start off the day with a hearty and delish breakfast at Holiday Inn, Taichung!
D is afraid of getting motion sickness in the long bus ride, so we opt to take a cab up. The ride up cost us TWD$2300 (about SGD$100) after much bargaining! For bus option, you can get the bus schedule from the tourist centre at Taichung train station. For a shorter, more comfortable bus ride with less stopping points, you can visit www.e-go.com.tw to book. The cab ride took us less than an hour to reach Cingjing Farm.
The famous Old England at Cing Jing, a beautiful and expensive themed hotel. Only hotel guests are allowed in. Would love to have afternoon tea there the next time I come for a 2-days stay - cheaper solution to get in. Haha.
The weather can be chilly and windy at times, especially at night, but the sun can be extremely scorching too!
Sunnydale! Our homestay for the night. I chose this simply because it's cheap with good reviews. It is located very near to The Old England, but quite a distant from the main area where the farm and other eateries are. Good thing is, they provide free service up the mountain to the attractions and there's a 7-Eleven just a short walk away so I'm fine with that!
map of Cing Jing Farm with all the minsu. Taken from www.cingjing.com.tw
Walking down the mountain from the Little Swiss garden to Sunnydale took us about 15-20 mins. It's manageable with the cool weather and down slope. Some things to take note is that the sky gets dark around 7pm or earlier so try to end earlier. There is also no proper pavement so we had to walk down along the winding road which can be a bit dangerous especially in the dark. There were quite a lot of people walking up and down though.
Our cosy room for the night. Can't get simpler than this! The 'bed' is on the wooden platform, with a small table with basic necessities, so not to worry! There's also no air-con and there's no need for it as the natural air is good enough.
The Sheep Castle!
Baa Baa Black Sheep
There are 2 shows at the farm daily, so either go the earlier one at 9.30am and another one at 2.30pm. According to the official website, these shows are only available on weekends and public holidays and dependent on weather since it's an outdoor show.
the host of the show
I managed to catch the 趕羊秀, where you get to see how the farm dog chase and led a group of sheep down to the stage from the slope. Super cute!
The show last about 30 mins, but besides the beginning performance, the rest were quite time-wasting. There's a horse show at another location about 30 mins after the end of this show, which we did not catch. Weather was hot and sunny, we decided to take some shade and rest on the green pastures and feed the roaming sheep instead!
Pony/horse rides are available too! 100TWD for a short ride.
I lure the sheep up to where D is. haha!
food for the sheep is cheap! Only 10 - 20 TWD from the dispenser depending on the amount. I bought 2 packs and feed until I happy.
As the sun begins to set, we made our way down to the Swiss Garden.
entrance fee is TWD$180 if I didn't remember wrongly. But totally not worth going. Just look at the flowers. Our own Gardens by the Bay is way much better. And you can finish walking in less than 30 minutes.
Sky turns dark and it's time for dinner! This is really just 6pm only.
Day SEVEN (Cing Jing Farm > Taipei)
God's amazing creation. It feels good to wake up to this.
A paranoma view just outside my room
Simple porridge breakfast served. Taste like home, really. haha.
Both of us woke up a little bit earlier so that we can take a last stroll around Cing Jing before taking our leave back to the city.
If you crave for a cuppa good coffee, there's a Starbuck near the Swiss Garden. There are souvenir shops around too.
Took a cab down (pre-booked by minsu) to Taichung HSR.
Totally look like an airport.
Took only an hour to reach Taipei! Bought Macs up the train to eat. Train is clean, with beautiful scenery ad comfortable seats. This is why train rides in Taiwan are so enjoyable!
Walked around Xi Men Ding again in search for food. Found this famous 滷味 and decided to try. Disappointed. I believe it will be nice when heated up, unfortunately they serve the meat cold =(
Next and final destination - Shilin Night Market! Took the metro and alighted at 劍潭 station (don't stop at Shilin station!).
Just near the metro station there is a shop that sells beauty and cosmetic stuff. Bought many boxes of My Beauty Diaries masks there. Only TWD 200 per box! As we walked a little further down, there is also a shop selling their local specialities like 果凍 （fruit jelly), mochi, pineapple tarts, charcoal peanuts, peanut candies and all. Felt extremely thrilled about it cos I can get all the goodies back for everyone in just one shop!
Streets of fashion and food. And this is not all. Asked around for directions to the main food street - this is where you really get the best.
It looks similar to our dry market on the first floor. Take the stairs down to the food galore!
wasn't very hungry but we had to eat something here. So we ordered a plate of sizzling steak. I love it! Huge slab of steak and pasta drizzled in rich and creamy pepper sauce.
The place is really crowded and enclosed, difficult to even find a seat. Many people were eating oyster egg, should be good! I was told to try the bittergourd juice too... but not that adventurous. haha.
We decided to stay away from the crowd and went down to the streets again. D started to feel hungry again. Spotted a shop selling smelly tofu so we went in *pinches nose*
D ordered a bowl of smelly tofu with duck's blood in herbal broth. He said it was awesome. So delicious he said it's the best he ever had and definitely the highlight of the trip in terms of food. Really??
I guess if you love such delicacies you can stop by this shop! It's located next to "Sentosa Singapore Cuisine" haha.
Day EIGHT (Taipei > Singapore)
Our room for the last night at Ximen Citizen Hotel. This time our room was bigger with an extra bed.
Lazy D said he wanted to go Tam Shui but slept in till almost 10am.
So we did some last minute shopping and prepared to leave for the airport. Took the cab for about TWD$1500.
Us in our new adidas tees!
That marks the end of our Taiwan trip! We will definitely be back. Taiwan is too big for just one trip!
Love,
M
No comments:
Post a Comment