taiwan day 5: from tainan back to chiayi
it was my last morning in tainan before heading back to chiayi to meet my friend from japan. don't forget to unlock the secret bonus prize ONLY FOR YOU by reading to the end :)
first was breakfast:
then a quick walk around tainan park:
before heading out of town, i made plans to meet with my new friend again for lunch. we went to a cafe that was tucked in a long alleyway off the main street. i ordered a guava foam coffee (i just had to know what it would taste like) and my curry came with a taiwan-shaped side of rice:
the cafe was buried under hanging plants:
after lunch, i had another opportunity to ride on a scooter through tainan (i really should get one of these), and found myself back at the train station. i hopped on the train headed north to chiayi. every time i leave a place, it's hard not to wonder if i will ever come back, not that i wouldn't want to, but just if i will ever find myself here again.
it felt nice to return back to chiayi after a couple days away, and the hotel hosts were happy to see me again and even more happy to get to re-explain all of the hotel rules and details in extreme detail to my friend. they really have a routine and were genuinely super kind and helpful :)
my friend from japan was planning on traveling for 4 days in taiwan with me. we hadn't seen each other in about a year and it was really nice to catch up! the first thing we did after dropping our bags at the hotel was to grab a coffee (and basque cheesecake):
we walked through chiayi's hinoki village, a well preserved collection of japanese-style buildings from the occupation that have been converted into little shops and cafes.
there were lots of little guys to collect:
and my personal favorite: bee with phone
we capped the capped the day off going to the wenhua night market for a quick dinner, boba, and "sheriff tea egg"
we headed to bed early to catch an early bus in the morning. time to go back to alishan lol
BONUS!!!
tainan lunch cafe had my number apparently:
