When we reached Fenchihu (Fenqihu) from Alishan National Forest Recreation Area around 4.30pm, the sun was already setting, giving us a first impression of this town as a quiet and forgotten one. Dar had fallen asleep in the comfy car seat so we placed him into the stroller to stroll him down the very steep slope. This used to be a much busier place when the Alishan Railway was still running through this town but the train service had discontinued for sometime due to a typhoon damage on the railway a few years ago. When we were there, it seemed that there was hardly anyone on the streets so we became obvious targets by the stall owners, though they were friendly and not pushy.

One of our main objectives in going there was to visit the Train Museum and look at the railway station but unfortunately, we found out from a local there that it had already closed for the day at 4pm. Our mistake for not finding out its opening hours before our trip.

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Tea Tasting – Tea/Souvenir Shop 阿坤老師傅特產專賣點

With our main objective wiped out, we started to wander freely along the streets. When we came to a shop, 阿坤老師傅特產專賣點at the end of one of the streets, a lady invited us in for a cup of tea. It was cold outside and seeing that she was friendly, we went in and sat down as she professionally prepared some Gao Shan Cha 高山茶 for us. In Taiwan, they often offer us free tasting of food and would be alright and smiling even if we do not buy from them after tasting. Seeing that we were interested in the tea that was planted in Alishan, the lady (Ms Jian, 簡碧雲) offered us further details on her tea while we continued enjoying her company and tea. All this while, Dar was sleeping soundly in his stroller beside us.

As Ms Jian patiently explained the history and the nature of the tea she was serving us, she kept emphasising that we need not feel obligated to buy anything from her. It was the first time we drank tea that were not in a teabag as tea leaves in Singapore are usually quite expensive (as a comparison, we saw a shop in Marina Square selling 高山茶 at SGD$28 while the one we bought was about SGD$18.90). In the end, we did buy some tea leaves/bags from her as we really liked the tea we drank. Cat liked the ‘金宣茶’ with its nice aroma while the ‘乌龙茶’ was stronger. They were not bitter at all and instead left a fragrant aftertaste.

We also found a nicely made black steam train model for Dar and a small wooden Alishan bookmark.

We then bid goodbye to Ms Jian and walked back to where we came from, arriving at the unused railway tracks. We decided to wake Dar up so that he could experience walking on the tracks. He was upset when being woken up initially and did not want to walk on the tracks because he was so afraid that a train was coming. (Cat: He kept pulling my hand to bring me to safety when I walked on the track) but on reassuring him that it was safe, he started getting active and walked on the tracks happily.

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Fenqihu Train Station

As we made our way towards the deserted Fenchihu (Fenqihu) Train Station, we came across some switch tracks and pointed them out to him. Dar was familiar with them since he could relate them to those he saw from his Thomas & Friends playsets. We saw some parked trains and carriages, which we supposed were left there for the visitors. We thought we would only be able to see trains in their train museum, so this nice surprise convinced us that we had not made a futile trip to Fenchihu.

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Dinner – Railway Bento

We decided to try out the famous Railway Bento (鐵路便當)which basically consisted of rice, pork, chicken and some pickled vegetables. Earlier, Cat even came face-to-face with the founding father of the bento. Her impression of him was that he was still very energetic and youthful despite his old age.

Anyway, we returned to the shop where we had our tea earlier, as it had a restaurant area on its second floor. We were then served the Railway Bento at NT$120 each, with free flow of soup that we could scoop at the counter ourselves. Despite the bento’s fame, the food did not suit our tastebuds. Most of the preserved veggies were left untouched and the pork had a taste unfamiliar to us. Guess the locals would have liked it better than us. ^^|

After our dinner , we returned to our cab and Mr Lin took us back to the Tea Garden Home-stay.

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[  STAY . SLEEP  ]

Alishan Tea Garden 茶香花園民宿

The room was beautiful as we had seen from their website, with a nicely furnished bathroom, wooden structures and nice scenery as we looked out of the sliding doors. The key was attached to a fragrant bag and the room/bathroom was also fragrant with a nice pleasing aroma that made us feel at ease.

We had booked a room with two double beds so there was plenty of space. Beds were comfy too, though it got pretty cold at night even with our sweat pjs and thick covers as we wanted some ventilation and left the side window open under the curtains. We woke up with some blocked noses due to that.

Wifi was quite strong within the complex. Dar and I also went over to the main hall where we sat in front of the unlit fireplace, enjoying each other’s company. Cat was already sick with cold before the trip so she stayed inside the room to rest. There was a hot/cold water dispenser and coffee/tea was available freely as well. The decor by the fireplace was nice and cosy.

This was also Dar’s most favourite place of stay in our Taiwan trip as he kept saying he wanted to go back to ‘the house with the roof’ even though we had already left the Alishan area. Sunrise over the mountains could be viewed after walking to a path from the minsu but we did not manage to see it as the sky was cloudy and misty. We enjoyed some highland tea from the minsu and bought a can of highland tea from them.

>> Read Next Post:  Taiwan: Alishan Tea Garden Morning

>> Read Previous Post:  Taiwan: Day 1 Arrival & Alishan Forest

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Taiwan 30Oct to 6Nov 2012: Day 1 Afternoon to Night Itinerary

• Alishan National Forest Recreation Area 阿里山森林遊樂區
• Fenchihu 奮起湖
• Alishan Tea Garden Homestay 茶香花園民宿

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Read More on Taiwan Itinerary 2012: 8-day Taiwan Itinerary (Chiayi, Taipei, Hualien, Nantou)

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