There was hardly anyone at breakfast today, except for 1 person. But I took my breakfast up with me anyway. A lot of items were out yesterday but today they had croissant so I took one, a brown sugar mantou, and nikuman, along with the choco cereal and oats.
After breakfast, I went back down to return my plate and also borrowed their toilet to poop.
Then I went up to gran my laundry that was still damp and headed to the laundromat around the corner, but all machines were in use. So I sat for 5 mins, as one machine had 10 mins left, then decided I will go back to the hotel and see if they will let me use the machine early.. I arrived back at 9:38am, and asked reception if they could?
They let me! I put my clothes in for 30 mins, then popped back upstairs and took my postcards out to he post office with me.
I decided to head to the post office that was a little further as they held 3 風景戳. That was worth it - I sent 9 postcards in total and Nadi/Archer got all 3 of them. The rest got 2 - the two temples. The guy who served me was so nice and patient.
Then back to the hotel, It was about 10:08am and my laundry should be done. I asked L to check on my laundry, and he put it on for a couple more mins. I got back and went and grabbed me laundry bag, headed back down, and collected my now dry laundry. Yay!
Back upstairs and finish packing. It was just after 11am now once we all finished sorting our stuff out.
We checked out and asked the reception to call a taxi that could fit 3 luggage for us.
A plain white hatchback came and they could juuuust fit all 3 of our luggage into the boot. Woo! The driver was dressed in a shirt, tie and waistcoat. Fancy! Fare was about $200.
Whilst in the car I reserved train tickets and then collected it at the self-service machine. We went into the platform and hung around. The train that came was a push-pull train, the one with weird baggage holding areas that had the foot rests on it....
Welp, looks like we're baby sitting our luggage. I had to manspread but it worked. Thankfully the train is only 45 mins journey.
Tainan Station had a signboard up about the renewal of the station. It looks like they are under grounding the train lines, which is a real pity. I like open air stations way more. And seems like they are putting a new building out the front? So the train station would be covered.... That's sad man.
Once at Chiayi we exited the station, and Chiayi station is also an open air station like Tainan. We headed to the TRA info desk for the stamps, and then I popped to the tourist info desk to ask if they had stamps. They had 11! Wow! 9 of them were all uniform circles of the same size, which was satisfying. Two were square/rectangle.
The auntie at the info desk asked me to spray my hands with alcohol to disinfect before stamping. Very fair.
I thanked the lady and said bye.
We headed to the FamiMart just to the left of the station and got lunch. I ate an onigiri combo of salmon and tuna.
And then ate the bean tea cakes (the kind that drys your mouth out but melts instantly with enough water) left over, and then drank the oolong tea from last night.
We had about an hour until the bus, so we just hung out under shade and then moved to the bus stop about 20 mins before.
There were two lines, the reserved and non-reserved. Like no one else was in the reserved tickets line??? Everyone else was lining up in the non-tickets.
Though, after we got on, two ladies came on near at the end with their tickets.
The bus driver opened up the bottom cavity for us. Initially we put our suitcases in first but there was another 2 passengers that were getting off at Alishan, so took ours out and reordered them as we were getting off at Shizuo.
I chose front row seats... Because the bus drivers tend to open up the window when we start ascending the mountain and the air is way better. It was quite hot in Chiayi.
As soon as we started climbing, the bus driver opened up the window on his side.
On the way up, we had 2 monkey sightings. We also ran into a truck that was carrying stone pavers/concrete bricks load, that didn't take a turn properly and got their right rear wheel stuck into the gutter on the side of the road... Thankfully their wares were tied down - the stones glad wrapped and on forklift pallets, and secured in place onto the truck. One person was helping spot the bus as they made the turn, the space was soooo tight in between the edge of the road and the head of the truck that had the accident. We made it! The driver thanked the spotter and we headed on.
One bus coming down in the opposite lane was taking the corner too fast and our driver had to brake to make sure we didn't crash. One passenger behind us said why they turning so fast... And the driver was like 搞什麼.
We made it safely to Shizuo and I let Mr Lin know we were here. Less than like 3 mins later he arrived and I was in the middle of typing a message cause I remember his little black SUV, might not fit all our luggage, and said I was willing to walk if no room for luggage lmao.
Turns out he was driving a van! A van so old, it didn't have seat belts on the back seats. And the windows were manual roll down ones. Nostalgic... Cause dad's Ford in Taiwan was like this.
Once we checked in, Mr Lin went through the briefing and I translated for L and M.
We settled in quickly, L and M went to look around, and I unpacked a few things. Then I followed them to the observation deck.
The mist was coming down really hard now and you can't see anything. Real Silent Hill hours! We took a few photos and observed a stray dog family.
And then when we came down from the observation deck it started raining. Like real rain not misty drizzle.
Mrs Lin was coming out front the front and asked us if we needed umbrellas. She gave us two.
And we were gonna head out but observed the cats as it was feeding time... I crept closer to the back door of the kitchen and Mrs Lin was getting their food ready.
I ended up asking about the cats and she was happy to talk.
The cat dad was on the stool and the mum has already passed away. She got them neutered and commented about 3 cats hasn't been cause they weren't old/heavy enough yet, and skittish.
One cat saw the other get put into the cage and taken so is extra wary now, Mrs Lin wants to get them neutered as they are a girl.
She also commented the stray dogs had puppies recently and they may be a bit noisier at night. And not to put our shoes outside as the dogs come to eat the leftover cat feed, and sometimes if they don't get any leftovers they get a but grumpy and take a shoe.
Mrs Lin also said to go to the restaurant a little earlier as they may shut early if no business on a weekday. And offered to pick us up if the rain is too heavy - but I think we should be alright. Also to be careful of the cars in the mist and they may not see us, and if I am wearing white it's easier to spot me. M went to change a white jacker. We thanked her and headed to dinner!
We went to Tong-Xin, the same quickly fry shop I liked a lot last time.
We ended up getting a lot of food lol. I made sure to get my 酸菜炒羊肉 that I wanted but didn't get to last time.
We got... To share... Pineapple fried shrimp (which came with a sweet mayo??? And sprinkles), crispy tiny shrimp with garlic and herbs, Makao sausage, fried rice, 龍鬚菜, and a small pot of chicken and mushroom soup (which also had some cockles in it!) which was not small at all! We managed to finish 90% of the food, the soup we left half... I couldn't even fit a piece of chicken from it inside... Total was $1350 and we split it into 3.
Then we went to Hi-Life and 7-11 for some drinks that L and M wanted. No bandages in Hi-Life for M but I found my vita C candy for $25! The staff who served me said there's a pharmacy 5 mins up the road. I think this lady may be Indigenous. I thanked her and left.
Then at 7-11 L and M found everything they needed.
I hopped outside as I could hear coughing. One staff was changing the banner over the main entrance. They used magnets to fix it in place, the banner scroll itself is that plastic material.
And then back home. When we headed back, the sky cleared up quite a lot. We could faintly see the rest of the sunset. Just chill now. I get to have oolong tea... And boiled the jug for it. Then I checked Pokemon and realised one gym was empty, just up at the observation deck at the start of the mist trail, and an egg hatching in 5 mins. So off I go!! Climbing those stairs in quick succession was oof. I got there with a min to spare.
Like 3 cars passed me by.
Then back and finally some tea, and relax. Decided to shower first after flicking through the TV - only the basic channels here.
Showered and now blog, then bed. Breakfast and tea ceremony tomorrow! I am quite tired.
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