Even though I spent weeks trying to prep for the massive move out of my apartment of two years, it was still a move nightmare. We never went to sleep and madly threw things out and bestowed an abundance of items to the neighbors. At 4:00 am I started to doubt if we were actually going to successfully get out by 8:45 am. After a night of literally no sleep and the realization that I am a pack rat, we set out for our first stop of our grand adventure. In transit from Taipei to Chiayi we stopped for a three hour visit of Changhua. The city doesn’t have anything that exciting other than a giant Buddha. Now this may not do it for some people, but I am fascinated by Buddhism and have become obsessed with exploring temples. At the station there is a baggage check for 70 NTD. I recommend dropping off your bag and heading across the street to the Ubike station. If you have been to Taipei, you have probably purchased a metro/bus card. This card works down south as well! So for 20 NTD we rented bikes for about two hours and biked up the steep hill to visit the giant statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha.
Leading up to the Buddha is a long staircase lined with different Buddha’s. Buddhists pray to different Buddha’s depending on what they are requesting. Do you want to have a baby? Do well on a test? Make a good business decision? Well there is a Buddha for you. The Buddha itself is hollow, which allows visitors to climb up three flights of stairs. It was a bit disappointing in the fact that you can’t look out of its eyes. Inside there are scenes of the Buddha’s life. What was really nice was the massive temple complex behind the Buddha. This is when I got the idea to take jumping photos with strangers my thing. Thus, meet Sophia and Anna below.
Three hours was just enough time to drop off and pick up our bags, get to the Buddha, take photos, and get back to the train. If you are headed towards Chiayi, I highly recommend making this stop. Please keep in mind that you need to be ready to jump off the train at your stop. The trains remain in the stations for a very brief period and it can be a bit confusing when the stations are announced in Chinese.
Back on the train we quickly learned that we were in fact on the wrong train. Of course we had boarded a standing only train. Ugh. So we got off at the next stop and felt like we had gotten over our first hiccup. Well it was only the beginning…. Right about that point heavy rain set in. I mean heavy Taiwanese Torrential RAIN( The news actually categorizes rain here as slightly torrential, torrential, extremely torrential, and mega torrential ). Never mind I left my backpack’s rain cover at home to cut weight, what really got us was what happened once we arrived in Chiayi. Chiayi is the jumping off point for Alishan National Forest Recreation Area. Alishan is part of Taiwan’s central mountain range and is famous for its sunrise views and hiking. I had read a blog that stated the trip from Chiayi to Alishan Recreation Area is 45 minutes. Thus, we assumed that our arrival at the station at 5:05 pm would be fine. WRONG. The trip takes roughly two hours by taxi and even longer by public transport. All the employees acted like we were silly and that it was impossible to get to the recreation area that late in the day. The LAST BUS FROM CHIAYI TO ALISHAN IS AT 1:10 pm. Doesn’t that seem oddly early to you? We were taken by surprise and were urged to quickly get a taxi. The road to the mountain is often closed at 7:00 pm. I have to say that I plan to email several guide books to request they add this transportation issue. The two guide books I own do not mention anything. Unfortunately, this added 2,000 to our daily cost. The three of us were packed in the back of a taxi and could sense the driver’s urgency. The speed limit was 30 KPH and he maxed out at 100. We were not on wide straight roads, but curvy mountain roads. My heart rate was the first to spike. After several instances of him passing other vehicles on turns, my fellow passengers began to feel uneasy. By this time it was pitch black and we were speeding around corners. My Dutch friend Tim took this moment to share an article he had read stating that travelers are more willing to do risky things when outside their country and often these actions may lead to bodily harm or death. For example, getting in structurally unsound boats, taking the faster but more dangerous options of transit, and sky diving in unregulated countries. I had enough and requested him to slow down. He didn’t. He started to tail a white van. It seemed oddly aggressive. Then he passed the van and slowed down so that he was parallel with it. He yelled something in Chinese and he sped off. Around the next bend he pulled off to the side of the road. Suddenly, the van pulled up alongside us and the driver got out of the car and walked towards us. Our driver quickly got out and we all froze. “Are they going to fight?” asked Tim. “If we need to defend ourselves, I have a knife in the upper right pocket of my bag,” he continued. My thoughts jumped to the organ black market and that this was a planned hand off. We called our hotel and had the front desk manager talk to the man from the white van. Our driver urgently gestured for us to get out of the car and to get into the van. He began to move all our things. I can’t tell you how my sleep deprived self felt at that moment. All my time dedicated to watching Criminal Minds really bit me in the butt. Once the phone was handed back to us, the front desk manager informed us that we were incredibly lucky. Our driver did not want to continue up the mountain and just happened to dump us on two employees of the hotel. What are the odds! He still demanded the full fare and we were in no state to argue. We got into the van thinking that this was the most absurd and in some ways lucky situation. Even though it was a long and scary day, the universe had provided us safe passage to our hotel. Till tomorrow…
Leading up to the Buddha is a long staircase lined with different Buddha’s. Buddhists pray to different Buddha’s depending on what they are requesting. Do you want to have a baby? Do well on a test? Make a good business decision? Well there is a Buddha for you. The Buddha itself is hollow, which allows visitors to climb up three flights of stairs. It was a bit disappointing in the fact that you can’t look out of its eyes. Inside there are scenes of the Buddha’s life. What was really nice was the massive temple complex behind the Buddha. This is when I got the idea to take jumping photos with strangers my thing. Thus, meet Sophia and Anna below.
