I was happy to received a card from Taiwan last July thru a private swap with Miss Gina Sue, she wrote in the card that this is a picture of Alishan, located in mountains of the central part of Taiwan. Cherry blossoms bloom in March and make Alishan splendid and colorful and look like a world of flowers.

The following quoted information about Alishan is from WikiTravel.

Alishan — "Mount Ali" — is Taiwan's most-visited national park. The area has been settled by Taiwanese aborigines since time immemorial, but ethnic Chinese began settling only in the 19th century. Development really took off only when the Japanese completed the Alishan Forest Railway (1912), a remarkable narrow-gauge train originally built for logging the area's giant cedars. By the 1970s, logging had pretty much ended and tourism had become the area's primary earner, and the entire area was declared a "national scenic area" in 2001.


Alishan is not a single mountain, but a range on Taiwan's spine, averaging 2,500 meters in high and with the highest peak Datashan (大塔山) reaching 2,663 meters. Taiwan's highest mountain, Yushan (3,952m) is easily visible from Alishan.

Due to its elevation, Alishan's flora are more temperate/alpine than tropical, and the slow transition from bananas and palms to evergreens on the way up is interesting to watch. The dominant feature are giant Taiwanese red cypresses (Chamaecyparis formosensis), some of which have been growing in the area for well over 2,000 years, although most are now managed forests for logging. In spring, crowds flock to view cherry blossoms, while in summer the mountainsides are blanketed with orange montbretia blossoms.

Due to its elevation, Alishan is considerably cooler than the coast, with daytime highs averaging 14-24°C in summer and 5-16°C in winter. Even for a mountain, Alishan's weather is extraordinarily rapidly changing: an average day starts with a cloudless morning, theatrically dense clouds of rolling mist by noon and ends with a lightning storm and torrents of rain before repeating all over the next day. Humidity is always very high, and indeed most surfaces in the park seem to be covered with a layer of luxuriant green moss.

Well, this place must be nice to see around this time...must be really, really lovely! Again, thanks Miss Gina Sue for the nice card that comes with this beautiful butterfly stamp...


Thanks Z for scanning this postcard last year, I finally able to share it here...there are 20 more postcards to share that was scanned by Z of Postcard Crossing. Countdown start from here! Again, thanks much and very much appreciated!