阿里山 (Alishan)

Two shots of the sea of clouds under the village and Ken at dinner after the train ride. Sadly we had few pictures from our visit to Alishan. We stayed with some of the locals in the Alishan village. It is a magnificent forest. I saw some of the most amazing ancient trees. One of my favorite is the three generation tree consisting of three trees that grew on the same spot about three hundred years apart. Each tree grew its roots around the fallen one before it and the parts of the first tree that have rotted in the millennia since it died are still discernible in the shapes of the others. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture. I also visited a beautiful little Buddhist temple on the mountain which is home to a 1500 year old two ton gold Buddha. It was brought from Thailand to Japan about 500 years ago and then to the top of Alishan during the Japanese rule of Taiwan about 70 years ago.
I have a Chinese Transverse flute, called a dee tze, with a poem about the night on 阿里山. I was very happy to dedicate my flute by playing it there at night. I was happy to play my flute to the trees, to the Buddha, and watch the cherry blossoms float down around me.