I made a pit stop in the town of Chishang (池上 – literally, on top of the pond), primarily known for its boxed lunches! Seriously. As the train pulled up to the station, all the hungry people rush to the doors, hoping to buy a boxed lunch from the vendors before the train departs again. Me? I hopped off, hoping to spend a couple of hours enjoying the boxed lunches and touring the area.

The Famous Boxed Lunch of Chishang:

It’s pretty good. Rice, egg, pork cutlet, some chicken, boiled vegetables, preserved vegetables, dried fish flakes, and a couple other side dishes that I can’t readily identify. Oh, and soup! All for ~$2! I thoroughly enjoyed this boxed lunch.

After enjoying the boxed lunch, I rented a bicycle and toured around the Chishang area. The weather was rather overcast, cold, and unfortunate, but I enjoyed stretching my legs for a bit. Avid cyclists could probably spend half a day to a day just exploring the Chishang area.

Oh hey, there’s a railways museum!

And afterwards, it was back aboard the train to head to Hualien. But before that, of course I had to pick up another boxed lunch, to eat on the train. Again, delicious.