Hualien Archives - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

Taiwan 2016 Day 6 – Arrival To Cingjing Farm And Swiss Garden

Posted on November 24, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

The sunlight shone into the room through the big windows, I woke up at 6 to close the curtains and made milk for K. As he coughed, we sprung into action to catch puke, but he didn’t.

The usual routine of waking up to prepare meals while waiting for K to wake took place. By the time we were ready for breakfast it was already 8 but the buffet would stop service at 830. I went to ask if I could bring the food back and was approved on condition of returning the plates. Took a plateful of mostly Taiwanese cuisine and return to the room where mommy ate while I ate at the restaurant with a view of the mountain.

Breakfast restaurant at Tian Xiang youth hostel

After returning to the room from my breakfast, K woke soon after. Fed him some porridge and got him to change clothes before we started to move out. It was already 945.

Drove the same route yesterday on the journey to Cing Jing. After 15mins of driving, we met yet again another road block. We had to stop for 1hr as the work crew had to clear loose rocks on the cliff side. We had nothing to do and had to entertain baby in the car and fed him yoghurt. Upon the completion of 1hr as indicated, the road was cleared and we were on the move again.

K got cranky along the way but finally fell asleep and it was a relief thereafter because it was a super long drive with a lot of bends. After he slept, I could drive faster and it wouldn’t give him car sickness. I felt for most part of the journey we were always climbing. The highest we got up to was 3k above sea level as indicated by the signages while on the way up. Although there were some attractions along the way, such as Hehuan mountain (合歡山), we didn’t stop at all because we want to reach Cing Jing before K woke. Still there were short stoppages along the way as some construction was ongoing. The higher we went, the more foggy it became and had to drive with caution as we couldn’t see too far ahead. The fog totally cleared while at the top and it was clear blue skies with a lot of sun. I then started to felt headache due to altitude sickness and rapid ascent and descent.

We finally arrived in Cing Jing at 2pm and k also just woke up. The accommodation was on the slope of the mountain and I had to drive on a narrow single lane to get to Euro Country Villa. Checked in and took a short rest before proceeding to the Old England Manor for tea, 5mins drive away.

Parked at the large but almost full parking lot there and went into the medieval design hotel. It was quite grand looking and had lotsa feels. K ate his lunch there and was quite cranky. We had a 3tier cakes and pastries with 1 large teapot of earl grey, costed 550NT each. After our lunch-tea meal, we then went out to take photos.

Huge clock and bell at the top of the building

Left the manor and reached the Green Green Grassland at 4pm, 10 mins drive away. The closing time of the farm was at 430 so we skipped going in. As we got back down to the carpark which was at a level below, we saw from outside the fenced up grassland some sheeps grazing and showed K. He wasn’t very interested though.

Then we drove to the Small Swiss Garden and visited for 130NT. It was a small garden with fake flowers and a not so impressive lake. It wasn’t fantastic but at least K had fun feeding the ducks, walking on stones and taking some photos, and thought it was funny trying to wave off irritating tons of flying bugs while we were walking back. As the sun set, the garden started to light up in colourful lights.

Many man made exhibits complement the flowers

Under sheltered plants with fake lighted tulips

We left for Carton King store (紙箱王) just next door but it was a very tiny store. Spent some time to look at what’s on display and bought something home.

While K and I went back to the car to wait, mommy went to Mos burger to buy dinner. It took very long so I brought him to buy his favorite bread snack from 7-11 when mommy finally returned. Seemed like Mos was crowded and popular as a dinner choice.

Drove back to hotel and because of its rural location and its low number of street lamps, it was dark. On the way in, some cars needed to exit so I had to reverse and wait for them to pass. Went back to the room when we finally could rest. I then popped 2 panadols to ease off my day long headache.

