Our last leg of the tour ends in Taichung. To get to Taichung from Taipei, there are a few options. By train,bus or High speed rail. I actually did consider taking high speed rail to try out how different it is from the Japan or Shanghai version. Hehe But it is pretty expensive though traveling time is cut by nearly half.
Also, we need to transfer to normal train from the HSR station to get to Taichung station where our hotel is located. It would difficult to lug our growing fleet of luggage. Thus, I decided to take the train though it is slower but is certainly more convenient not to mentioned cheaper option. HSR will leave till when returning to Tao Yuan for our departure so that we get to stay in Tai Chung longer.
Decided to sleep in a bit today and take the 10am train to Taichung. I didn't buy the tickets in advance as I am afraid of missing the train and wasted the tickets. Was praying hard that the train today would not be as crowded as yesterday's 1.
Turns out it is not crowded at all when we got up at Taipei station! Guess every 1 is coming to Taipei on a Sunday instead of leaving. Perhaps the night train would have been more crowded.
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| Tickets to 台中 |
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| Timetable |
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| Different train types |
Mr Love knocked out as soon as we are pulling out of Taipei station. I was very tempted to sleep too as it is a 2hrs journey and I am well known for sleeping in train, coaches, flights and in fact any mode of travelling. Hehe But I actually couldn't fall asleep as I am worried about missing the stop. This train goes to Tainan, if we missed the stop, I wonder where will we end up at?
Also, traveling on train is different from coaches or flights. Our luggage are placed above us with others. Some of the travellers are without seating and thus they will just find an empty space to park their luggage. I am afraid that when they disembark, they would intentionally or unintentionally take our luggage along, thus I was watching our luggage like a hawk while the Mr slept peacefully beside me.
Lastly, due to lack of space, we have no choice but to park our ultra big luggage between us in the seat. It is too heavy to be place in the overhead compartment. Was not comfortable at all since I am taking the window seat. At least Mr Love can stretch his legs out..I cannot :(
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| Banqiao station |
So what do I do? I took random pictures of every station we pulled into. Hehe Trying to capture every station name but was not successful unless if the name plate is right in front of me when the train stops. It is virtually impossible to take while the train is pulling in or out the stations.
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| I spotted foreign workers here |
As we moved towards Taichung, I notice a few things that are different from wat we observed in Taipei.
1stly, the stations here are more rundown as compared to Taipei or even the Yilan stations. Most of them look like they need an overhaul anytime soon. The Taipei 1 looks more atas while Yilan stations are in the midst of upgrading.Perhaps their turn will come soon after the Yilan line?
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| 3rd platform |
2ndly, I noticed more foreigners here as compared to Taipei or Yilan. By foreigners, I don't mean Caucasians, I am referring to Thais, Vietnamese or even Pinoys. Many can been seen on the platform waiting for their trains as we passed by.
It is later I learned from Shan Shan Jie that Taichung had a large community of foreigner workers here in the factories. The same goes for 新竹 where many young families are located and thus there is a large number of domestic helpers ard this area. This explains why I see many of them out on a Sunday which is their off day.
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| Random plantations |
3rdly, along the way, I can see many rivers drying up, all is left are the stones sediments. Later in Taichung, I overheard news that many places in Taichung are drying up and some places are enforcing water ration..
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| Drying up |
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| 新竹 where Shan Shan Jie stays:) |
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| As we moved out of Hsinchu |
The line we are taking are the mountain line going to Taichung. There are 2 routes here, mountain and sea line. There are interchange stations along the way but I didnt really take notice. But Taichung station is only reachable by the mountain route. Had you taken the sea route, you would need to stop in Zhanghua and transfer back to Taichung via the mountain route.
Mountain route (山线) as the name suggested takes you thru the mountains to Taichung city. So while here, all you are able to see is greeneries and occasionally some rivers.I would love to take the sea route in future, but that would be visiting another part of Taichung.
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| Zhu Nan station |
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| Cherry blossom by the tracks |
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| Another drying up river |
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| Miaoli, 1 of the bigger cities |
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| Plots of plantation |
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| Can see how bad the drying up is? |
I was waiting anxiously for the sales of bento to come as we are reaching Taichung very soon. It is already 11.45pm and the sales had not start yet, we are due in Taichung at 12:15pm.
I was secretly happy when the sales start just a little before 12pm but that would mean I had to finish the bento up fast to prepare for disembarkation.
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| 台铁便当 again |
The benton at Taichung line is slightly bigger than the 1 served onboard Yilan line. It is also more expensive at NT80. But then they had a slightly bigger serving of veggies and meat and on top of it, a fried scallop is added.
As usual, the rice they used are 珍珠米, the braised meat tastes as nice as the Yilan line version. But I was put of by the bamboo shoots they add here, it gives out a pee smell, but Mr Love says they tastes nice..*bleah*
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| The inside |
We polished off the bento in record time, finishing it just in time to hear the announcement of reaching Taichung station. Was happy I am able to eat the bento again. Hehe And went off happily to prepare to disembark.
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| Cover |
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| Feng Yuan station |
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