Nat The Travel Junkie: April 2016

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Taiwan 2016: Alishan 阿里山 - Dafong Hotel 大峯度假山庄

Where to stay in Alishan

Dafong Hotel 大峯度假山庄

Address: No. 46, Zhongzheng Village, Alishan, 605, Taiwan

中正村46号 (阿里山, 605)

Tel: +886 52679769

Website: https://dafong.hotel.com.tw/eng/

I choose this hotel for it's proximity to the Alishan Town Center. There's plenty of other hostels/homestays (Mingsu) around Alishan, but it's all about 1 hour bus ride to the town. Plus the frequency of the buses are once every hour.

entrance to the room

Despite reading a lot of bad reviews on Tripadvisor, we still went ahead and book this hotel as it is one of the cheaper options at Alishan. Overall, we actually enjoyed our stay very much! The hotel is just about 5 mins walking distance to the town center and about 10 mins walking distance to the Alishan Scenic Train Station. Although, I had to climb up a very long flight of stairs up to the town center, it was worth the distance.

bedroom

At check in, the rooms were not ready as it was still early. We left our backpacks at reception and asked about the trains and hikes we could take. The lady and gentleman at the reception were very friendly and hospitable. They gave great advice and were very willing to help! Their English weren't that good, so we assisted them to translate to another Thai guests.

sitting area

Our room was on the second floor. There are pro and cons about our room being on the second floor, because the hotel doesn't have any lifts. If you have elderly or disabled companions, this is not the hotel for you. So, I was rather relived to know that I didn't have to climb so much. Also, being on the second floor meant that whatever goes on at reception, you could quite hear them. It was fine for me because we are out most of the day and by the time we got back, there will not be anyone at reception to check in. Noise was not really an issue.

tub

In the bathroom, there's a small little sitting tub with steps. I though the bathroom might not be as clean as I expect it to be, but it was very clean! I was very pleased. I had a good time soaking in the hot tub after my hike!

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Click here to see what you can do in Alishan!

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Taiwan 2016: Alishan 阿里山

4th March - Singapore 新加坡 --> Taichung 台中 --> Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

5th March - Alishan 阿里山

6th March - Tainan 台南

7th March - Kaohsiung 高雄

8th March - Kaohsiung 高雄--> Singapore 新加坡

Please take a look at this link for my itinerary for Taiwan!

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Alishan 阿里山

How to get from Sun Moon Lake to Alishan

Outside the Visitor Center at Shueshi Village at Sun Moon Lake, there's a ticket booth that sells tickets straight to Alishan. One ticket will cost about NT300. The whole journey is about 3-3.5 hours long and stops at several attractions along the way.

One such stop is at the Sinyi Township Farmers' Association. It is a collection of small buildings which sell all sorts of things from local wine to cardboard products.

cardboard products

wine house

view is amazing

About 3/4 up to Alishan, we stopped for a short toilet break. There was a visitor center and a short 5mins walking trail. The bus will terminate at the 7-11 opposite the Visitor Center. The cool thing about 7-11s in Taiwan is that they sell almost everything! From sim cards to stamps to even bus tickets down Alishan.

5 mins walking trail

What to do at Alishan

Alishan Scenic Trains

The obvious thing to do while in Alishan would be to take the trains around the Forest Recreation Area. If you're not into hiking, the trains will take you to major spots around Alishan to enjoy the attractions. In my hotel, there was a timetable board with the time of sunrise for the following day. This will give you a rough gauge on what time you want to leave and take the trains to catch the sunrise on the viewing platform.

Alishan train timetable

map of alishan

Train station

Alishan Train Station

Alishan Train

Hiking

Alishan is full of hiking trails for beginners (like myself) all the way to advance trekkers. We embarked on the trail suggested by the hotel receptionist and took the train from Alishan to Chaoping Station, hiked up to The Sisters Pond, Giant Tree and finally up to Alishan Sacred Tree where we will take the train back to Alishan Station. The whole hike is supposed to take around 2.5-3 hours if you walk non-stop.

at Chaoping Train Station

outside Chaoping Station

I would suggest you to take the same route and not the other way round. Every hiking trail has their up and down, climbing steps and slopes but the route that we took had more down slopes as compared to up slopes. Don't get me wrong, it may be easy to hike this trail, but it still got me panting like a dog!

Along the trail, you get to see beautiful cypruss trees!

We also walked past three trees growing on a dead stump! It's amazing how Mother Nature doesn't let anything goes to waste!

three brothers tree

We also found ourselves at the Shouzhen Temple where they were in the midst of a ritual/festival. We bought some Taiwan sausages (damn good), sprinkled some wasabi salt on it, sat down and watched the whole ritual. It was also the first time watching/experiencing fire crackers and they unloaded about 5 cartons of it!

fire crackers outside the temple

temple at Alishan

Catching the Sunrise

We woke up at about 3.30am just to pack and try to catching the train to watch the sunrise. As we visited over a long holiday, the station and trains were naturally packed!

in queue at 4.30am.

Bought tickets to Zhushan Station (actually the only train operating at that timing is only going to Zhushan Station) to catch the sunrise.

buying tickets

There's a viewing platform just up the stairs from the train station. There'll be several stalls that sell Herbal Tea Egg and coffee that line the viewing platform.

a thousand people

so many people watching the sunrise!

