Sunrise over Alishan is a sight to be seen...or so we are told. None of us were too keen on the idea of a 3:30 am wake-up call to make it out to the sunrise viewing spot (although it seems as though everyone else in the hotel was). Maybe next time - some things just need to be skipped when traveling with a baby & toddler!


Since we had to take a bus up the mountain we were really hoping to take the Alpine Train back down. Leo managed to figure out that the train was not running all the way up to Alishan due to part of the track being washed out during the last typhoon - but we could get on at the next stop down the mountain. We had some time before we had to be on the bus - so we went a little hike through the mountains. It was BEAUTIFUL!


Sue even found a mountain elementary school - it looks a bit different than her school in Rosemount but still has a lot of similarities:


Burning ghost money at one of the many mountain temples:


Our impromptu 7-11 picnic in Alishan:


We managed to take the bus to Fenuyi and get tickets for the Alpine Train. The train was great - it was a a bit wobbly but allowed us for some great close-up views of the vegetation growing along the mountains.


However, when switching from the bus to the train one needs to make sure that they remember to take all of their luggage! We realized after the bus had already left that we forgot our suitcase! Yikes! But we still tried to enjoy the train & figured that both the train & bus would end up at the same spot (the city of Chiayi) so hopefully it would be waiting for us.

And luckily a nice Taiwanese Tony took pity on us & helped negotiate a trip to the main bus station to pick up our suitcase! He even missed his bus in order to help us and would not take cab money or at least bus fare for helping! Leo is getting quite adept at speaking Chinese - but sometimes you just need a little local help! And luckily Taiwan has lots of locals willing to help out a 'waiguoren' (foreigner).

One more train ride & we made it to Kaohsiung. A little tired & a little hungry - but still having fun. Especially Conrad who got a YELLOW backpack at the Kaohsiung train station that had Red Elmo & Blue Elmo on it :)