Alishan is one of Taiwan's top attractions, it's a mountainous area with the famous 'sea of clouds' sunrise viewing. That being said, it's surprising that Alishan is surrounded in misinformation and confusion. Sort out your plans well in advance.

We prebooked the early morning train with our hotel, Alishan House. It costs NT$150 each. Morning call is from 3.40 to 4.10 am. Meeting point is the lobby at 4.30 am where we took the hotel shuttle to Alishan Station. Here we joined another long queue for the train up to the Zhushan station. We wore adequately with hats and gloves.
On arriving at Zhushan, we walked up to Mt Ogasawara. It is a fairly steep walk about 15 mins long. It is definitely worth the walk up here. While waiting for sunrise at 7.04 am, we could admire the numerous trees with the autumn colours. There are a few telescopes set up here to view the moon surface and other planets. We could also see the many mountain ridges such as the Jade mountain. After the glaring sighting of the sunrise, we had a lovely walk down passing the Duegaoyue viewing point (a slight detour 100 m away). We took the Zhushan Footpath as a shortcut. Before going back to our hotel for breakfast, we walked a short section of the Shuishan trail. It was such a lovely experience enhanced by viewing sunrise at Mt Ogasawara.