The Longest Vacation Ever! Part 9 - Mist and Trees
Day 9 - Trees and other stuff
This morning, we wandered around Sun Moon Lake, which apparently used to be two lakes, shaped like a sun and a (crescent?) moon. But because of erosion, the two lakes merged and it lost it's "Sun Moon" aspect. But it's still a popular tourist area with activities around the lake. We were planning to take the ropeway up the mountain, but due to maintenance, it was closed for the day. I guess that's a downside of visiting during low season. But we walked around the lake and wandered through several paths.
The view from our hotel. Angie often gets nice balconies for our enjoyment. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/gPGfWNKCTK69EcfO2)
A trail that we walked through. We often looked for bamboo shoots for some reason. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/qLDhHSNInlh4GrDx1)
I'm not sure if these are just trees that fell over or if they live in the water, but either way, they're nice to look at. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/8xLZwMddJB4UrlBe2)
Crazy plants that used to scare Angie as a kid and probably scares Henry as an adult. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ay2wrjlgXyQkvlGj2)
A poorly taken heart photo; we need to practice or watch more drama. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/l1ChN40dPvZ6znFl2)
Afterwards, we drove towards Alishan, which is another mountain/forest/national park. Angie said lots of these parks use the native names which is why they seem a bit different than "normal" (Mandarin) Chinese names. So it was another drive through small roads and up mountains. Around lunch time, we stopped at a random store/restaurant on the way. It was a nice small restaurant that was on the side of the mountain. They had a small shop which sold many of the things like tea and herbs, which my mother-in-law bought.
We sat in a dining area which was on the side of the mountain that had a nice view. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/u9CHc47QgGY3CYVG3)
I really liked their tea cups. I should have bought something similar during the trip =/ (https://photos.app.goo.gl/IM5pcaXYrnMd7V2i2)
The food; you can also see a super fancy tea pot at the top of the screen. We were confused to how to use it and were quite impressed when the server showed us (tourists!). (https://photos.app.goo.gl/2CCuCGRAVaqD39E42)
A view from outside of the restaurant. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/9Rpf6mabtA7cLtJg1)
While walking around, you can see that the restaurant grew their own vegetables, which is always nice. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/z5nUMgXG36Sswvzr2)
Again, on the road, there were points of interests, which many times were "famous" trees. The first one was the "Couples Tree". I think there was some sort of story about how it survived a forest fire; I don't remember why it's for couples...
Said "Couples Tree" (https://photos.app.goo.gl/lhu4sY6EMlnaRlXN2)
At some point, we stopped at a visitor's center. We walked a couple of trails, but mainly used the bathroom. Angie also bought a Taiwanese black bear stuff animal, which you'll all see too much of soon. In Taiwan, they use the Taiwanese black bear to advertise tourism and we eventually started to place it in many of our shots.
Masquerading around as a black bear (https://photos.app.goo.gl/8VIWP0Kozcz1IhL82)
In the mountains (https://photos.app.goo.gl/g9k1NxIpI7HQ0oAL2)
And there was some mist as we rose in elevation. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/0R3TT6IYbATZEMI33)
A giant cyprus, which was another noteworthy tree. According to the sign, it was approximately 1600 years old! (https://photos.app.goo.gl/8IyCcGPBKpCGP3Tz2)
Eventually, we arrived in Alishan. After some confusion with where to go to get on the trails, we found the trails and walked around. The things of note were, surprise, famous trees! They also have a railway cart that pushes passengers from the back (instead of pulling from the front), but we didn't elect to use it (probably to the disappointment of Angie's mom).
