Taiwan - Alishan Forest Railway (TW-39314)

My collection of railways related cards keeps on growing :D I've even found a railway tag on postcrossing forum :) Fortunately, it's allowed to send cards showing railway stations there, as I haven't seen any with trains in my area... And I doubt if such ones could be issued here in the nearest future, because there are no special or old railways in my area. People probably wouldn't be interested in buying and sending cards showing regular Polish trains :))) But I don't complain, as I understand that collecting cards showing trains isn't a very popular hobby. I'd be satisfied if I could buy real map and flag cards here... Am I asking for too much? :))

This card shows the Alishan Forest Railway in Taiwan. It was listed by Taiwan's government as a potential UNESCO site, but of course it can't be accepted, as Taiwan doesn't belong to United Nations and it's independence isn't recognized by most of countries... That's why there are no World Heritage Sites in Taiwan, just because of a political issue :(

TW-39314

The Alishan Forest Railway (阿里山森林鐵路) is an 86 km network of narrow gauge (2 ft 6 in (762 mm)) railways running up to and throughout the popular mountain resort of Alishan in Chiayi County, Taiwan. The narrow gauge lines were originally constructed by the Japanese Colonial Government in 1912 to facilitate the logging of cypress and Taiwania wood, however today the line caters mostly to tourists. Passenger carriages were first added to the trains in 1918.

Unlike the national rail system administered by the Taiwan Railway Administration, the Alishan railway is managed by the Forestry Bureau. The system is currently operated using diesel locomotives, although there are occasional special public runs using the old steam powered Shay locomotives.

Taiwan - A railway (TW-39345)

It was a very pleasant surprise to find 4 cards showing the trains or railways just after I had added them to my wishlist :) It's always nice to know that someone cares to read my wishlist and to choose a card that would certainly make my day. I've already shown you an Australian train and it's time for a Taiwanese railway :) I don't have any further information about this card (well, there is some Chinese text, but it may be some info about the publisher or anything else as well...) but does it really matter? :) I love railways, both the ones in use and unused. This one seems to be in use, but the ones that haven't been used for many years also have some charm, especially if there are already trees growing between the rails and the railway leads to a forest... There's something mysterious about it and I would never like to check on a map, where does such railway end. It's better to think that it's just endless, that it remembers some old and slow trains and that it dreams of being used again someday....

TW-39345

By the way, I wanted to ask you, what name of country do you write on postcard/envelope when you're sending it to Taiwan? There was a discussion on the Postcrossing forum (which was closed, as there was a threat that Chinese government would block the access to this site from P.R. China) about someone, who wrote "Taiwan, China" in the address. Actually, it's not about the addresses, but about the China - Taiwan issue and about the Taiwan's independence. Currently only about 20 countries have official diplomatic relations with Republic of China (Taiwan), but it's widely considered to be an independent country by people around the world. Personally, I always write only "Taiwan" in the address to show that I recognize this country's independence. And what's your opinion?

Taiwan - Taroko Gorge (TW-34228)

This beautiful card shows the Taroko Gorge, located in the Taroko National Park in the East of Taiwan. I read a bit more about this country several days ago, when I got a Taiwanese address to send an official card to (of course, that's not the first one, but sometimes I don't notice interesting things immediatelly). I found it a bit strange that most of big cities and main roads are located on the West coast of Taiwan. Then I learned, that there were high mountains with wonderful landscapes in the Central and Eastern part of the island. I may know all the countries and their capital cities, but I'm still a bit ignorant, when it comes to physic geography of continents other than Europe. But I'll improve it, I promise :)

TW-34228

Taroko National Park (traditional Chinese: 太魯閣國家公園; pinyin: Tàilǔgé gúojiā gōngyuán; Taiwanese POJ: Taroko kok-ka kong-hn̂g) is one of the seven national parks in Taiwan and was named after the Taroko Gorge, the landmark gorge of the park. It spans the counties of Hualien, Taichung, and Nantou on the island of Taiwan.

The name, Taroko, means the "magnificent and beautiful". Long ago a tribesman of the Truku aboriginal tribe saw the beauty of the azure Pacific when he walked out of the gorge. Astonished by the elegance of the scene, he cried: "Taroko!". And so it became the name of the place, in fashion not dissimilar to how the island, Formosa, got its name.

Taiwan - a painting (TW-15211)

That's my first postcard from Taiwan :) Unfortunately, I can't give you any information about it... I know it's a painting... A really beautiful one... And I know that it's from Taiwan Museum of Art... Of course, there's some more information about it, but in Chinese... It's a pity, when I can't read about the postcard. If it's in any of languages written in pne of alphabets that I know (Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew) - there's always a chance to google it. But in this case, the only thing I can do is to put the description of card here. Maybe someone from China or Taiwan will read it and help me to understand something more than just the dates :)

TW-15211