Mommy cooked while I laid in bed feeling feverish while thankfully, K had fun all by himself. After resting a while with the panadols taking effect, I felt much better and ate my Mos dinner, burger with taiwanese special taste, which was not too bad. Then we fed K who waited very long for his pasta but he should be still ok as earlier he had snacked on so many pieces of bread already.

After dinner, I bathed K in the tub and we prepared for bed after some TV and video on HP. Fell asleep at around 10, me included to end off a really tiring day.

Taiwan 2016 Day 5 – Landslide and stuck in Hualien

Posted on November 23, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

Woke up to a rainy morning with no sunlight at all. Made K some milk as we didn’t want to let him drink at the time too close to driving. Then after he finished drinking, he coughed and vomited again. Luckily, I quickly brought a plastic bag and collected the puke. A little clean up required and he went back to sleep.

The same routine as the day before, waking up at 7plus and getting the meals prepared. Again I went for breakfast first and followed by mommy. This time around we were packed and ready by 9. K also woke up around the same time and we got him all ready to move and at about the same time, the reception gave us calls to tell us that hotel transport was ready.

K was whiny from the start of the day. In the transfer he was whiny but we didn’t know why. There were other passengers who got off at the train station and we asked to be ferried to the Hotai car rental company down the road just within meters as it was drizzling. We got the documents settled for the Vios while K whined for the phone. Then as I did the car check he whined for me and didn’t want to go with mommy.

Left the car at the rental company first as we went to the stores nearby to get some Hualien goodies, namely Mochi (Ah Mei Muah Chee, 阿美麻糬) and Yam (Feng Xing Bing Pu, 豐興餅舖) and sweet potatoes pastries. When we were done, we returned to the car and drove towards Qing Shui Duan Ya (清水斷崖), a place to supposedly to be a cliff side that boast beautiful views. Worried about car sickness and the consequences of vomiting and cleaning up, I drove within the speed limit smoothly.

Hualien roads were not as busy compared to bigger cities like Taipei but the city side was a little more. Needed to adjust to the traffic lights, behaving a little differently from Singapore. They were sometimes blinking yellow meaning to slow down and then there was blinking red which was to stop before proceeding. At the outskirts, it was much easier with lesser cars around.

As we approached closer to the place and with K asleep after some whining, I was on the lookout for a viewpoint stop, with a carpark of some sort but it was all road. Then we were past the point as indicated by Google. Google map showed a picture of Qing Shui Duan Ya and the spot on the map but there wasn’t a viewpoint stop at that actual location. I did a Uturn on the road at the right opportunity and as we drove past the same point, there wasn’t any difference. So we gave up and continued on the rest of the journey. Anyhow the weather was cooperating and the view wasn’t going to be fantastic with all the gloom the dark clouds brought along.

View from the car, while trying to locate the viewpoint of Qing Shui Duan Ya

Punched in Cingjing on the GPS and we continued on the same road. The drizzle was much bigger than the day before as we go through Taroko gorge route, taking the same route that we traveled during the day trip. It was winding and a little difficult to negotiate, and always a worry and to be constant alert to check for oncoming traffic because the lanes merged and unmerged multiple times. Thankfully there weren’t much buses or cars from the opposite direction at that time.

We soon got to the end of the route before the start of ascending the mountain. We took toilet breaks first at a camp site to use the toilet and second time at Tian Xiang to get a drink. K woke up as mommy got off the car to get some food and drinks, meant for our lunch takeaways. Since he woke, we settled for having lunch at the nearby restaurants where mommy initially bought takeaways from.

When we were done having our lunch at the restaurant, we took some time to walk around a bit so that K could digest, including visiting the 7-11 for window shopping and also using the toilets nearby. K was particularly sticky and was whining again as l went to the toilet. Changed his diapers before we were on the road again.

Onboard the car, he whined for the phone again and for milk which we didn’t allow, for fear of vomiting and we had to endured the whining until he fell asleep. 30mins into the drive we arrived at a gated road in our direction at Luoshan. A car past by and told us that the road was closed up ahead of us, due to fallen rocks until 8am the next day. Another person walking nearby also said the same and gave us a number to call and verify. The authorities also mentioned that but no further advise was given to us when we said we had to get to the accommodation that we had reserved. Too bad.

