September 6, 2026
My father wants me to visit botanical parks outside Australia, as he has an interest in them. So I searched on the Internet. Apart from Taipei Botanic Garden, which I’ve visited before, I found Chiayi Arboretum (previously Chiayi Botanical Garden [林業試驗所嘉義樹木園]) in Chiayi [林業].
I reckoned I could leave International House in Taipei, travel to Chiayi Arboretum, and return to International House, on the same day.
Looking at Google Maps, the distance between Taipei main station and Chiayi is approximately 250 kilometers. Taiwan is less than 400 kilometers from north to south, so this would be a big trip. I would have to take the High Speed Rail (HSR) train (in blue), which should get me there in an hour and a half, to the HSR Chiayi station outside Chiayi. Then I would take a bus to central Chiayi (in yellow), around 45 minutes, tour the Chiayi Arboretum, and then do the trip in reverse.
Chiayi is right on the Tropic of Cancer, so I’d be going to the tropics.
On that day, it was raining steadily in Taipei, with a temperature about 26 degrees. The above photo was taken outside Qizhang MRT station.
In the past, I used to book trains online a few days in advance, then visit a convenience store to print out my ticket, and then arrive an hour or two beforehand to catch my correct train. The whole process was a hassle. But I thought, what if I just turn up to the train station and pay a ticket for the next train? In the worst case I would get a non-reserved seat.
So I tried it. The photo above is of the HSR ticket counter in Taipei main station.
The service lady charged me NTD 1,080 (about $AUD 54) for a reserved seat for the next-but-one HSR train to Chaiyi. Great! This photo is of the ticket, jumping ahead to my period on the HSR train.
The entrance to the HSR Taipei train station, right next door to the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) ordinary trains.
The HSR train coming in.
The HSR train carriage.
The HSR train whisked me through a rain-sodden landscape.
As we moved south, rain turned to clouds…
…then to blue sky.
The day in the south was fine and clear. This photo was taken heading south among rural scenes.
We crossed a wide river.
A view of a temple.
A brief glimpse of a city.
The HSR train’s speed was 259 kilometers an hour. It got up to 288 km/h on one section.
Chiayi HSR station, just after disembarking from the HSR train. The temperature was (I estimated) mid-30’s centigrade and humid. I was in the tropics!
This picture is of the ticket stand. Note the time is 10:20am.
Chiayi HSR station is 20 kilometers from Chiayi Arboretum and was out in the countryside. Researching the travel options from Chiayi HSR station, I found there is a direct bus to Chiayi Arboretum every half an hour. I just had time to eat before the bus came. The above photo is of the bus disgorging passengers.
On the bus. We travelled through Chiayi Chang Gung Memorial Hospital [長庚醫療財團法人嘉義長庚紀念醫院].
The bus terminated at Puzi Bus Station [朴子轉運站] (above). I realised that I had traveled in the opposite direction, away from Chiayi! The bus back to Chiayi left in half an hour; I had another bite to eat while I waited.
Back on the bus, this time travelling in the right direction. I noticed two lions (above)…
…and an odd building, but investigation of Google Maps left me no wiser. Any readers could tell me what that is?
The plants look like sugar-cane beside the road.
The bus stopped at Chiayi station in the centre of Chiayi (servicing the regular TRA trains, not the HSR trains).
The bus terminated right by Chiayi Arboretum. Wait, this is Chiayi Park; Chiayi Arboretum is further on.
A view of the map, showing several regions: Chiayi Park in yellow-green colour; Chiayi Arboretum in pink; and the forest area of Chiayi Arboretum in blue. We are at the very left-hand part of the map, just inside Chiayi Park.
A view just inside the park. Very hot and humid, I estimate around 35 degrees.
An ornate gate, but facing on to a narrow path.
At the base of the gate, looking over a creek.
Just a long the path there was a temple. Google Maps indicated this was the Confucius Temple.
The grounds leading to the Confucius Temple. Round Taiwan Round says “don’t forget to take a stroll around the garden outside.”
Turning 180 degrees in place, this photo is of the Confucius Temple. Round Taiwan Round says “Chiayi Confucius Temple is different to other temples around Taiwan as it is missing some of the traditional elements normally found in a Confucius Temple. But given its amazing history of destruction and resurrection, it is a fascinating place to visit.”
The grounds of the temple were very serene.
