I took the high speed rail south to the Tainan High Speed Rail station, then the shuttle into the main part of town. It's not quite the Japanese Shinkansen but still nice and MUCH cheaper.
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| train snack |
Almost all the new HSR stations are out of the cities and have free shuttles to the main stations or other parts of town. I got off somewhere near the bus station (couldn't find it) and I had absolutely no idea where the hotel was. I don't know what I was thinking to not have looked that up. I just started walking, looking for the bus station because I knew the #2 bus went fairly close to the hotel. No luck. I did see green in the distance and I'm always drawn to a park so I headed that way. Still no help finding the hotel but being near a park always makes me feel better. I hailed a cab and he took me to the hotel which turned out to be only a few blocks away. But I would have never found it. It was in a VERY run down area. Actually the whole city is very run down, with a few modern department stores and hotels on one street. I could have handled that. But the hotel was creepy. It was dark and had a horrible chemical smell in the lobby. The receptionist, a pleasant young woman who spoke absolutely no English, gave me sort of a funny look but I took it to mean foreigners don't usually find this place. As it turned out, I don't think that was why I got the look....
I went up to my room on the 2nd floor, next to the stairs and the elevator. The whole place was shabby and old, entered my room - YUC. Old, chipped furniture, velvet bedspread (the sheets looked clean though), and that same chemical smell in the room. Sat down and tried to decide if I could live with the smell for the night. Then I spotted the amenity basket and it all clicked. Along with a comb, toothbrush, etc. there were a couple of condoms. That's why I got the look!!! Perhaps this was a rent by the hour place... That realization along with the smell put me into a panic. Amazingly the hotel did provide wifi in the room so I went onto hotels.com and checked to see if my B&B at my next day's stop had a room for this night. YEAH they did!!!
I awkwardly tried to tell the receptionist I was leaving (didn't ask for or get my $ back) and started walking towards the area where I was dropped off. I realized that might not help since I didn't know where to get the shuttle in the opposite direction or how often they came by, I actually didn't see (or didn't recognize any bus stop signs). I stopped in a shop - again no English but she sort of pointed me in a direction. Walked a little further but stopped in another shop where the woman (older) spoke a tiny bit of Japanese. (Many of the older people speak a little Japanese because Taiwan was once occupied by Japan.) She really went out of her way to help me and we finally figured out where I needed to go. We thought we had anyway. She directed me the Mitsukoshi dept. store, and I thought good, it's a Japanese store maybe someone can speak Japanese... she made a map but then asked if I wanted a taxi, while apologetically saying it would cost about $3. YES PLEASE! She called one for me. I went into Mitsukoshi where the receptionist called an English speaker who gave us directions for getting to the bus stop where I could pick up the shuttle back to the station! Phew. The shuttle arrived just a couple of minutes after I did and off I went. I just made it onto the train after picking up something to eat at the convenience store. Then I tried to call the B&B since on my way south on the train there was wifi. I got them once, got some basic directions and was told to check my email for further instructions. But for some reason I couldn't get wifi after that. And as I was fiddling around, eating and trying to pick up wifi I almost missed my stop! LUCKILY someone who had just boarded had the same seat as I did and when I showed her my ticket they told me to hurry and get off! Just made it. From there it was easy to find the right bus and the driver told me when to get off and I had read how to walk to the B & B from the bus stop. Easy. Unfortunately they had emailed me that they were in town and could pick me up (from the train station) and I could drive around with them for a little while. But I didn't get that email in time. Oh well.
I got settled in at the Fanzahlan B & B which looks like a house from Napa, CA and was pure luxury to me after tromping around all day, and the horror of the last place!
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| Strange bathroom, no division for the shower just a drain in the floor. Which means the floor near the sink tends to get wet but on the other hand it would be great for seniors - nothing to trip on getting in or out of the shower or tub... |
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| View from the patio - I thought this was a temple or something turns out it's a crematorium. |
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| Sign pointing down the road for the hotel. Yeah! |
Then back to the hotel, some discussion about what to do tomorrow, how to get to Sun Moon Lake etc. and then to bed feeling very happy and relieved. I had a very good night's sleep.
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