We had to return to Tian Xiang as advised by our driver yesterday through whatsapp, as he had wanted to keep in contact with us. Without much to be done to salvage the situation, with the crazy exception of taking a 7hrs detour through Taipei that we wouldn’t do, it was a 30mins return to Tian Xiang. As we parked at the Tienhsiang Youth Hostel Activity Center carpark there to evaluate our accommodation options for the day, there were only 2 choices. The other one was a 5star for 360SGD per night vs the hostel.

I went in to check for availability and was given a room for 125SGD per night. I checked in immediately and moved the luggage down first before driving mommy to the 7-11 to get more food stuff and dinner, before she went into the room first to cook for K while I stayed at the car with the still snoozing toddler.

K woke up at 6pm when it was already dark. I carried him to the room and he started his whining again. He was fine only after a while. Spend the night in the room with TV, hand phone videos and photos, puzzles and books and toys and balls, followed by our dinner and his dinner.

Went to borrow a tub from the reception to bath for K where he spent a lot of time. He wouldn’t get out of the tub as I think he was feeling cold.

He was whining for milk which we gave and just before sleep he was whining again. Repeatedly. Mommy then smacked his bottom before he stopped and went to sleep. A prelude to terrible 2. A difficult trip with all the whining and winding.

Taiwan 2016 Day 4 – Tokoro Gorge

Posted on November 22, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

Expecting to welcome a beautiful sunrise especially with a balcony view but it was drizzling before daybreak and very cloudy. Waited in the balcony while playing game but still nothing. Disappointingly, I climbed back in bed. 720am was the next moment of consciousness and mommy quickly got up to prepare meal for K. I prepared and left for breakfast first as buffet breakfast would end at 9am. There was only a small selection of food consisting mainly taiwanese cuisine and a lot of people were also having their breakfast at that time.

I swapped with mommy as I finished my meal quickly and did my share of preparing meal by putting in the fish and veg at the right time and cleaned up the dishes while baby K still slept soundly.

When K finally woke up, we got him dressed and ready to go but he wasn’t interested in having breakfast but requested for milk instead. The main activity today was to explore the Tokoro gorge by driving, similar to the 2nd day, so we didn’t want to give milk and risked another puking incident should he get car sick. The taxi car was also ready and waiting at the entrance to pick us up.

We were also prepared for car sickness by having many plastic bags on standby. Taxi uncle didn’t drive fast and sent us to a 7-11 nearby so that we could buy lunch to bring in. We got ourselves some sandwiches and seaweed rice.

The vehicle then proceeded into the National park proper, and our first stop of the day was a trail called Shakadang trail, 10mins drive away. He parked his car in the tunnel as car park was down for renovation. Retracing our steps across the bridge to the start of the trail entrance, we went through the gate and down the stairway. The light drizzle didn’t stop us as we brought along an umbrella. From the stairway we ended up on a walking path beside a water stream and then it was an easy 1.5km one way trek with not much ups and downs. Path had small stones but not too difficult to walk and K managed to walk a short distance before ending up on my child seat. At the end of the walk were some stalls selling souvenirs and and stuff so we returned without spending too much time there. The walk must have been too easy and K fell asleep on the return trip. On the other hand, it was very tiring to carry him back as he slept across my chest as I carried him with tired arms. Glad to make it back to taxi as K continued to sleep and mommy went off to use the public toilet.

View of the bridge where we came down from

We decided to do lunch first with what we had packed from 7-11, at a location about 5mins drive away called the tourist center. K woke up just as we were about to alight. There was a restaurant that was selling food for lunch but since we were prepared with something cheaper, we only bought taroko coffee and Pamelo juice from them. We settled for tables just outside the restaurant as the tables out in the open were wet due to rain. We didn’t think they would be happy if we had our meals on the inside since those would most likely be particularly for the diners. Had our meals there without any problems.

