Out of the Comfort Zone: Mt. Ali part I

Mount Alishan is probably one of the most famous, visitor accessible and contradictory mountain experiences in all of Taiwan. The peak is nestled almost in the center of the Alishan National Forest Recreation Area (qualities of both a US national and state park if you can imagine such; picture the immensity of nature and minibikes in the tight camping area). In actuality, the overwhelmingly gigantic beauty of Alishan can almost overwhelm you if you can actually find a way to sit silently alone for more than a few moments.

This was on our last day here, with only an hour left, but we found it. A whole twenty minutes.

Within the first week of arriving in Chiayi we started hearing about how we had to go see Mt. Ali. It lies on the western edge of the central mountains. The trip is an eye popping, heart stopping trip of awe and fear up the heavily trafficked mountain/country crossing "highway"; provincial highway 18. We were in a bubble of a bus watching cars, massive buses, motorcycles and yes, scooters battle their way around each other up the serpentine tarmac. The alternate choice to the typhoon-death highway is the quaintly/cheesily advertised red train that used to ride to the main park; appropriately titled the Alishan Railway. Supposedly a perfect ride up the mountain in April at the heart of the cherry blossoms popping. You can't miss the shots of this if you type Mt. Ali into yer browser. This rail was originally constructed by the Japanese to take as much lumber feasibly possible out of the old growth forest to the nearest port. The history of the occupation has a real brutal heart to it. Through the not-forgotten but not-present memory of that past also has a side to it of modernization. There's a lot out there about this to check out, but my main mention of this is at the heart of Alishan.

The tree is thousands of years old, doubt if he will live to a hundred

The whole area of Mt. Alishan is a juxtaposition of massive, MASSIVE, tourism encapsulating the mythical past of Taiwan, ancient trees in the mist and all. Kind of like Disney in the redwood forest of California. I was overwhelmed right to the core. I was drawn to photograph some touch of the gorgeous majesty that I enjoy so much in the silence of the deep woods, in midst of pack after pack of boisterous tourists. Smokes, cameras, kids with cameras, phones, and phone calls right next to each of the remaining ancient trees. There is a lot of respect for these Goliaths of the past, but it is weird how little time each group stays at the base of any given tree. Stop on the path, take tons of photos, have a sit down or smoke, them move on to the next. I guess we all kind of do this at parks, but it's kind of like a crowd from some bar going on a short hiatus. Oh yeah, there are miles of well paved roads all round these sights, so you don't have to walk too far if you don't have the urge.

The striped part of the road I guess was deemed for us walkers, but we knew better than to believe we were actually safe. Front, back and to the side, car death could come at any moment.

One of the meanings for the pinyin word Shan means mountain. The Chinese character is quite lovely and fitting. The full name, not surprisingly, comes from a culture of people called the Jou people about 250 years ago. A wise and prosperous leader named Abali led to the modern name of the mountain. Great hunter and tracker as well, knew the place like the back of his hand. Still trying to get a handle on the human settlement history of Taiwan so I can get a better picture of the population changes. There's more pics and perspective on all of this, so we will have another entry this weekend. So better than talk anymore, here's the wacky and beautiful.

I couldn't get a clear answer on how old the stone walk ways are, but I don't believe they span before Japanese occupation.

The shuttle stop is about 50 feet from here. The path this troop walked on goes for about a half mile. But they don't have to walk the entire distance. The tarmac road, frequently clogged with shuttle buses, intersects most of these walking paths at multiple points on any one of the trails. So, instead of walking the whole way you can walk 300 feet and catch a five minute ride to the next spot to gawk.

The majority of this crowd looked more at their own pictures on their tiny screens, than the actual 2,500 year-old tree directly in front of them.

If you can look at her screen closer, that is exactly what she snapped. From peeking over shoulders, most shots are just taken as a record of the thing rather that trying to compose a shot. Many of the photos I saw were like her's, where there are portions of arms, heads, hands, you name it, and nature.

Buddhist monument to the local god of the trees.

This winding path was a rather recently built. Suspended above the earth between five to twenty feet, the cedar walkway went through most of the central park.

This cedar towered 165 feet about me. My few decades dwarfed by its 2,500 years.

For those Python fans, just think "Course it's a good idea!"


At the very modern train station crowds gathered twice a day to watch a troop of dancers. The photos at Ali show previous dancers outside of the station. The inside was airconditioned just like the traditional dance grounds... Well not really.

A very odd experience. This troop of traditional dancers romped around the lower entrance lobby of the train station. They danced to modern teckno and local cultural music. One of the members spoke to the gathered crowd, in Chinese, about the purpose of the dances, where to get the music (including the techno, no I didn't buy one but should have). Part II of the blog will have more on these guys.