So I took tiger airway at 10am and reached taoyuan international airport. Initially I wanted to deposit my luggage at taipei main station as I have found out a place to deposit a piece of luggage at 17NT. This is a cheaper option as compared to putting them in the locker which charge by hourly rate. But I gave up as I wanted to go alishan so I went straight to Chia yi.
At the airport, there were 2 things that I have planned to do. First was the 3G Sim card and second was to apply for youth card. For people who wants to apply for this sim card, please remember to bring your I.C or other government recognised with your photo ID cards such as car license. They need to have your passport plus another identification card in order to apply for Sim card. As I did not bring mine, I couldn't apply for one. Then, I went to the next counter to apply for the youth card. This card is useful as there is some discount at the attraction park entrance fees such as the green grassland at the Cing qing farm. This card is only for people who are 15-30 years old so I think this would be the last few chances to get this card.
So after getting the card, I went down to the bus terminal to get the bus ticket to taoyuan railway station. There are 2 types of trains in taiwan which are the TRA and HSR. TRA is the normal railway while HSR is the high speed railway. The main difference is the price and time needed to travel. As we are not in a rush to go Chia yi TRA, we took the bus to the taoyuan TRA station.
bus ticket counters
The bus that we wanted to take was not from these bus companies. So we found out that it was outside and we need to get ready of the coins to buy the tickets when we board on the bus as they do not give any change.
bus tickets-53nt
The bus driver will issue a bus ticket after paying and it has to be returned once you alight. There is only one door to board and alight from the bus. So I took around 50 mins to reach 'today' hotel(今日大饭店）
the location of the hotel and railway station
So after alighted at the hotel, the taoyuan railway station is just 5 minutes walk from the bus station. The railway station is just beside the departmental store-FE'21. So we bought the tickets to Chia yi station a the taoyuan station. The ticket cost 532nt. We took the train at 1731 and reached around 2029. I have been trying to find out about bringing big luggage around taiwan. I realised that there were no elevators at the TRA stations,or maybe I did not try hard enough to find it. I have to carry and walked down the stairs and up to get to another platform to take the trains. I will advise not to bring heavy luggage and plan to go other places in taiwan first before going to taipei for shopping. If you are taking HSR or metro only then you will not have to worry the weight as there are elevators.
There was a train assistant going around the train to sell bian dang and some drinks. I have read from the forum that the bian dang was nice so I have decided to try. The bian dang cost 80nt. It was nice and filling.
So once I reached the chia yi tra station, I have to find a public phone to call to the sun moon lake minsu to confirm with them to continue to reserve the room for us. But it was too late and they have let the room out to other people as they told us to contact them once we land at taoyuan airport. So we have to find another minsu at the lake. Although they offered us to stay at her uncle's house which is an unknown minsu, we have decided to take another minsu. As I couldn't apply for the 3G sim card, I went to the 7-11 to see whether there is any wifi service. Luckily, they are selling the wifi service for a day at 50nt. I took up the offer but it took some time to connect to the wifi as there was some problem registering my phone.(Thanks to the auntie and xiao di at the 7-11 store) This wifi service is available at all 7-11,starbucks and mos burger in the whole of taiwan. So I found a minsu at the lake and called them immediately to book a room.
We did not have the time to explore around in Chia yi and this took us few hours to settle our accommodation at sun moon lake. There was a night market 文化路夜市, and there is a famous chicken rice stall(大郭鸡肉饭） and dao huay（阿娥豆花). We were quite tired to explore around after 11pm as we took a long flight and train to chiayi. So we went back to our hotel to rest. The hotel name was country hotel(国园大饭店）, and I booked through agoda website. This hotel is at close proximity to the chia yi TRA and the bus terminal to alishan. The hotel cost 76 sing for one night per room which is one of the more expensive accommodation that we have planned to stay in taiwan as the others are all minsu.
hotel at chia yi(嘉義）
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