Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 17 & 18: Chiayi 嘉義 (An Lan Jie Hostel 安蘭居国际青年馆, Chiayi Prison 嘉義監獄, Hinoki Village 檜意森活村, Liu Li Zhang Turkey Rice 劉里長火雞肉飯, Chiayi Municipal Museum 嘉義市立博物館, Smart Fish 林聰明沙鍋魚頭, Song of the Forest 森林之歌, Lantan Reservoir 蘭潭水庫)

From Tainan, the train took about 1 hour and 15 minutes before arriving at Chiayi (嘉義), Taiwan's most iconic place where people drop by to visit Alishan (阿里山). I planned to stay here for two days, in which I hoped one of the days I could join a tour to catch the sunrise at Alishan, and also to take a short break again (since there's limited stuff to visit in Chiayi) haha. 

My first stop of the night was to check in at my hostel: An Lan Jie Hostel (安蘭居国际青年馆) which located on a high rise just across the Chiayi Train Station. This place received really high ratings on Hostelworld and the price was pretty reasonable too. The staff was really friendly and attentive as well. During my check in she took her time to explain about the hostel and the sights to visit around Chiayi city as well their famous food. She was also kind enough to help me to ask the guests who were interested to visit Alishan so that we could a rent a cab and go together. After settling my luggage I then headed down to grab some food and then called it a night.

Chiayi city. Alishan somewhere in the distant background.

I started exploring the city the next day as soon I woke up. The hostel provided free bread & jam for breakfast so I did not have to pay for breakfast haha. They also provided bicycles for rent which I used for my city exploration. Most of the city sights that I visited were within cycling distance. Weather was excellent too.

My first stop of the day was Chiayi prison ( 嘉義監獄).  This is probably the remaining prison from the Japanese times that was not demolished and available to be visited by the public. However you can only visit the premises at certain time slots where a tour guide will bring you around. Thankfully I Googled this info before I visited that morning haha. Otherwise it would be a wasted effort to cycle all the way there. The prison tour was quite interesting as we visited the prisoner's cells, their toilets, learnt how they lived and the various activities they had.

Prison officer's uniform in the olden days:

Couldn't remember what these lights were for ._. : 

Prisoner's cells. Some for single person stay, some for group stay. Some have their own toilet bowls: 

Prisoner's art work. Some were quite impressive:

Toilet bowls during the Japanese era. For those storing faeces, the lid is much heavier to trap the smell from escaping:

An interesting story was shared to us was that, during winter there were no hot water for the prisoners to use to bath themselves. Hot water itself was a luxury. However when they ex-Taiwanese president got jailed, hot water was provided for him. Now since everybody in prison have equal status, it was unsure whether other inmates had such a luxury.....

Anyway, next stop of the day was Hinoki Village (檜意森活村) which comprised off various shops selling and exhibiting different stuffs. These shops were actually dormitories built from cypress wood (檜木) which was abundantly grown in Alishan. These trees were of very good quality and the Japanese had harvested a lot of these trees during their occupation and the dorms were for the workers who went up to Alishan to do all the logging as Chiayi city was the starting point of Alishan railway. 

One the highlights was this hut showcasing all about the movie Kano, which was directed by a Taiwanese and is one of Taiwan's most successful films. It talks about how a couch who managed to train a team of nobody to get 2nd place in a baseball tournament. I have yet to watch the film until today lol. Maybe one of these days.... Most people in Chiayi are crazy about baseball by the way. It's like their national sport.

Entrance fee is NTD 30.

Quote of the day

Apparently Chiayi is famous for turkey rice, which tastes very similar with Malaysia's very own chicken rice. So for lunch I visited one of the popular shops to have a try as well. It was really packed when I went around lunch hour. I was lucky to get a table to myself.

For NTD 80 I got this:

Taste wise it's not bad but really nothing to shout about haha. I was even interviewed by some TV station halfway throughout the meal to be asked about the taste. Of course I said the food tasted delicious. Interesting experience. It taught me not to believe whatever that was said on TV haha.

For my last visit of the day, I then headed Chiayi Municipal Museum (嘉義市立博物館). Yes, you know there's nothing much here when I visited two museums in half a day haha. Not complaining though. If I have the time I would try to see as much as possible while travelling. Anyway, what's interesting here is they emphasise a lot of the earthquakes in Taiwan since the 921 earthquake caused massive damage. They had a really cool stimulator and a 'damaged; house showing what's it like when earthquake happens. Doubt any tourists will visit this place though haha. Everybody is in Chiayi only for Alishan. I called it a day after that and headed back to my hostel for some rest.

At night, I met up with a local Couchsurfing friend who brought me to this restaurant (林聰明沙鍋魚頭) to try out their famous fish head dish. I am not a fan of fish head so I ordered fish paste instead. I was half expecting my bowl to be filled with noodles and then fish but it ended up with a huge serving of vegetables and fish paste only haha. It was quite nice though! Since she treated me for this meal I couldn't recall how much it cost but it should be below NTD 100.

After dinner we then headed to the few remaining attractions in Chiayi that is nicer to visit at night. This place is known as the Song of the Forest (森林之歌) and is basically a structure which is decorated with beautiful lights which changes colour every now and then. A nice place for an evening stroll whilst enjoying the cool weather. There is a train passing by now and then as well so it's quite a nice place for train watching. We hung around for awhile while eating fried sweet potatoes and sipping on pearl milk tea.

Second last stop of the night was at Lantan Reservoir (蘭潭水庫) which was quite far away from the city area. On some nights there will be some fountain light shows going on but today was not the night. Apparently this was a favourite place for people committing suicide as well. We didn't stay for long and left. Since my CS friend had to leave early to attend to her matters, her friend fetched me back

We then headed back to the city and talked a bit regarding life in Chiayi and also life back in Malaysia. Back at the hostel, the staff informed me that she managed to find a group of people from China to share a cab with me to visit Alishan the next day! Wooots. I will get to see the sunrise after all!

Chiayi city night view

- Day 16 & 17 end-

Next: Day 19: Chiayi 嘉義 (Sunrise at Alishan 阿里山國家森林遊樂區, Fenqihu 奮起湖)
Previous: Day 17: Tainan 台南 (Tainan Public Hall 吳園, Chikan Tower Fort Provintia 赤崁樓, Danzai Noodle 赤崁擔仔麵, Anping Historic Street 安平老街, Anping Treehouse 安平樹屋, Anping Old Fort 安平古堡, Teapa Tea 茶湯會中山店)