this is a must do! Mostly because it's a cute little town, and because the bento is so good. Make sure you have space in your stomach for it though because I didn't enjoy it as much already stuffed.

Pork chop, chicken leg, veggies, bamboo, rice. Also comes with a side of soup!




The tea fields at the B&B.


After one more night, we left Alishan the next morning. Back to Chiayi! One of the reasons I love Taiwan is the specialties each city has. So, of course I had to take them to try one of the most famous turkey/chicken rice places there!

Bowl of happiness! Shredded turkey over rice with a picked daikon at Spraying of Water Chicken 噴水雞肉飯.

Sliced bamboo with some kewpie mayo.

Boiled dragon whiskers with some kewpie (I personally am not a huge mayo fan, but sometimes, on these dishes, it actually works).

Boiled tofu in lots of good seasonings.

Bamboo soup - super warming on this rainy day.

The production line.

After lunch, we meet up with another friend at Morikoohii 森咖啡. The shop itself is very small, and Japanese style. It's located in the Hinoki Village which is basically a small village modeled after the old style houses that were around during the Japanese Occupation. Pictured is an iced coffee. The ice cubes are frozen coffee, so after you add milk it becomes coffee with milk, and it's not watery like if you used regular ice. While sitting there and avoiding the rain (and also trying to figure out what we could do aside from eat), I had two large coffees.

After coffee, of course it would be time for more food. I told my local friend that everyone is still pretty full, but if there were some good beef noodles around, that we would still eat some. This is why groups of people are good! You can share and eat all the things!

Appetizers - tofu noodles, lotus root, fish skin, and tripe.

"Meat pockets"

Beef noodles with tendon and tripe. I wish I knew the name of this place, as everything was really good!

Stay tuned for two more posts before I head off to Taiwan again for some more! My next post will be about my first trip to Sapporo, Japan.

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