台北 → 阿里山

Tuesday morning, I took the 高鐵 to 嘉義 (Chiayi). The train left 台北 at 12:06, arriving in 嘉義 at 1:30. (NT860/one way) There is a connecting bus to 阿里山 that leaves at 2:10 ... this is the last bus that heads up the mountain each day.

Upon arrival in 嘉義, we were told that the bus station was a half hour away ... the same amount of time in which the bus was scheduled to leave. We quickly hopped in a taxi and told the driver we needed to catch that bus. With his pedal to the medal, he sped through every red light and got us there with fifteen minutes to spare. Unfortunately, there were no seats left on the bus. The bus company doesn't take reservations. The next available option was a taxi for NT1,600.

The taxi driver stopped for two bags of 檳榔 to get him through the long journey ... two hours to get there, two hours to get back. The road up was windy and steep. After an hour or so, he pulled to the side of the road to show us a black bear in a cage. The bear looked hot and unhappy and I was curious as to why the taxi driver was so proud of this captured bear. In my eyes, it probably isn't being cared for the way it should be and seemed rather cruel. It's funny how people see things differently.


The hotel was NT3000 per night. The internet boasted big rooms with queen size beds and a tub so that one can take a hot bath after a long day of hiking. The room was small and stuffy with cracked ceilings. There was one window that faced the hallway, not the outside. The beds could almost be considered doubles ... my feet hung off the end. The tub was more like a big basin that one would be able to sit in with their knees drawn close to their chest. Four small hand towels were in the room. We asked for bigger ones but they weren't sure they had any. Later, they brought one ... for the two of us to share, I suppose?! Hot water was only available from 5pm to 6am everyday, so we weren't overly concerned.

The late afternoon, early evening was spent wandering about. We found a restaurant, had some dinner, went back to the room with some wine and watched a TV movie. We were expecting a 3:30am wake up call which we knew would come awfully early ...