[Taiwan] Chapter XLV: In which the sun rises rather earlier, perhaps, than is convenient

Over the years, as we travelled from country to country, whenever we saw a place advertised as "absolutely amazing at sunrise", we have inevitably been drawn to experience it ourselves by waking up at an ungodly hour (sometimes as early as 2 am for particularly distant locations), trudging in the dark to the recommended attraction, and waiting --- cameras drawn --- for the sun to appear. The purpose of this recurring endeavour has been to scientifically prove beyond any

doubt that this invariably is simply not worth it. Our sunrise experiences have run the entire gamut from utterly disappointing (e.g. Tikal on a particularly cloudy day) to mildly unimpressive (e.g. Angkor Wat on a particularly clear day).

The Alishan National Forest Recreation Area was no exception. On the plus side, it being the dead of winter, we could wake up for the sunrise relatively late (only 4:40 am), especially since the viewing platform was only 30 minutes away from our hotel by train. On the minus side, it being the dead of winter, it was damnably cold, especially since the viewing platform was atop the 2500m-high Mount Chushan. Overall, seeing the sun rising over a high mountain peak was nice, but as usual not really worth getting up early for.

But, as we were already up and about, we went out exploring the trails of the Alishan forest for a few hours, finding it full of tall, slender and remarkably old trees --- some older than 1000 years, a few even older than 2000 years --- as well as ponds, groves, shrines, boardwalks, streams, clouds, all very peaceful and serene. Definitely worth it.

Accommodations:
- Alishan Shermuh International Tourist Hotel, Alishan (2 nights; considering that temperatures drop here close to freezing during the night, one would have expected a somewhat better heating scheme than a nonadjustable lukewarm central heating system that works only from 7pm to 5am)

Photo captions: (a-b) sunrise as seen from Mount Chushan, before and after; (c-p) Alishan forest; (q-t) Shouzhen temple; (u) cold Mount Chushan train station at 7:30 am; (v) wasabi root, a local specialty; (w-x) the preparation of betel nuts (a psychoactive leaf-and-nut combination chewed by many Taiwanese)