That sign seems to advertise that giant cyprus, the mists, mountains, trees, and rail. All seem legit... (https://photos.app.goo.gl/0UeGdI9BnK6cznzX2)
Evidence of the train. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/mJCUDiCSvzwFfjNj2)
It got progressively mistier as we were there. More about this later. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/mGi0AWt5nflMtaZM2)
Apparently the high amount of moisture in the air causes the trees to have mold and possibly rot. They have tree doctors to help keep the trees healthy supposedly. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/R4vSeJg2iYj7jHmB2)
A non-famous tree, but it looks like a hobbit or witch could hide in it. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/pif2Hb5P1CG1zEL82)
The "Three Generation Tree", which is a super crazy tree. So an incredibly old tree fell, which allowed another tree to grow on top of it. After that tree died, a third tree grew on that one. So you can see the top tree is suspended above the ground on the corpses of its ancestors! (https://photos.app.goo.gl/zT4ShaZacYMabGR52)
The sign since my description is probably less than the best. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/kpD6dGnRx8PXE6zs1)
"Thousand Year Cyprus", which is actually two thousand years old (estimated). (https://photos.app.goo.gl/DGLcjVekTXNC4m0w2)
"The Sacred Tree", which is not just old, but very big! (https://photos.app.goo.gl/e9Dfz7vEms4i1wje2)
Mist on the bridge (https://photos.app.goo.gl/c3e4tk3NnY1MnW7N2)
So our next stop was a hotel or homestay in the mountains. But as you can see, the mist came in. And it came in really thick. I was driving and I'd have to say my visibility was probably one or two car lengths. So on top of driving on a curvy mountain, I couldn't see! But since I'm a bro and we just drove to our next destination instead of trying to wait it out. Spoilers, we didn't die. But there were several super small roads that looked like we were going to drive off into a tea field or off a mountain. But luckily, we made it and had a hot pot dinner waiting for us. One funny part was when we arrived at the hotel, we asked where we could park. So Angie went out to direct me while talking to the hotel people. Then she ran to my window and started talking to me in Mandarin. I started confusily until Angie restated it in English =P
Angie was good enough to take a photo for evidence. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/w36zUwmNcpIVevfu2)
Thinking back on it, it was actually pretty fun. But again, I was quite stressed at the time. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/5vp0OAkZGnw8SQ683)
But our room had a balcony and a swing! (https://photos.app.goo.gl/s2vreo1qSjzzcUnw1)
After settling in, we had a hot pot dinner before going to bed.
A variety of things to cook in a "hot pot". (https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZZw4NL1k776mG1Eu1)
This morning, we wandered around Sun Moon Lake, which apparently used to be two lakes, shaped like a sun and a (crescent?) moon. But because of erosion, the two lakes merged and it lost it's "Sun Moon" aspect. But it's still a popular tourist area with activities around the lake. We were planning to take the ropeway up the mountain, but due to maintenance, it was closed for the day. I guess that's a downside of visiting during low season. But we walked around the lake and wandered through several paths.
The view from our hotel. Angie often gets nice balconies for our enjoyment. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/gPGfWNKCTK69EcfO2)
A trail that we walked through. We often looked for bamboo shoots for some reason. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/qLDhHSNInlh4GrDx1)
I'm not sure if these are just trees that fell over or if they live in the water, but either way, they're nice to look at. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/8xLZwMddJB4UrlBe2)
Crazy plants that used to scare Angie as a kid and probably scares Henry as an adult. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ay2wrjlgXyQkvlGj2)
A poorly taken heart photo; we need to practice or watch more drama. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/l1ChN40dPvZ6znFl2)
Afterwards, we drove towards Alishan, which is another mountain/forest/national park. Angie said lots of these parks use the native names which is why they seem a bit different than "normal" (Mandarin) Chinese names. So it was another drive through small roads and up mountains. Around lunch time, we stopped at a random store/restaurant on the way. It was a nice small restaurant that was on the side of the mountain. They had a small shop which sold many of the things like tea and herbs, which my mother-in-law bought.
We sat in a dining area which was on the side of the mountain that had a nice view. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/u9CHc47QgGY3CYVG3)
I really liked their tea cups. I should have bought something similar during the trip =/ (https://photos.app.goo.gl/IM5pcaXYrnMd7V2i2)
The food; you can also see a super fancy tea pot at the top of the screen. We were confused to how to use it and were quite impressed when the server showed us (tourists!). (https://photos.app.goo.gl/2CCuCGRAVaqD39E42)
A view from outside of the restaurant. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/9Rpf6mabtA7cLtJg1)
While walking around, you can see that the restaurant grew their own vegetables, which is always nice. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/z5nUMgXG36Sswvzr2)
Again, on the road, there were points of interests, which many times were "famous" trees. The first one was the "Couples Tree". I think there was some sort of story about how it survived a forest fire; I don't remember why it's for couples...