Train Station

Alishan Town

There's plenty of souvenir shops and restaurants at the town center. Most hotels do not have a restaurant onsite, so breakfast is actually served in one of the restaurants there. You'll be given a coupon to redeem the buffet breakfast. Of course, the breakfast does not come with a lot of variety, but it's enough to fill your stomach!

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Tuesday 5 April 2016

Taiwan 2016: Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 Spa Home Sun Moon Lake Luxury Lakeside Hotel

View from the hotel

Most visitors stays at Shueshi Village or Itashao Village as there's plenty of accommodation ranging from high end to budget backpacker inns. It also depends on what you plan on doing or your next destination too. For us, we were headed to Alishan the next day, so we wanted to stay at Shueshi Village as the bus from the High Speed Rail Station stops at the Visitor Center at Shuehi Village and the bus departing for Alishan is also at the Visitor Center at Shueshi Village.

Address: No.95,Jungshan Rd, Sun Moon Lake,Taiwan

Tel: +886-49-2855166

Fax: +886-49-2855577

Line ID: spa-home

E-mail: spahome@pchome.com.tw

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Click here to see what you can do in Sun Moon Lake or how to get to the airport!

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The Room

Amazing views

We choose this hotel as the website says that all their rooms have a lake view. I'm not complaining! Look at this view! The room is spacious and modern.

bedroom

The bathroom also has the lake view, however, the building is not very tall, so when you shower or take a bath in the day, you have to pull down the blinds. The windows can be opened as well, and we did to allow all the cool air to come in!

Amazing view!

The hotel also provides Hermes amenities and it smells so great! It is a large enough bottle, so perfect for the two of us!

Hermes Amenities

Next to the tub, bath salts are also provided for your use!

Bath salts

Breakfast

Breakfast is a set menu and at check in, they will ask if you have any dietary restrictions such as being a vegetarian, etc.

yummy breakfast!

The plate comes with eggs, sausages, potato salad, green salad and a bakery basket.

the view!

I must say all the pastries in the basket were served warm and fresh! Although it is not a buffet, you'll definitely be full by the time you're done with breakfast!

bakery basket

The view from the restaurant is also amazing! We were rather distracted by the view and almost forgot to eat our breakfast!

Breakfast!

It was indeed a very enjoyable stay for us! The room was comfortable and luxurious, and the service is impeccable! Entire team are friendly and so helpful!

Monday 4 April 2016

Taiwan 2016: Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

4th March - Singapore 新加坡 --> Taichung 台中 --> Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

5th March - Alishan 阿里山

6th March - Tainan 台南

7th March - Kaohsiung 高雄

8th March - Kaohsiung 高雄--> Singapore 新加坡

Please take a look at this link to take a look at my itinerary!

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Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

How to get to Sun Moon Lake from Taoyuan International Airport:

1. Follow signs to bring you to the bus terminal. Look for the Ubus counters selling tickets to Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station. It will cost you NT$30 for a one-way ticket.

2. Take the 30 mins bus ride to Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station

3. Take the 40 mins High Speed Rail from Taoyuan Station to Taichung Station.

4. Despite having a schedule for the bus to Sun Moon Lake, just go straight to the basement, purchase a ticket and queue for the bus. They will continue to sell bus tickets, and once the bus is full, they will make you wait for the next bus which comes in 30 mins. We spent about 45 mins waiting for the next bus as the queue was too long.

5. Bus takes 2.5 hours and will alight you at the Visitor Center at Sun Moon Lake.
There is a cafe and a small shop at the Visitor Center where you can buy personal items like shampoo and face masks. Also, you will be able to buy tickets ranging from buses to ferries to attractions outside the Visitor Center. At the back of the Visitor Center, there's a lot of UFO catchers! We managed to catch a few soft toys there!

What to do in Sun Moon Lake

Sun Moon Lake Shuttle Boat

The shuttle boat will ferry you to three points/piers around Sun Moon Lake; namely Shueshi, Itashao and Syuanguang Piers. Each ticket will cost NT300 (and you're able to hop on and off anytime and as many times as you like), but there are vendors who are able to sell you the tickets from NT150 up, you just need to haggle or look for a vendor properly. One way tickets will cost you NT100 and you're not able to hop on and off. We got lucky however, we met this European girl at a cafe and she gave us her unused tickets as she had some change of plans and is leaving Sun Moon Lake already!

Ferry Ticket

Shueshi Village Pier

We stayed at a hotel in this village which is just 5 mins walking distance to the pier.

Shueshi Village

Shueshi pier

ferry

Syuanguang Pier
At this pier, there's a temple at the top of the hill and at the foot, there's a stall that claims it sells the best 'Herbal Tea Leaf Egg' in Taiwan! We bought two to try and it is indeed flavourful! If only they had it soaking in the Herbal Tea longer! We climbed to the top and enjoyed the scenery with our Herbal Tea Egg!!

Ah Por's Herbal Tea Egg!

Itashao Village Pier
It is another busy village with lots of food stalls and shops!

Ita Thao Visitor Center

Village

You can also walk about 1.5km away where there's a cable car station and you can take it over the mountains! Along the way, you can stop for photos with the cherry blossoms!

Cherry Blossoms

Sun Moon Lake Ropeway

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Click here if you want to know where I stayed at Sun Moon Lake!