An Adventure in Chia-yi with Typhoon Usagi Approaching

After a very full morning of climbing Tashan mountain, exporing a few temples and incredibly large trees around the area, having a nice local breakfast followed by a hot shower, Ella and I hopped the bus back down the mountain to an odd little city called Chia-yi, where we would be staying another night before returning home. Buzz had been stirring about Typhoon Usagi for a week or so, and many had cancelled their trips. We decided that we would rather sit in a hotel room watching movies and drinking rather than in our homes watching movies and drinking, and often times talk about typhoons is just that: talk. Luckily there had been no signs of a typhoon yet in the mountains and since it had deterred many tourists from coming it wasn't unpleasantly packed either.

We checked in to the Shin Kao Hotel about two minutes away from the train station. We soon concluded that we had gotten quite the deal with our cheap find of 830 NT (about 28 USD) for the both of us. The shower pressure was astonishing, the bathroom was large, the A/C was new, and cable and internet were included. The bed was a bit hard but both of us like hard mattresses and both woke well rested.

There are some good things about Chia-yi and some not-so-good things. For one, I don't believe that they are very accustomed to foriegners. We are both living in places where we rarely see another foriegner and so we are accustomed to cellphone shots, cars stopping in the middle of the road, and people calling out to say hello to us. What we are not used to is virtually every single person we pass stepping in our path to say hello. However, the parks are enormous and always seem to have music or perfomances on the corners. Chia-yi offers a multitude of free to cheap things to do. We stopped at the cultural center to look at the pottery museum (free). And hit a few of the largest temples I have ever seen before taking a break to watch some old people exercise in the park.

A sculpture are the Pottery Museum. The details were incredible!

Chengyuang temple.

The shopping in the nightmarket is great, but it wouldn't be my favorite night market. The streets are not closed to cars and scooters and it makes it diffucult to navigate, and there were smoothie stands and stinky tofu but little other options for food. The city lay out as a whole is very easy to navigate as all of the roads seem spread out like a starburst with a big fountain in the center.

We didn't spend much time in the night market as we were on the look out for dinner. But between the nightmarket and one of the large parks we found an acclectic burger joint named Cato with an American theme and delicious, although unique burgers. I had a squid burger. It was phenomenal.

Cato. Great burgers!

I am happy that Bogie is one thing that represents the US in Taiwan...not so happy that the other is Will Farrel...

The day started with the best coffee that I have found in Taiwan. We actually passed the place thinking it was someone's home, and I'm still certain it doubles as a living space. The man did not speak English but he understood what we wanted and bustled away, with his young daughter helpfully near and curiously watching us.

Love my coffee!

I really thought it was someone's house!

Then we were off to Runyar lake, thinking it would be a nice little walk. Wrong. Once again we were lost, although this time we both maintain that it was the misleading map. It made the trip seem as if it were a 20 minute walk. After 20 minutes we were wandering around Chia-yi University with no idea where to go. We made friends with a security guard who spoke a little broken English and he got us into a car. We drove for about 15 minutes before we found the Cafe that we were looking for. The name is "Cafe" and it is completely hidden unless you are looking for it. But if you have a sweet tooth you should make this a stop. Or if you like good coffee. Or if you like breathtaking views. Or if you enjoy eating outside on the roof or patio (something that is a rare gem in Taiwan).

The view from the Cafe roof.

I love eating chocolate waffles with this view!

Again I state, I love my coffee!

Our last stop was the 100 year old park. This has to be the most culture that I have seen in one space in Taiwan. The architecture was stunning, the gardens were beautiful, Paintings and sculptures were placed throughout and wildlife lurked quietly in the bushes. We even watched the sword dancers practicing for a while. This is a must see for visitors of central Taiwan.

After some research, I think this little guys is and Asian Dowicher. He let me get super close although he kept an eye on me!

I loved this park, it was so beautiful!

And enormous!

As we were walking back to our hotel we got a call from a friend. The typhoon that they had been talking about for days had turned to a level 5. She told us that we had better get home. In a panic we grabbed our bags from the hotel an hopped on the first train back. Only once on the train and almost home did we realize that there were no signs of a typhoon. Not even sprinkling. Finally we looked it up and found that the typhoon had hi only the southern tip of Taiwan, about 100 miles south of us and was curving right around us and was going to slam into China. So while we were in no danger of the typhoon we definately felt the butterflies that come along with travelling in one. With the destruction and flooding that it had left in the Phillipeans and southern Taiwan, were were grateful to not have any confrontations with Usagi.