Taichung station area
I am part pig, part man, proof below.
Today is a rest day. So I walked to the old train station, the area which I stayed in last time. It is all new though. New station, train line has been elevated, lots of new shops, lots of construction going on. So maybe it is Taichung redevelopment zone 8.
On the way, I passed not 1, but 2 open sewer parks, one of them is so clean, it has thousands of fish in the sewer water! So there you go, Taiwan sewage, very clean.
When I returned to my room this afternoon, there was a note on my bed, explaining that tomorrow between 12 and 5pm, everyone must pack their bags, and leave them at reception, for a full emergency hotel chemical detoxification. What? Why is this necessary? No other information! But in great news, I check out tomorrow morning and head back to Taipei, so I get the effects of whatever they are planning to detoxify for, without the risk of chemical poisoning from whatever they are using to perform an emergency chemical detoxification.
Photos are a bit shit today.
Here is drain number 1. You can walk along it, but it has no fish.
Drain number 2 however, has fish, proof below.
Behold, drain fish, lots of them. Including the ultra rare black goldfish.
Apparently, this is an ice cream store and ice cream museum. There was a line.
Well I was not expecting that. Old station in the front is what I remember, which back then had shops and taxis and scooters everywhere right out the front. Now the old station is a museum and there is a big grass area out the front, with the huge new elevated station behind.
The old station includes old trains to gawk at.
Station cat on duty.
They are really leaning into the Japan style rail experience.
Train bento's are famous in Taiwan. The thing is I do not know if they still serve them on the trains at all? It used to be that people would ride specific sections of the line to get the specific bento box. Now you can buy them at the stations, this is not the most famous one though. This also extends to airliner food, there are restaurants for EVA airways that serve the same food in the same containers they serve on their flights. I should go there.
Here is a view of the upper area of the new train station.
Pick your hotel. The one on the left is new, but has a ladder attached to the wall, the one on the right is old, but has proper stairs.
This is where the track used to run. They ripped it up and the whole area is set for redevelopment.
New malls springing up everywhere, I have a special surprise for this evening.
Nearby there is a park that seems to try to be Japanese, more on that this evening. Note that there is a red bridge (if you squint through the fountain spray).
Here is a very Taiwanese area though!
A nice old building, dating back to the Japanese era I presume.
And here I am, the pig main... OINK.
Mitsui Lalaport Taichung
Taiwan really wants to be Japan. They had a 50 year try at that, which seemingly did not go that well, despite a recent declaration by a Taiwanese president that "distinguishing kindness from grievances" is important, because in exchange for murdering a million people "Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan also bought construction, like the Chianan Irrigation system and Wusanto Reservoir". Cool. In exchange for Nazi Germany, the world got a few rocket scientists.
So anyway, if you have been to Japan, and like food courts, you have probably been to a Lalaport, there is one on Odaiba for example, but many an outlet mall in Japan is a Lalaport.
As of this evening, Taichung has half of one, and as of tomorrow, they will have a whole one.
You see, half of the Mistui Taichung Lalaport opened tonight, and the other half opens tomorrow. BUT! The food court opened tonight. So... I got to be one of the very first customers to eat at this food court. A great honour indeed.
Then, despite trying to catch the 300 bus, the main bus that comes every 5 minutes or so, the main BRT bus, 2 of them in a row slowed down, looked at me and a couple of other people at the BRT stop, and drove on without stopping. The second time it happened a woman ran along side it bashing it with her umbrella. I had caught the same bus from the same place before, and the locals were equally as confused.
So I walked back to my hotel.
Tomorrow I go back to Taipei, don't worry, there is still another 8 and a bit days of this trip to go. Taipei has a subway system so there will be less buses from this point on!
I headed back to the new old station area where I had been during the day. Behind it is the Taroko mall. Named after the famous gorge on the other side of Taiwan. I went to this mall last time I was here.
Here is a claw machine supply and repair shop. The mural is from the perspective of the creatures that live in the machine, and then there is a giant claw hanging out of the side of the building.
This is the hotel I stayed in last time I was here. Each room had a different art them. I have good memories of it, I tried to stay there this time too but it was sold out.
This building still has people in it, but the top 3 levels are condemned. I bet I could take some interesting photos if I could get up there.
There it is, Lalaport. Complete with a fake lake just like the giant one in the north of Tokyo.
At first I was deflated, closed. Opens tomorrow. But wait.
Half of it opens today!
Giant very high quality food court, rejoice!
My dinner was FANTASTIC, but a lot of food. It is Sichuan style soup with fatty slices of beef in it, and a bowl of noodles with more Sichuan 'meat' and various other things, and 2 bowls of pickled veg. All their options were 2 bowl setups, I do not think it is intended for 2 people. I emptied everything into the soup bit by bit, and it was delightfully spicy and numbing. I am a huge fan of Sichuan food.
Despite having non Japanese dinner in this Japanese mall. ALL the shops are Japanese. Even that weird Japanese chemist, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, and a Japanese supermarket.
Here is the back of the new old station seen earlier in the day, now seen at night.
And my final pic this evening, the Sogo that is attached to my hotel. I do not think I showed it from the outside previously.