We bought our tickets for the Taiwan Railway online while in the United States without issue and chose two meals, one vegetarian and one regular, at the time. The train tickets would take us from Taitung to Nanzhou, which would place us conveniently for my Kaohsiung aunt to pick us up. For our money, we received a very low quality QR code that we were doubtful about.
At the station, we walked up to the counter and attempted to change our dubious QR code for the tickets. Unfortunately, the man at the counter was unable to scan the low quality QR code. (Taiwan Rail should send a higher quality QR code.) To get our tickets, he had to check the passport with which the tickets were purchased.
Taitung Station has multiple small shops outside besides the prominent Seven and a drink shop. In October of 2023, the shops included a dumpling shop, a fresh mochi shop, a prepackaged snacks shop, and a prepackaged chips shop. In other words, there were plenty of snacks but not anything one might buy for a full lunch.
The train was the same type that took us from Taipei to Taitung, with comfortable spacious seats and a luggage storage section in the back.
A woman came to our seats shortly after the train started moving and exchanged the food tickets for meals. The box looked largely as I remembered: two rubber bands, chopsticks, and the thin napkin. The contents were as one might expect and tasted okay.
The only hiccup was that my 2-year-old insisted on staying in her stroller. Luckily, her small stroller did fit between the seats. Unluckily, the seat in front of the handle was unable to fully recline with the stroller where it was. Luckily, my party also had that seat reserved!
Traveling with family makes things easier!
