Taiwan – Alshian Mountains and Disaster!

We travelled inland to the Mount Alishan region. Apparently we could see fireflies here and we wanted to get out of the city.

While we travel we look out for places of interest, I’ve become quite cynical about these having past several potential ‘sky mirrors’ but this one was worthy of note the ‘Fire and Water Sping’.

It obviously gets hoards of visitors judging by the paths and view points but, the day we visited there were only a few people. There is a natural spring here and a fissure that leaks gas (presumably methane) and it has been alight for at least 300 years according to the notices. Local legends have it as the spitting head of the Qilin a Chinese Mythical beast/chimera with the attributes of many animals. It is an auspicious sign to see one.

Tatajana is on a mission to see fireflies, which we knew were here in Taiwan. There are several species and many in the Alishan region. We even asked at a Police station where to view them, I think this was more because Tatjana wanted to see how friendly the police are than anything else! They were OK but I felt there was a little suspiciousness, they would not pass muster for tourist police!

After this we stopped at a Tea Shop where the woman behind the counter started to chat to us.

I wanted coffee and apparently they had special coffees. Google translate didn’t help with all the owners explanations. I’ll give you a sample of lost in translation!
“A little sweet with grandma or with sun exposure!
Geisha coffee
Three virgin eggs!
No gentlemen – set meal

Tatjana was giggling, I finally managed to get a coffee that tasted like coffee!

We asked about fireflies again, (we were getting closer) and the shop owner asked us if we had accomodation and then told us she has a B and B.  We checked it out on Google and it had a very good reviews.

So off we went driving higher and higher in narrow winding lanes and into the clouds. We passed foggy tea plantations studded with Betel nut palms. It made for eerie photos.

The B and B was quirky, set on a Tea Plantation. The family that ran it were also quite quirky. The adult son of the owner gave us samples of tea and was so enthusiastic about the flavours. Hmm slurp, I’m getting fruit flavours! No not really for me just different tea!

When it got dark he made sure we had torches and put red cellophane over the light and took us to Liyuanliao Rail station to see fireflies.  We went up onto the tracks (no trains at night) there were a few people and then little flashes of white lights in the air and along the sides. I thought it was amazing. I think Tatjana was a little disappointed because she had seen an amazing spectacle in Japan and this was not the same.

We moved away from the people and further up the track to where it was quieter, it was quite lovely, I tried to video it but it’s difficult to capture it effectively.

The next day, we had breakfast which was a Taiwanese selection of things and local grown coffee. There was a dried pork substance that neither of us liked very much. We asked to stay another night and they said that we would have to change rooms to a smaller one and share the bathroom, we thought this would be fine but we didn’t check, our mistake!

Anyway after this we set off to have a walk along a Bamboo path!

It’s strange because it is on Google as a walk so I thought it would be busy but we only met a couple of men, who tried to teach us Taiwanese in the five minutes we exchanged pleasantries! Tatjana wasn’t herself but I didn’t know this at that point.

After the walk we found somewhere to eat, unfortunately most places were closed and the only place was a steam boat meal. Tatjana was feeling queasy! The meal wasn’t great!

When we got back, Tatjana went to our new room. It smelled of mothballs! The bathroom was a long way in a different building and shared with the family and plantation workers, it wasn’t good. By now Tatjana was feeling nauseous.

On top of this extra blankets and the trip to the fireflies was being charged retrospectively. I had dinner alone but could not eat much as I was feeling a bit unsettled too.

By the time I went to bed Tatjana had been sick. Then later in the night I began to feel queasy, I made a trek to the bathroom to throw up. I was just hoping Tatjana would be fit enough to get us out of there in the morning because now, I was feeling poorly.

In the morning Tatjana had recovered quite a lot, she was still a bit green. We could not eat breakfast. It was strange because Tatjana felt poorly after the morning coffee the day before and me after the afternoon meal!

We spoke to the son, and told him that the retrospective charges were not appropriate and the room was not good enough. He reduced the price. I think they genuinely felt bad for us but, our view of the place was quite tainted and we were glad to leave.

Sadly we both felt not quite right for several days and our excitement about moving onto a new country was subdued.

Next South Korea!