I’m more of a night owl than a morning person, but there are definitely things in this world worth getting up before dawn for, and the Alishan Sunrise experience would have to be one of those.
We were pretty bummed that the train up to Alishan was out of commission due to typhoon damage repairs, but the ride on train up to the Alishan sunrise look out point made up for that a bit.
Needless to say, it was freezing up there on mountain tops so early in the morning. It was less than 6 degrees Celsius, around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, pretty challenging for someone like me who had been grown up basking in Southern Californian sunshine. Some industrious food vendors were up there serving hot soups and drinks, freshly made in large earthen pots (which means they were up there way earlier than anyone else).
As everyone huddled and hopped and jogged to keep warm while the mountains glowed blue with the waning darkness and growing light, the sun took its precious time climbing, and we all tried to guess where its first ray of light would shoot out. Surprisingly, the lookout was just indeed that perfect and well-positioned. The sun came out right at the center of the panorama view like an immaculate dynamically living work of art. Here is the Alishan sunrise, frame by frame, from the left position perspective of the panorama:
After folks had taken their share of photos with the new day’s sun, we headed on back to the trains that had taken us up the dark mountain road earlier that morning. Now, with the sunlight fully upon us, we were able to enjoy the charming beauty of the mountain forest train track trail.
After taking in a hearty breakfast, we left for our journey down the mountainside, with a quaint little train stop town built over a century ago to service the Japanese logging industry.
Next up, an old Alishan Train Station.
