Taiwan 2015 Jiayi 嘉義/地久橋-石卓-雅琇山莊

We kick start our day by feeding our tummy with bacon toast and egg toast sold in food truck. My favourite breakfast in Taiwan. More breakfast stall can be find easily at the street opposite of 85 building on the way to subway station. Next we travelled to Jiayi from Kaohsiung Mainstation. Planning the transportation to Jiayi is indeed tricky. The availability of train to Alisan is limited and their bus or train schedule is hard to understand for a half-banana me.

Our first train ride in Taiwan

The train usually departed on time from the platform unless there is delay. We ran all the way from the ticket entrance to the platform and managed to jump into the train at the last minutes before the door closed. It really closed right we got onto the train. *relief* The journey took around 2 hours to reached Jiayi and by the time we reached we missed the last train to Fenchihu. So we opt for backup plan which is cab (More like our priority plan since we din plan our transport in advance). Just pay slightly more but totally save you from all the troubles. We met a very friendly taxi driver that offer to fetch us to Fenchihu and some attraction along the road for TWD1500per car.

We take away two packets of the signature food in Jiayi - Turkey Rice on our way up. (because the taxi driver haven’t have his lunch yet) and enjoyed it at the first stop of our way to Fenchihu - ChuKou 觸口，天長地久橋. ChuKou is the gateway to Alishan. Two suspension bridges were built to cross the river to get to Alishan during Japanese occupation . Both bridges is named Tianchang 天長 and Dijiu地久 to memorate Japanese emperor and empress respectively.









Second stop was 石棹新天山茶葉民宿（Tea Homestay). Once we got there, the owner start serving us different kind of chinese tea and explain each of it to us. In the end, we bought some as souvenirs. The owner claimed that they sell tea leaves made in Taiwan compared to tourist attraction that sell imported tea leaves from Vietnam. Not really sure whether it is reliable or not but their tea did tastes good. As shown in their name, they actually offer room for traveller too other than tea experience.

We finally touched down to Fenchihu by 3pm. Why we chose to stay in Fenchihu? Because it is cheaper than Alisan! There's our first thought when looking for Alisan accommodation. The room rates per person is roughly TWD900 per night. While Alisan will be more than TWD1000.  But there are other consequences from saving the penny. Anyway the attractions in Fenchihu are worth to stop by for an hour or two on the way up to Alisan. Our home stay in Fenchihu named 雅琇山莊 (yeashow) which is owned by the ex-mayor of Fenchihu. We reserved our room through email from their official website and paid on the spot when arrive to the homestay.

雅琇山莊 (yeashow)
email: y2561336@gmail.com / y2561336@yahoo.com.tw
Address: 嘉義縣竹崎鄉奮起湖159-1號

The entrance to the hostel with a 3D painting

In order to get to the home stay you have to walk down the stairs located at the same row with 7 eleven.  The home stay is an old building which is not convenient if you have a large luggage. We need to carried our luggage up the narrow stairs to reach our room at third floor. They provide us room which can accommodate up to 8 person. No pictures shown because I forgot to take the picture of the room. The weather in Fenqihu is cold thus they don’t have aircond inside the room while the blanket provided is too thick for summer. The bathroom served hot water for limited time. The staff is friendly in helping you to arrange transport to Alisan for sun rise. Although the window is cover with net, yet the bug still managed to came into the room especially at night.

We went there in summer so sunrise occur at around 5.30 in the morning. The staff suggested us to leave the home stay at 2am. Moreover we need to bring along our luggage together for sun rise as there wont be enough time for us to get back to home stay. They don't help in arranging transport back to Fenchihu too. So we eventually gave up on our sun rise plan. A good rest is more important to survive the following trips. So I will suggest to stay in Alisan even though you need to pay slightly more. It is more convenient and the starry night is beautiful in Alisan according to my friend who stayed there.

Milky way at Alisan captured by my friend. Check out his fb for more.

Next post will continue on attraction in FenChiHu. I'm never expected I'll write so much for the one night stay over there. Lol Perhaps too naggy.