Taiwan: Sunrise above clouds at Alishan National Park

Supposedly, this is an epic thing to do in Taiwan – see the sun browsing above the clouds from behind the mountain peaks. Crowds of bus tourists attest to this. There is no road to the top, you have to take an old mountain train that leaves at 3:50am and takes about 40 minutes struggling uphill to get you to observation platform. There you wait for the sun to slowly come up (luckily hot tea is available to warm up, since it’s rather cold). It’s definitely a beautiful site – the sun rising over a sea of clouds that fill the valley between the mountain peaks. But the crowd are a bit too much, especially since tour guides try to rally and chant on top rather then quietly enjoy – it’s not like the sound will go up faster…