Torrential rain buckets down as we pick up our car rental making the inspection and handover a soggy affair. We are leaving the east coast for the mountainous spine of Taiwan. The comfort of the 110 Kmph freeway gives way to a long steep climb through dense forest at a ridiculous speed limit of 30Kmph and multiple speed camera signs spooking me enough to comply. Misty cloud swirls and conceals the peaks above.
This area was inhabited by indigenous tribes until the arrival of the Japanese in 1895. They set up a logging industry which was active until the Japanese defeat at the end of WW2. The then Formosa government set about repurposing the area for tourism and the logging trains became tourist trains. Surrounded by tea plantations the tiny village of Fenqihu was an important refuelling stop for the train and around the station the narrow little old street became a food stop for passengers. Popular was the Bento box which was my lunch for the day even if my life partner turned her nose up at the offering.
Drizzle greeted us up the hill at Alishan Forest Park and with time and weather against us we could only enjoy a short walk through the massive trees.
