It’s 10am, and spears of golden sunlight are piercing the clouds draped over the forested peaks of the Alishan range in southwestern Taiwan. My mode of transport is a steam train, and in many ways, little has changed since it first rumbled through these alpine forests in 1912.
Beyond my window, thick clusters of hinoki – otherwise known as Japanese cypress – line the route like a guard of honour, their gnarled, ramrod-straight trunks vying for space with bamboo, prized by the Indigenous Tsou tribe and used for everything from construction to crafts.
