Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
in Chinese) but do call afterwards to confirm. Set meals (NT$150) are also available, but
it's best to bring your own food.
Information
The
visitor information centre
(
9am-5pm)
in the village at the Km43 mark has
simple maps of the recreation area.
Getting There & Away
You will need your own transport.
ALISHAN NATIONAL SCENIC AREA
05
If you want to see Taiwan's natural environment raw in tooth and nail, visit a national
park. If you want to see how humans have tried to make a go of settling on landslide-
prone mountains and battered escarpments (as spectacular as they are to merely gaze
upon), come to the Alishan National Scenic Area.
From a starting altitude of 300m in the west at Chukou, the 327-sq-km scenic area
quickly rises to heights of more than 2600m. The great diversity of climate, soils and
landscapes allows for the growing of everything from wasabi and plums to high-moun-
tain oolong tea, the latter some of the best in the world. From the Tsou aboriginals, the
original settlers, come foods you've never heard of, such as bird's-nest fern, tree toma-
toes,
ai yu
jelly and millet wine.
Tourists have been finding their way to this region since the early days of the Japanese
period. They come for the local specialities, the natural and human-designed landscapes
(who doesn't like terraced tea fields?) and, more recently, the legacy of the colonial peri-
od, which includes a very rare narrow-gauge forest train.
Tourism took a massive hit in 2009 after Typhoon Morakot wiped out roads, villages
and large sections of the railway tracks. Today, the area is getting back on its feet. Hwy
18 is passable, but the railway was still out of commission at the time of writing.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Chiayi
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