If There Were No Tourists During Alishan's Flower Season: Su Huizhao's Observations and Reflections

Text / Photography: Su Huizhao

On March 10, 2017, the month-long Alishan flower season officially began. The Taiwan cherry was nearly in full bloom, the Kawazu cherry had started to drop its blossoms, the mountain cherry had already grown green leaves, and the Yoshino cherry, which has been crowned the king of cherries, had not produced a single flower because of weather conditions and would probably not bloom until late March or early April.

To avoid the crowds, I came to Alishan four days before the flower season. The Taiwan Tour Bus Alishan route from Chiayi HSR Station was still fully booked, a one-night stay at Alishan House inside the park was hard to come by, and Alishan Hotel still had rooms, but the price was very painful. What about the hotels in the tourist district? Before the trip I made a list of thirteen, starting with the first one and asking all the way to the fourth, which had very poor reviews online. Bingo!

Of course the price had already gone up, from 1,800 in the off-season to 2,400 during the flower season. As for when the flower season starts, the hotel has the final say.

Sadly, only five days into the Alishan flower season, despite volunteers shouting themselves hoarse and trying their best to persuade them, tourists were said to keep pulling and tugging at the small cherry king, the Taiwan cherry, that stretched out over the simple guardrail. The cherry blossoms suffered severe damage and bowed out early. Public-mindedness seems to have disappeared here, the volunteers sighed.