August 24, 2020
Today I left Taipei.
I woke up at 1:30am this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I’m out of sorts today. My train left at 8:28am. Here’s a few photographs from out the window.
Going across a river, in the outskirts of Taipei.
The river mouths are huge – some of them are over a kilometer. Laoshi Tang, Jun-Pei, 俊成, what causes these? Is it a consequence of typhoons?
More scenery.
Nice view of the mountains.
I was so tired I slept on the train.
Chaiyi! I was just getting off the train. The railway track to the right is where the Alishan Forest railway train will be.
Taipei is in the last few days of summer. The temperature is starting to cool (although it gets up to the mid-30s). In the 中文 language classes we had to learn the four seasons. I think Chaiyi is not like that, leaning towards a wet-dry cycle. Regardless, today was very hot and humid. I knew that my hotel was just a few hundred meters away, but I couldn’t find it in the sweltering heat, and I ran out of water. Finally I went to a 7-11 and bought water, then with the help of a very kind woman who spoke English located my hotel.
This was the entrance to my hotel’s street. Bizarrely, the temple above the road was just a facade, made of wood.
In my room, looking out the window.
Chaiyi has a vast market filled with interesting sights. Unfortunately, the market is closed on Mondays, which is the only time I visited. I did photograph a temple.
Tomorrow I go on the Alishan forest railway.
Wandering Richard 