12.11.19 - 14.11.19 Chiayi

To get to our next destination, we first had to go to the neighboring city of Changhua. It took us about an hour for the 12km journey (city buses in Taiwan really cover a lot, winding through every small alley and stopping every 10m it seems). But then we quickly took the train to Chiayi. For most people, the city is just a transfer point on the way to the mountainous Alishan area. However, since we have more time than most, we decided to stay here for 2 nights. Our room was right across from the train station in a hotel that occupied the tenth floor of a high-rise building. Compared to the previous ones in Taiwan, it was so big that we didn't know what to do with so much space, but we still didn't have a window. Since Chiayi was the main location in a Netflix show about street food, Mathias couldn't resist trying some of the specialties. These included a very simple but delicious dish of rice with turkey and a pretty tasty stew with cabbage, tofu, and a fried fish head.

Other than that, the city was pleasant enough to wander through the streets, visit temples, and drink coffee for a day. But then, we also wanted to move on to the famous Alishan area.