Round Taiwan Round says “The Confucius Temple was formerly the Chiayi County School and was originally established in 1685. The Confucian Temple that stands today was originally built outside the West Gate of the old Chiayi City. Later, following a typhoon, the temple was rebuilt where it stands today. But this temple was fated to be unfortunate, and after the Lin Shuangwen Rebellion (林爽文事件), the temple was destroyed once again. In the Japanese colonial era, it was again collapsed by a huge earthquake, before it was converted into a hospital. It was as late as 1961 that sturdy reinforced concrete was financed by the local government to rebuild the magnificent Confucius Temple that stands today.”
The temple as seen from the uphill side. I didn’t go inside. Round Taiwan Round says “Although the interior is largely unadorned, there is retained a solemn atmosphere, which, accompanied by the sounds of Confucius bells and drums on the day of the Confucius Memorial Ceremony (the 28th of September) gives one the illusion of being in a royal ceremony of ancient times.”
Further along there was the Chiayi Shinto Shrine. Josh Ellis Photography has a great webpage on this.
A plaque on the Chiayi Shinto Shrine. As Josh Ellis Photography says “the ruins of the historic Chiayi Shinto Shrine are located. In its heyday, the shrine was regarded as one of the most important in Taiwan, and even though only bits and pieces of it remain, what you can still see there today is arguably more complete then the vast majority of other shrine ruins that you’ll encounter in your travels across Taiwan today.”
Josh Ellis Photography continues “Discussions regarding the construction of a Shinto Shrine in Kagi started around 1911 (明治44年) … its official inauguration ceremony was held on October 28th, 1915 (大正4年)…. construction of the Second Generation Kagi Shrine got underway in 1940, and the project took until 1943 to complete. … with the shrine completed in 1943, its time as a Shinto Shrine was short, given that the Second World War came to an end in 1945.” In 1995 fire destroyed the Main Hall and the Worship Hall.
The photo above is the signboard for a Resting Room. Josh Ellis Photography refers to this building as a Resting Pavilion. Josh Ellis Photography says “With an influx of Japanese immigration, conducted first by private companies, and then later publicly, the necessity for infrastructure to cater to their needs became more important. Certainly, one of the most important areas in this regard was with the construction of Shinto Shrines, which were important not only for the daily lives of the immigrants who came to Taiwan, but also to assist in the colonial regime’s push to fully assimilate the Formosan people into Japanese society.”
Josh Ellis Photography says “The next common feature of a Visiting Path are the stone lanterns that are lined symmetrically along both sides. One again, its quite amazing that there are so many of the original lanterns remain standing in their original location, and what’s even more amazing is that the date of their donation, which is always inscribed horizontally along the base, remains clear.”
The sun was intense, the day was hot and humid, and my mind was getting clouded; I could feel the beginnings of heat exhaustion. So I paid NTD 80 ($AUD 4) to enter the Chiayi City Historical Relic Museum (above).
Josh Ellis Photography says “The two buildings that have come to personify what remains of Kagi Shrine are the beautiful Administration Office and the Priests Hall [above], two large, and very traditionally constructed spaces that are directly connected with each other. The buildings have been beautifully restored, and both the exterior and the interior are well-maintained, and are well worth the modest entrance fee for a visit.”
Inside the buildings. Josh Ellis Photography says “Working together in unison, the buildings were originally used for a number of purposes. First and foremost, it was a space where the shrine’s priests, priestesses, and other staff would rest while they weren’t busy performing their duties. They were also a space where the administrative aspects of the shrine were taken care of in addition to offering space where special events or ceremonies could be held. While the interior of the buildings would have been mostly off-limits to the average visitor, they also offered space for people who might have had any special requests for prayers or rites.”
There is a torii gate (above). Josh Ellis Photography says “[I]n addition to the cement base, both of the buildings were constructed with a mixture of brick and cypress from the nearby mountains, and the walls in the interior feature the genius insulation method of combining bamboo and mud [編竹夾泥牆], something that the Japanese came up with as an answer to Taiwan’s tropical climate.”
Other rooms in the buildings. I ate lunch in the air-conditioned comfort of the dining hall, thankful that I was not outside in the humid sun. Josh Ellis Photography says “one of the genius aspects of the design of buildings like this, especially since air conditioning hadn’t been invented yet, was that the windows in the building were specifically constructed to open up and allow fresh air into the building. … It would have been hot within the buildings, but the design did its best to mitigate the sweltering tropical heat of Chiayi, something which I personally can’t endure for very long before I start to melt.” I felt this way too.
Josh Ellis Photography says “At a Shinto Shrine, a ‘Visiting Path,’ [參道]… is an integral part of the layout of any shrine, and, well yeah, is essentially just a pathway that leads visitors to the shrine. While these paths serve a functional purpose, they are also quite symbolic in that the ‘path’ is also the route you take on the road to spiritual purification.”