Said "Couples Tree" (https://photos.app.goo.gl/lhu4sY6EMlnaRlXN2)
At some point, we stopped at a visitor's center. We walked a couple of trails, but mainly used the bathroom. Angie also bought a Taiwanese black bear stuff animal, which you'll all see too much of soon. In Taiwan, they use the Taiwanese black bear to advertise tourism and we eventually started to place it in many of our shots.
Masquerading around as a black bear (https://photos.app.goo.gl/8VIWP0Kozcz1IhL82)
In the mountains (https://photos.app.goo.gl/g9k1NxIpI7HQ0oAL2)
And there was some mist as we rose in elevation. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/0R3TT6IYbATZEMI33)
A giant cyprus, which was another noteworthy tree. According to the sign, it was approximately 1600 years old! (https://photos.app.goo.gl/8IyCcGPBKpCGP3Tz2)
Eventually, we arrived in Alishan. After some confusion with where to go to get on the trails, we found the trails and walked around. The things of note were, surprise, famous trees! They also have a railway cart that pushes passengers from the back (instead of pulling from the front), but we didn't elect to use it (probably to the disappointment of Angie's mom).
That sign seems to advertise that giant cyprus, the mists, mountains, trees, and rail. All seem legit... (https://photos.app.goo.gl/0UeGdI9BnK6cznzX2)
Evidence of the train. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/mJCUDiCSvzwFfjNj2)
It got progressively mistier as we were there. More about this later. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/mGi0AWt5nflMtaZM2)
Apparently the high amount of moisture in the air causes the trees to have mold and possibly rot. They have tree doctors to help keep the trees healthy supposedly. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/R4vSeJg2iYj7jHmB2)
A non-famous tree, but it looks like a hobbit or witch could hide in it. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/pif2Hb5P1CG1zEL82)
The "Three Generation Tree", which is a super crazy tree. So an incredibly old tree fell, which allowed another tree to grow on top of it. After that tree died, a third tree grew on that one. So you can see the top tree is suspended above the ground on the corpses of its ancestors! (https://photos.app.goo.gl/zT4ShaZacYMabGR52)
The sign since my description is probably less than the best. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/kpD6dGnRx8PXE6zs1)
"Thousand Year Cyprus", which is actually two thousand years old (estimated). (https://photos.app.goo.gl/DGLcjVekTXNC4m0w2)
"The Sacred Tree", which is not just old, but very big! (https://photos.app.goo.gl/e9Dfz7vEms4i1wje2)
Mist on the bridge (https://photos.app.goo.gl/c3e4tk3NnY1MnW7N2)
So our next stop was a hotel or homestay in the mountains. But as you can see, the mist came in. And it came in really thick. I was driving and I'd have to say my visibility was probably one or two car lengths. So on top of driving on a curvy mountain, I couldn't see! But since I'm a bro and we just drove to our next destination instead of trying to wait it out. Spoilers, we didn't die. But there were several super small roads that looked like we were going to drive off into a tea field or off a mountain. But luckily, we made it and had a hot pot dinner waiting for us. One funny part was when we arrived at the hotel, we asked where we could park. So Angie went out to direct me while talking to the hotel people. Then she ran to my window and started talking to me in Mandarin. I started confusily until Angie restated it in English =P
Angie was good enough to take a photo for evidence. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/w36zUwmNcpIVevfu2)
Thinking back on it, it was actually pretty fun. But again, I was quite stressed at the time. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/5vp0OAkZGnw8SQ683)
But our room had a balcony and a swing! (https://photos.app.goo.gl/s2vreo1qSjzzcUnw1)
After settling in, we had a hot pot dinner before going to bed.
A variety of things to cook in a "hot pot". (https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZZw4NL1k776mG1Eu1)