After satisfying the hunger, went to the ground floor of the center where the driver mentioned that there were something for kids there, like a children play area. He wasn’t exactly right or at least it wasn’t some playground like I expected but there was some exhibit meant for kids. Spent some time there to explore before we got back to the car for the 2nd half of Tokoro gorge.

At the ground floor of the visitor center

We arrived at Swallow grotto but in order to walk here, we needed helmets which was readily available for loan at one of the stations. The driver brought us there and helped us get 2 helmets at the tented station while he had a baby size one for K. We drove on a little further to where the starting point was and after wearing the helmet, started our walking trail on the walkway along the gorge.

There were a lot of tour buses lining the road as tourists poured out from them and joined the same route. As we walked, we realized the need for the protective gears – falling rocks. Though nothing fell, there were notices along the wait that indicated that.

Warning signs on the hazards of the visit

The beautiful sights were the water streams and the ever changing landscape of the mountains beside as we walked thru short caves. We reached a coffee shop at the midpoint and took the chance to change diapers for K at the toilet which had only one diaper changing station. We continued next section with what was about the same thing. By the time we completed the loop, the taxi was already waiting for us by the road.

Next stop was short visit to bridge to see the natural marble rocks below that was polished over time by moving water. We walked across the marble bridge overlooking from above and admiring this work of nature and boarded the taxi on the other side of the road.

White marble rocks underneath the bridge

The last stop At the Tokoro gorge was a visit to Xiang De temple, 祥德侍. After crossing the bridge to the entrance of the temple, there were 2 ways to climb up the slope of the hill, the left a gentler newer flight of stairs and the old steeper ones. We took the one on the left as advised by our driver and arrived to a laughing Buddha. We prayed and then went to sit at the overlooking pavilion for a while, enjoying the nice view of the mountains around us. Once we had our fills of the scenery, we returned back to the car and K fell asleep on 1hr journey return.

Temple pagoda tower overlooking the passing stream below

As we approached the hotel, the driver showed us where to have dinner near our hotel, a restaurant selling seafood as we mentioned of a lack of food outlets nearby. We bid farewell to the driver and thanked him for the fulfilling day trip.

Back in the room, K had cupcake for teabreak while we rested and relaxed until 6ish to go downstairs to the tea corner. There was a tea break station opened 24hrs and we wanted to check it out. It was a small area with 2 tables and there were small varieties of biscuits to choose from and some free coffee to complement the biscuits. The rain had forced us to stay indoors anyway we spent some time there before heading to the restaurant.

Complimentary cookies and coffee and tea

At the not too crowded restaurant, Bao Xian Lou, 包鮮樓, we ordered some sunfish, veg, egg and soup. K was cranky and as we tried to let K eat, he didn’t like it a lot. The portions were huge and we were quite full by the time we were done. Total costs for the dinner was an affordable 700NT.

After 2mins walk back to the room, R&R continued with a little playtime with K. There was some TV time and bath time and packing time before sleeptime when K downed a bottle of milk. Thought the night would have ended on an usual routine but the nightmare began. After drinking the milk, without any notice, K vomited on the bed, milk and some of dinner. I managed to catch most of what he puked in my hand but sheets still got some and was very smelly. We urgently activated housekeeping to help change the bedsheets and quilt. They do not have exact spares at this time of the day and so we had made do with whatever spares that they had. We tipped the staff for this urgent request when they were done changing out the sheets.

I then washed up the clothes with detergent as it was very smelly from the puke. K took the opportunity to walk around since we all weren’t sleeping yet. He slipped and fell at the toilet due to wet floor but didn’t cry too long. Learnt his lessons on wet floor. By the time I was done with laundry it was already 1130. Retired tired and worse was we had to start early the next day for our road trip to Cingjing.

