8.30am Complimentary Guided Tour by Fenchihu Hotel @ Taiwan

After joining the informative afternoon guided tour organized by the hotel the day before, we decided to take part in the morning session, which shall bring us to another route in the railway town of fenqihu.

Brought to the railway station by Shujuan (the same guide who brought us around the day before), we noticed this staircase beyond the tracks. Some inconspicuous that I would have thought this might just be a passage for residents who were living nearby.

But no, this was one of the attractions for the town and there's even a platform built to accommodate visitors. Given its proximity, I am not surprised that visitors would throng this place, except that you wouldn't likely know about this place! 

Some bloggers were talking about this but the percentage wasn't high. Maybe it has to do with the stars  of this attraction; the stands of bamboo which didn't appear any different from those I saw in other parts of Taiwan.

The wow expression came only after you put your hand around the bamboo! Even though it looked round, the fingers could feel the perceived squareness from the rounded edges! Mind boggling; like what you see isn't what you get! 

Video for reference. 

According to Shujuan, this interesting bamboo species came from Sichuan but unlike the normal bamboos, their bamboo shoots don't taste nice and the bamboo was also not good as materials as it wasn't thick enough. 

Fenqihu Railway Station.

I can't remember what Shujuan mentioned as my attention was drawn to the back dog at the background. It reminded me of a stray dog that the pet store I used to work at was hosting when it got severely injured. 

Both sides of the railway tracks.

This tree caught my eyes for two reasons; the yellow flowers and the fact they were bunched up like bananas! On second thought, they also looked like Buddha's hand fruits! 

Shujuan being Shujuan - she very happily shared with us things that can be eaten! Frankly, it was educational although my tiny brain can't remember what it was; I think somewhere along the line of highlands kailan. 

I guess the above would be the vegetables.

Walking down a path that I wouldn't expect to lead to a trail built for visitors. Well, Shujuan is a local guide and it helpeds that she knew her way around.

Beautiful splashes of red!

Not sakura although it's known as mountain sakura. 

Blue sky above us and this made me jealous as I can imagine how beautiful and walkable Alishan would be right now! Just a day earlier, both Alex and I had to endure rain, and hence couldn't complete the trails I had planned. 

Again, the company of the black dog! 

For a layman, this road was flanked on both sides by wild vegetation. I know some vegetables but as an urbanite, what we usually see in supermarkets are usually bundled and we might not recognize them in their original, before farmed form.

Those vegetation I thought was wild, were actually 龙 须 菜, and what appeared to be public property was actually private as there's a sign stating that those who steal the vegetables would be subject to a fine of NT$1,000! 

Onwards to the cedar boardwalk!

Cedar differs from the cypress trees we saw along the trails we took at Alishan and strangely, the boardwalk didn't feel exceptional, unlike the Japanese cypress trees at Alishan.

"Needle-like leaves, and cones that release winged seeds" from the cedar trees. 

Cedars are known for their aroma and a felled tree just felt like a lot of money can be made from it! From the "cut", I couldn't make out whether the tree snapped or it was chopped. 

More photographs taken on the boardwalk.

This panel talked about the bird's nest ferns, which didn't make an impact on us since we learn about them in schools, since they were common in rainforests, which we also have in Singapore.

Compared to the guided tour the day before, we had other guests with us; a couple from Taichung who drove to Alishan and Fenqihu for a visit.

We started chatting about other stuff like nearby hot springs in Taichung, which we would be going in a few days' time, the expressways to take (as we will be self driving later that day) etc! 

Out of the boardwalk! 

Mountain sakura right in front of us. I remember reading about the petals of sakura and the bell-like, downward facing flowers were definitely not sakura. Sorry, I like to confirm things. 

Power poles were still common in some parts of Taiwan, especially in the mountainous areas. What's interesting from the above was that the power pole was made of wood! Isn't that a fire hazard?

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Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)