Three hours was just enough time to drop off and pick up our bags, get to the Buddha, take photos, and get back to the train. If you are headed towards Chiayi, I highly recommend making this stop. Please keep in mind that you need to be ready to jump off the train at your stop. The trains remain in the stations for a very brief period and it can be a bit confusing when the stations are announced in Chinese.
Back on the train we quickly learned that we were in fact on the wrong train. Of course we had boarded a standing only train. Ugh. So we got off at the next stop and felt like we had gotten over our first hiccup. Well it was only the beginning…. Right about that point heavy rain set in. I mean heavy Taiwanese Torrential RAIN( The news actually categorizes rain here as slightly torrential, torrential, extremely torrential, and mega torrential ). Never mind I left my backpack’s rain cover at home to cut weight, what really got us was what happened once we arrived in Chiayi. Chiayi is the jumping off point for Alishan National Forest Recreation Area. Alishan is part of Taiwan’s central mountain range and is famous for its sunrise views and hiking. I had read a blog that stated the trip from Chiayi to Alishan Recreation Area is 45 minutes. Thus, we assumed that our arrival at the station at 5:05 pm would be fine. WRONG. The trip takes roughly two hours by taxi and even longer by public transport. All the employees acted like we were silly and that it was impossible to get to the recreation area that late in the day. The LAST BUS FROM CHIAYI TO ALISHAN IS AT 1:10 pm. Doesn’t that seem oddly early to you? We were taken by surprise and were urged to quickly get a taxi. The road to the mountain is often closed at 7:00 pm. I have to say that I plan to email several guide books to request they add this transportation issue. The two guide books I own do not mention anything. Unfortunately, this added 2,000 to our daily cost. The three of us were packed in the back of a taxi and could sense the driver’s urgency. The speed limit was 30 KPH and he maxed out at 100. We were not on wide straight roads, but curvy mountain roads. My heart rate was the first to spike. After several instances of him passing other vehicles on turns, my fellow passengers began to feel uneasy. By this time it was pitch black and we were speeding around corners. My Dutch friend Tim took this moment to share an article he had read stating that travelers are more willing to do risky things when outside their country and often these actions may lead to bodily harm or death. For example, getting in structurally unsound boats, taking the faster but more dangerous options of transit, and sky diving in unregulated countries. I had enough and requested him to slow down. He didn’t. He started to tail a white van. It seemed oddly aggressive. Then he passed the van and slowed down so that he was parallel with it. He yelled something in Chinese and he sped off. Around the next bend he pulled off to the side of the road. Suddenly, the van pulled up alongside us and the driver got out of the car and walked towards us. Our driver quickly got out and we all froze. “Are they going to fight?” asked Tim. “If we need to defend ourselves, I have a knife in the upper right pocket of my bag,” he continued. My thoughts jumped to the organ black market and that this was a planned hand off. We called our hotel and had the front desk manager talk to the man from the white van. Our driver urgently gestured for us to get out of the car and to get into the van. He began to move all our things. I can’t tell you how my sleep deprived self felt at that moment. All my time dedicated to watching Criminal Minds really bit me in the butt. Once the phone was handed back to us, the front desk manager informed us that we were incredibly lucky. Our driver did not want to continue up the mountain and just happened to dump us on two employees of the hotel. What are the odds! He still demanded the full fare and we were in no state to argue. We got into the van thinking that this was the most absurd and in some ways lucky situation. Even though it was a long and scary day, the universe had provided us safe passage to our hotel. Till tomorrow…
