180313 to 14 Taiwan Trip 2/3
Day 4: 170313 Tuesday – Kenting to Chiayi
We woke at 7:00am and packed, then walked out to the nearby coffeeshop for breakfast.
We reached Eluanbi lighthouse, our first stop of the day at 9:30am.
Our family photo.
Then we reached the South-most point of Taiwan at 10:25am. YowCH had to fix Joseph’s boots.
Next stop, the beautiful Longpan Grassland, arriving at 11:15am. It was very very windy.
WE then took a drive to Hong Cai fishing Port for seafood lunch at 12:15pm.
We had lobsters and salt baked fish.
Joseph got to handle a live puffer fish!
The port looks very nice, clear blue water.
We reached the great Buddhist Centre, Foguangshan, at 3:20pm.
The front building had a huge shopping arena for Buddhist stuff.
The grand corridor, with 4 pagodas on each side.
The main building with 5 pagodas and the huge Buddha seated behind.
WE watched a short show of a Buddhist story, and read up about the life of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha).
The Big buddha.
As we left, our driver bought us pancakes for snacks.
We left Foguangshan at 5:20pm, and along the way to Chiayi, we saw the sunset (photo by Esther).
We checked into Forte Orange Hotel at Chiayi at 8:50pm and walked to Wenhua Street for street food dinner at 7:20pm.
After dinner, we got back to the hotel at 8:55pm and slept at 11:30pm.
Day 5: 170314 Wednesday – Chiayi to Alisan and back to Chiayi
We woke earlier at 6:40am to pack up. We left the hotel at 7:25am and the driver took us to McD for breakfast.
McD breakfast. They have pork burger!
We started towards Alishan at 8:10am.
A short stop along the windy mountain road at Xiding.
We reached the Alishan Scenic Area at 10:00am and hiked the beautiful National Park. The air was cool at about 15-20°C.
Sakura was only starting to flower. Incidentally, the flower festival was to start a few days after our trip, and this is a blessing, because cars are not allowed up the mountain during flower festival, and tourists must take the public buses (troublesome).
The Alishan train.
Grace met an old colleague up on the mountain.
The great trees!
Sisters Lakes.
The 3 Brothers Trees.
The Wild Boar Stump.
We reached Shouzhengong at 12:00pm and had some wild board sausages for snacks.
The 3500-year-old great tree.
We then took the train back to the carpark.
A very classic mountain train.
We reached the carpark and had stone-pot lunch at Shanbin Restaurant at 1:40pm. After lunch, we went to the post-office, bought some postcards and mailed them home!
We left Alishan at 5:10pm and reached Fen Chi Hu at 4:05pm.
This is an old railway station and has an old street with food and souvenirs.
We left Fen Chi Hu at 4:45pm and reach Long Ju Yuan Homestay at 5:55pm. After settling down a bit, we left for dinner at 6:30pm.
Our dinner was the famous Wen Yao Ji (baked chicken) near Chiayi.
The chicken was baked in a Tandoor.
And we had to rip the chicken apart by hand!
We returned to the homestay at 8:15pm and we slept at 11:00pm.
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