in Chiayi we only stayed a couple of hours on the way to the city of Taichung.
The reason why we stopped in Chiayi is that here goes the Tropic of Cancer.
There is a monument just outside the city that marks the latitude that divides Taiwan in 2. It is Nnorth Latitude 23,5 degrees. The part of Taiwan that lies north of the "line" has Sub-Tropical weather while the part south of the "line" has Tropical weather.
This is part of the landmark for the Tropic of Cancer...
Today there are 6 monuments to mark the tropic of Cancer. The first was built in year 1908 when Taiwan was colonized by the Japanese. In order to commemorate the completion of the sole transport service of the north to south island railroad, the first monument was situated somewhere in a rice field beside the rail track.
The reason why there are so many monuments is that the monuments has been renewed because of damage or that royalty thought the monument should look nicer and better.
The sixth monument was built in year 1995 and looks somewhat like a water tower, but with windows. The monument is the Solar Exploration Center. The reason why the Solar Exploration Center is located on this spot is according to the Chiayi County Government Tourism Bureau's website, that the center is serving as a "landmark", but also has a mission of science education, society and culture, tourism and recreation.
We thought the area was pretty cool.... Or at least we talked about that it must have been pretty cool 10 years ago. Now its really warn out, but still there is an information center (with more than 3 employees) and an exhibition hall plus it is possible to climb the tower. And there were almost 10 people working even that we were the only customers there. They even speak ok good English.
We had a lot of fun while we walked around in the area and took pictures.... :)
Among the facts we learned inside are that Taiwan is the biggest island on the Tropic of Cancer and that the line passes through 16 countries including China, India and Mexico.
Other than the area around the Tropic of Cancer there is not much in Chiayi if you are a tourist.
After about an hour we needed to go back to the train station to go on to Taichung.
So we had to wait for the local bus.
That took some time and we only had water to play with...
In the end the bus came and next stop would be the city of Taichung.
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