Taiwan 2016 Day 3 – To Hualien and Qi Xing Tan

Posted on November 21, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

It was 5am when K asked for milk. Worried that about regurgitation so I prepared a small amount in a daze and went back to sleep. The next thing we knew, it was already 820am. Late! Mommy swinged into action and went to cook quickly. K woke up at 830 and drank milk again, probably hungry from not eating a lot the day before.

I washed up and started to pack while K entertained himself by watching tv. Good thing the laundry was pretty dry after being hung under the aircon for the whole night. I went downstairs to the same stalls to buy cong zhua bing and noodles teppanyaki black pepper for breakfast. It was weird that no one was lining up for the delicious cong zhua bing, maybe it was because it was a weekday.

Cong Zhua Bing and Teppanyaki Noodles for brekkie

After our breakfast of the Taiwanese food, and K had biscuits, we got changed quickly, packed the bags and left, with the pasta left semi cooked, without even waiting for landlord.

1030 was the train to Hualien and we braved the small drizzle to get to the station. With 4 tickets on hand, we proceeded thru the barrier at TRA to platform 4. The train hasn’t arrived by the time we arrived. As the train pulled into the station, we waited behind a crowd during boarding. Our 2 big luggage was parked at the luggage compartment near the entrance while we got ourselves seated comfortably at our 4 seater which came with a table. It was a good move to have bought all the seats cos we had a lot of hand carried items that we left on the empty seat.

The whole journey was spent trying to keep K entertained. He spent some time on the handphone looking at photos and videos, walked along the aisle of the train and played puzzles that we brought along. Worried he got dizzy prepared plastic bag. Thought he almost vomited but didn’t and thankfully he fell asleep, which gave us time to rest. There were sales of food items as the train staff pushed a trolley down the aisle and we bought a bottle of mineral water. I took a nap as mommy entertained herself with hand phone games. There weren’t much to see outside, all we saw were rice fields which reminded me of the Jay Chou song Dao Xiang.

When the trained pulled into the Hualien station, we headed towards the exit where we found a resort staff with our name card. He helped us moved the bag to parking where a van waited. We were on road after boarding, took a short trip to the gas station to pump gas and we were on our way. As usual, we looked out for K but he didn’t puke in the 10mins time drive to the resort.

Hualien train station behind the construction hoarding

Arch with bells at the entrance of the resort

Resort staff helped with the luggage as we checked in Hotel Bayview. Mommy had booked the Honeymoon room that came with a balcony, had a sea view of Qi Xing Tan, which is effectively the sea, and a nice tub. With the free wifi, we FaceTime home to keep parents informed on our location and then left for lunch. Reception informed that there was nothing much to eat nearby and they didn’t have a restaurant. So we walked around and found a mini food stall in what looked like a cultural center.

Ordered 2 fried rice and sunfish dish for lunch. Fish meat was quite chewy and had translucent skin, something that I was eating for the first time. K ate some home cooked pasta and shared with us our fried rice. Then we paid 510NT and left for the supermarket on the opposite side of the road to buy milk and yogurt and the milk coffee.

Before we start exploring the beautiful beach and its surroundings, we returned to the room to leave the unimportant things and left for bicycle riding. The hotel had free bicycles for rent but didn’t have one with child seat so we proceeded to another bicycle rental shop about 5mins walk away to get one with a baby seat. It was a nice area for cycling with good paved road for cycling and strolling, a beautiful view of the long coast accompanied with cool sea breeze. There were tourists but not in overly crowded numbers, enough people to make the place lively, even though there was a slight drizzle. Managed take a couple of photos at the stony beach and the surrounding. Thankfully toilets were available as I had sudden stomachache. We rode back soon after as K seemed tired.

