We woke up to a cold and frosty morning - dreadful weather for visiting Alishan. For certain we cant trek the forest trail in the fog and rain. Nevertheless, we went up the mountain anyway, hoping that the effects of the typhoon would have passed Taiwan by the next morning, and we would still be able to catch Alishan's legendary "sunrise amidst a sea of clouds".
Whether or not we finally got to see the famed Alishan sunrise, our stay up there was still rewarding. Through our experience, we picked up three valuable lessons that will serve to bring us a long way in this journey known as "Life". In a very characteristic act of generosity, I have decided to teach these "Life Lessons" to you.
Life Lesson #1
As the Alishan railway and bus services were cut off, we were forced to take a minibus up to Alishan. Sharing the minibus with us were a young Taiwanese couple and a Malaysian couple. The driver, being an opportunist, took the chance to rip all of us off. We had to pay a 200% premium to get up the mountain compared what it would have costed us had we taken public transport. That caused some unhappiness in us, and this unhappiness only increased when the driver sped through the heavy fog with a blatant disregard for everyone's safety.
Another incident along the way gave us further clue as to the character of the driver. Halfway up the mountain, one of the passengers vomitted as she was giddy from the hell-ride. The driver didn't give as much as a damn and drove on with the same intensity and recklessness as before.
I observed all of these from the back of the minibus where I was sitting, and something just dawned on me...
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Lesson: Great people can emerge from disaster.
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Lesson: Great people can emerge from disaster.
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I was totally impressed by the way our beloved driver made the best of Typhoon Pearl despite that it was, by default, disruptive to the tourism industry and thus, his livelihood. Not only did he managed to reap an exorbitant profit amidst the disaster, he successfully got away with his utterly bad service. Both accomplishments required shrewdness, bargaining prowess, keen judgement, and guts (not to mention immorality of character).
Life Lesson #2
When we finally settled down in our hotel "Gao Shan Qing" in Alishan, we figured that it was gonna rain the entire day. Since we were gonna be stuck indoors for hours on end, we might as well make ourselves comfortable. Thus, we brewed tea, snugged into our cosy blankets, and began surfing between various Taiwanese dramas and variety shows. Needless to say, Taiwanese variety shows were good. The warmth of the tea and the blankets were greatly appreciated as well.
When we were finally bored of watching TV, we started to explore our hotel. It was really cosy and built with wood, more like a large villa than a hotel really. To add to the country beauty of the place, oil paintings lined the walls, painted by the owner himself. He also furnished the place with Japanese furniture. We took our time to admire the paintings as we strolled through the corridors and then settled down at the dining corner to sip tea.
After dinner, we returned to a night of watching variety shows till the wee hours. The following morning we were supposed to climb to the peak of Alishan to catch the sunrise. Hopefully the weather will turn for the better.
Life Lesson #2
When we finally settled down in our hotel "Gao Shan Qing" in Alishan, we figured that it was gonna rain the entire day. Since we were gonna be stuck indoors for hours on end, we might as well make ourselves comfortable. Thus, we brewed tea, snugged into our cosy blankets, and began surfing between various Taiwanese dramas and variety shows. Needless to say, Taiwanese variety shows were good. The warmth of the tea and the blankets were greatly appreciated as well.
When we were finally bored of watching TV, we started to explore our hotel. It was really cosy and built with wood, more like a large villa than a hotel really. To add to the country beauty of the place, oil paintings lined the walls, painted by the owner himself. He also furnished the place with Japanese furniture. We took our time to admire the paintings as we strolled through the corridors and then settled down at the dining corner to sip tea.
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Lesson: Being trapped indoors in fine, as long as you are watching TV or pretending to be Japanese.
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Life Lesson #3
When it was time for dinner, we reluctantly dragged our feets out into the freezing night (it was 11 degrees). It was still drizzling a bit and we had our umbrellas with us, but more so to shield the howling winds. The fog had persisted since day-time and now it hindered our progress; it was so thick that we could not see more than 3 metres in front of us. In the haze, the street lights appeared like ghostly flames and they glowed through the trees create dancing silhouettes like witches before a ritual...
Lesson: Being trapped indoors in fine, as long as you are watching TV or pretending to be Japanese.
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Life Lesson #3
When it was time for dinner, we reluctantly dragged our feets out into the freezing night (it was 11 degrees). It was still drizzling a bit and we had our umbrellas with us, but more so to shield the howling winds. The fog had persisted since day-time and now it hindered our progress; it was so thick that we could not see more than 3 metres in front of us. In the haze, the street lights appeared like ghostly flames and they glowed through the trees create dancing silhouettes like witches before a ritual...
As we journeyed through the woods we felt like kids in a fairy tale, maybe "Hansel and Gretel". We were excited and soaked ourselves in the spooky atmosphere entirely, giggling and telling each other ghost stories along the way.
After a long time, we finally arrived at a decent looking restaurant. We took a look at the menu and had a pleasant surprise: wild boar meat on hot plate! What a find in this unearthly weather! Hot, steaming, savory wild boar meat! We quickly settled ourselves inside and order a plate of the long-awaited dish, along with other side dishes like vegetable soup, kang kong and fried rice.
When the food came, we dug in with a ferocity seldom seen outside of the animal kingdom and...
...almost puked.
So bland was the food that they tasted only of cooking oil. The wild boar meat was better, but even so much too oily. Sigh... what a disappointment, after eating we went back to our hotel.
After a long time, we finally arrived at a decent looking restaurant. We took a look at the menu and had a pleasant surprise: wild boar meat on hot plate! What a find in this unearthly weather! Hot, steaming, savory wild boar meat! We quickly settled ourselves inside and order a plate of the long-awaited dish, along with other side dishes like vegetable soup, kang kong and fried rice.
When the food came, we dug in with a ferocity seldom seen outside of the animal kingdom and...
...almost puked.
So bland was the food that they tasted only of cooking oil. The wild boar meat was better, but even so much too oily. Sigh... what a disappointment, after eating we went back to our hotel.
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Lesson: You're better of walking in the cold than eating at a lousy restaurant.
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Lesson: You're better of walking in the cold than eating at a lousy restaurant.
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After dinner, we returned to a night of watching variety shows till the wee hours. The following morning we were supposed to climb to the peak of Alishan to catch the sunrise. Hopefully the weather will turn for the better.
2 comments:
wow!!super long postings u both have over here..hehehe but it's interesting and very detailed.. and to think that u can still recall so much from the trip after being back for some time..impressive..=D
Godsis! Nice of u to drop by ha. Do something bout ya blog too, sometimes I too lazy to talk to u on msn I can alwaes look at ya blog.
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