Josh Ellis Photography says “Located on the left side of the Visiting Path opposite the Administration Office, you’ll find what is known as the Purification Fountain, an essential addition to any Shinto Shrine. Like the Visiting Path, the fountain is sure to appear at any shrine you visit as it marks another important philosophical aspect to Shintoism, which is referred to as ‘hare and ke’ (ハレとケ), or the “sacred-profane dichotomy.” One of the main methods of marking the visitor’s journey from the sacred to the profane, is that for anyone crossing the barrier into the ‘sacred realm,’ they should do so in the cleanliest possible manner. This is achieved by symbolically performing a purification ritual at the chozuya (ちょうずしゃ) or temizuya (てみずしゃ) provided. “
Josh Ellis Photography says “Arguably one of the more important of the remaining sections of the shrine are the ruins of the First Generation Shrine [above], which was later used to house a separate set of kami. That being said, for most visitors, this is likely to simply appear as an uninteresting cement base, and probably don’t really understand the point or the purpose of what the ruins entail. Personally, this is one of my favorite parts of the park as it shows the size of the First Generation Shrine.”
Nearby stands the Chiayi Tower. Round Taiwan Round says “Inspired by the shape of a gigantic sacred tree of Alishan, the Chiayi Tower has an outer wall that replicates the look of real wood and is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Chiayi. The name of the tower is derived from a legend that is popular among the plains aborigines, who believed that there used to be two suns in the sky. Some tribesmen chased the sun all their life, but to no avail. Eventually, their sons, who had followed in their fathers’ footsteps, shot the sun. On the first floor, you will encounter a martyrs’ shrine that honors the fallen soldiers, and temporary exhibitions often take place here. What’s worth noting is that there is a 40-meter-high empty space in the center of the tower that mimics the crack in the center of that sacred tree.”
To one side of the Chiayi Tower was the entrance to the Chiayi Arboretum.
There is not a lot on YouTube on the Chiayi Botanical Garden / Chiayi Arboretum. The above clip is a little long at over 17 minutes, but gives a sense of place with no presenters talking.
It looked like this was a dense forest with winding tracks, most unlike Chiayi Park. Taiwan Tourism Administration said “The botanical garden in an area of about 8.6 hectares belongs to the Forestry Experimental Institute of Agricultural Council, an experimental place for planning & development of the economic tropical trees. The planted trees have special features with humanities, such as well-known mahogany, Chinese firs, blackboard trees, Brazil rubber trees and so forth.”
It was relatively cool under the branches; a delightful strolling spot. Taiwan Tourism Administration said, “Trees inside the park magnificently stand high like in a forest, presenting the simple nature in a secluded and peaceful spirit.”
Kupi says “The main activity here is leisurely strolls along the winding paths, where you can study the diversity of flora: from giant palms to delicate subtropical flowers. Photography enthusiasts should definitely visit the garden during the ‘golden hour’—at sunrise or before sunset—when the soft light highlights the lush greenery and vivid colors”.
There is a creek running the length of Chiayi Arboretum, the same creek I saw when I first entered the park.
Some different trees – I keenly felt my lack of botanical knowledge.
Here there were ponds, and a sign interpreting them (above).
Another patch of trees.
An interpretive sign saying “Arecaceae” – the rest of it is in Chinese.
A sign saying “Buttress Root Plant Area”, with some indicated trees.
I followed the creek down to the entrance to the Chiayi Arboretum. Just inside the gates I found this noticeboard (above) welcoming me to the garden.
All in all, a very interesting trip to Chiayi Arboretum.
Just outside Chiayi Park was the bus (above) that took me to the Chiayi HSR station.
Back at the Chiayi HSR station, standing as before at the gates. Note the time is 3:21pm.
I went to the booking office to purchase my ticket. Unfortunately, reserved tickets were sold out on the next train. I purchased unreserved tickets (that do not have a seat attached to them) for NTD 1,040 (around $AUD 52), for the next HSR train, and trusted to my luck. In the worst case, I would be standing up for the trip to Taipei.
The train came swiftly (above). It turned out that the last four carriages (8 to 12) had all unreserved seating. I slid into an unoccupied seat, and nobody came to bother me.
On the way north, the weather closed in, and by the time I took this photo sometime before arriving, it was raining. The HSR train took an hour and a half to arrive at Taipei main station.
I arrived back at International House ten and a half hours after leaving it. So it was possible to do a day trip to Chiayi Arboretum.