Walking/cycling path by the sea at Qi Xing Tan

After returning the hotel bike, we got back to the room, made milk for K and K enjoyed a fun long bath at the tub. Then he spent some time watching tv although there weren’t any baby tv. I went to return the external rental bike afterwards since we know we won’t be riding again. It was then nap time as K fell asleep at 5pm while we relaxed and played with our phones and did the dishes.

K woke up at 645pm when we got ready to go. The staff at the reception gave us a taxi contact card so that we could get anywhere we wanted. The taxi picked us up from the entrance as the thoughtful staff shielded us from the drizzle with umbrellas. Our first stop was to Carrefour to shop for groceries and we got there with 175NT. Mommy bought fish while K enjoyed his ride in a car built into the trolley.

We called the taxi again to go to Zi Qiang night market. Fortunately the drizzle fizzled as we arrived at the night market. Our objective was to find dinner suitable for K, something with rice. Visited a ru rou stall ordered veg, rice and fish ball soup which K managed to have a little bit of each.

After we were done with the sit down dinner, we walked to buy the so-called coffin with chicken (蔣家花蓮創意官財板) and it was quite nice! There were some stalls having kiddy rides where K spent some time sitting in them, both moving and stationary, while mommy went around exploring the night market to buy and try more food. She bought a duck related food but it tasted very weird – it actually numbed the mouth and the tongue! Next we ordered papaya juice and shared with K and also some stinky fries (堂薯薯臭薯條) which was delicious. We completed the food tasting with the order of piggy noodles (豬豬豬原住民美食) to go, and got a taxi to return to the hotel, that costed about 250NT.

After we were back at the room, we started to eat the piggy noodles, which was a big portion and overall tasted ok. We walked to the Family Mart to buy some cake for K and milk. It was then toddler maintenance before some play and a well deserved sleep.

Escape plan to Taiwan November 2016

Posted on November 18, 2016June 23, 2020 by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Taiwan 2016:

Total duration 9D9N
There is no time difference between Singapore and Taiwan.
Flight time is 5hrs 35mins on Scoot from Singapore to Taipei.
Return is almost 5hrs on Tigerair from Taipei to Singapore.

Flight from Singapore to Taipei at 1255am, arriving at 530am in Taipei. Return flight from Taipei to Singapore is at 155pm and touching down in Singapore at 650pm.

Day 1 Arrival in Taipei and some shopping
Day 2 Cat Village, Jiufen and Shifen
Day 3 To Hualien and Qi Xing Tan
Day 4 Tokoro Gorge
Day 5 Landslide on the way to Cingjing
Day 6 Arrival in Cingjing farm and Old England tea and Swiss Garden
Day 7 Cingjing farm visit and arrival in Flying cow ranch
Day 8 Flying cow ranch, Leofoo village and stay
Day 9 Home Sweet Home

This trip was planned to celebrate our boy’s 2nd birthday. Therefore, most of the destinations in the itinerary were more catered towards his interests ( but since he arrived, most of our trips were already like these).

Budget – affordable most of the journey until the visit to Leofoo village which was quite expensive.

Taiwan was a country known to be affordable if we want it to be. Taking public transport such as the trains and staying in Airbnb helps keep the costs down. However, travel in less developed areas required us to book a driver or self drive which was not too bad. The only big spendings we had was the Flying cow ranch farmstay in a private villa and safari hotel in Leofoo village which was expected to be expensive.

Complexity – High without car. Ours made easy due to car and Google maps on data plan.

The public transportation in Taipei city was easy to use and therefore getting around was straightforward. Out of the main city and into the mountains and farms then a car is a must or private car is a must as public transportation would require quite a bit of planning and a lot time. Road signs would require a little to get used to but it’s not too difficult if you know Chinese. When going through the mountains, we learnt to read road blockages due to landslide. Knowing where to get the most updated news is essential as most of the mountainous roads are single lane and only one way there and planning ahead helps to avoid a long detour. Sometimes there are no data signals on the mountainous area but it is not difficult since there is only one road to navigate.