Chiayi (9 - 10 May 2009)
Trip Start
May 07, 2009
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Trip End
May 19, 2009
Chiayi, Taiwan
Saturday, May 9, 2009
High Speed Rail
It wasn't a long stay in Chiayi (嘉义). We planned to spend a night here in order to catch the early Forest Train (森林小火车) to Alishan (阿里山) the next morning. We reached the city by High-Speed Rail (HSR) and checked in to Jiaxin Dafandian (嘉新大饭店, NT$700/double room) just opposite Chiayi Train Station. It was already 5pm.
Chiayi street night view
At night, we went to Wenhua Night Market (文化夜市) for dinner. We also bought instant noodles for next morning. It may sound weird to some people why we bought instant noodles rather than go out to the stalls in the morning for breakfast. Well, we needed to check-out of the hotel, go to the train station to exchange our pre-booking slip for the train ticket (It's advisable to book the train tickets ahead, especially if you are traveling on weekends). Anyway, instant noodle is also a delicacy in Taiwan. This was the best opportunity to try it.10 May 2009 (Sun)
Instant Noodle
I had my delicious beef instant noodle as breakfast and there was real meat in it. At 9am, we were at Chiayi Train Station where I collected our train tickets using the pre-booked slip (NT$399/pax/trip). We also paid for the entry ticket (NT$150 / ticket) to Alishan Forest Recreation Area (阿里山森林游乐区). There wasn't a queue yet but it got longer as the train departing time approached. At 10am, we took the forest train to Alishan.(Continue in next entry...)
