Taiwan Archives - Page 2 of 3 - 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.

Taiwan 2016 Day 2 – Cat Village, Jiufen and Shifen

Posted on November 20, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

K woke up asking for milk at 745. While it was pretty normal to do so at this time of the day, he started to cough and regurgitated. We quickly cleaned up which helped reduced any stench. As K returned to sleep, mommy woke up to prepare K’s meals for the outing.

Not long after, I woke up and went downstairs to get breakfast. There were 2 food stalls already selling some foodstuff and I got ourselves some xian Rou bao and cong zhua bing. There was a queue for the cong zhua bing which meant it must be some good stuff – it was indeed! The Bao was just normal though. In the meantime, K woke up for another round of milk and prepared for the outing.

Our mode of transport for the whole day was a private vehicle for the whole day, to minimize logistics tediousness booked by mommy. As we got downstairs after receiving SMS from the driver, he was already waiting at his yellow cab.

Our first location of the day was the Houtong Cat village, about an hour drive from here. When K vomited in the morning, it was a sign he wasn’t feeling well which we didn’t pick up. Then it happened again, this time in the taxi. It took us by surprise and we couldn’t salvage the situation which resulted in a mess at the back seats. The driver surprisingly took things in his stride and brought us to a railway station nearby to clean up. I brought baby K to wash up in the restroom while mommy tried to clean up whatever possible at the back seats. Its like Croatia all over again.

After we returned, the driver drove a little further to a local market nearby where we alighted and bought some new clothes for K, to change out because we didn’t bring any. Then we were on the road again for some 15mins, and near the destination, K vomited again! It was much less amount this time and therefore easier to clean up. The content was a lot of transparent liquid, that looked like phlegm and could be due to the cold that he was having.

We got off at the Houtong railway station and crossed the bridge to the village, en route taking photos as the place was decorated with cat themes everywhere. Right across the bridge was the village and from the top, we could see the bridge that we took resembled a cat laid across the bridge. The village was a small place, mostly side roads on the slopes of hills. Walls had paintings of cats and there were a couple of cats around, not as many as I thought though. There were souvenirs stores selling cat related stuff, but we weren’t particularly interested. We didn’t spend a lot of time there, nor did we explore much of the village before we called the driver to pick us up at the same railway station.

Our next destination was to the famous Jiufen town. It was a short drive from the Cat Village but as it was situated on the mountains, there were many curvy roads going uphill. We noticed that K wasn’t feeling comfortable and so we got ready some plastic puke bag. Luckily, he didn’t puke but almost. As the traffic got heavy the closer we were to the town, we got off the car to walk there instead. We started with visiting a viewpoint which had a nice panoramic view of the mountains before joining the crowd at the Jiufen town. We were given a cartoon map that indicated the few popular food stall to visit as we walked through the town and so we visited one such famous Ah Po fish soup stall. Found a seat in the perpetually crowded sitting area and had our bites of porridge and fish meat kuay tiao, K some pumpkin porridge. It was quite nice.

After the meal, we rejoined the crowd and continued down the old street. There was a long queue for some vegetable gui (Ah Lan kuei) and so we also joined. It was a slow moving queue after some 20mins, we arrived at the front and bought original and red bean flavours. The original was a little weird combination, my sweet tooth preferred the red bean one.

Next stop was a short walk down, a stall Lai Ah Po selling fen yuan. In the hot weather made worse by the crowd, we bought 2 mixed flavours fen yuan with ice and enjoyed the chilled desert in the crowded seating area just beside the serving area. At that point, we were done with eating and ended up in a shop buying some souvenirs. We went past a flight of steps that would have brought us back to the meeting point and ended up at another viewpoint, not a wasted trip. Trekked back to the long flight of steps that brought all the down to the temple and waited for the driver there.

Panoramic view from the viewpoint at end of Jiufen old town street.

The next attraction was to visit a gold museum. While our taxi moved slowly in the jam, K fell asleep. It was a short drive and so I carried the snoozing K to walk around after we arrived. As we entered, someone at the entrance asked if we needed tickets and gave us for free as they have overbought, what luck! We visited the 4 four jap buildings for video intro and tour, giving a little piece of historical info of the area. As this was previously a gold mine, we wanted to see the huge gold ingot that the driver was telling us to check it out. It was a 10mins walk to gold museum. In the museum was more information on the history of the mine and various artefacts from that period of time. Near the exit was a huge gold ingot, some 200kg of gold ingot that we could touch and get a photo with. Upon exit, the skies started to drizzle, the same moment that K also woke up, missing the gold ingot. We took shelter at a stall selling ice cream and bought one while waiting for the rain to stop. Driver picked us up from the bus stop at the entrance and drove us to the Huang Jin waterfall en-route to Shifen. At this quick stopover, we took photos and left quickly.

Our last stop for the day trip was to go to Shifen. As the trip there took some time to get there, we were constantly monitoring K. As we approached the old town, we could see from a distance lanterns flying up to the skies. It was getting dark with impending clouds as we arrived and parked. The driver then brought us to a shop (many of them there) and were quoted 200NT for multiple color lantern. After our choice, we were given ink and brush to write on the 4 faces of the lantern, in whatever language that we wanted, and whatever well wishing proverbs we could think of. When we were finally done, we then proceeded onto railway where we had to pose and with the various faces of the latern for photos before the firing up and letting it fly. Felt nice about the experience but guilty as well, knowing that these lanterns would end up polluting the countryside. We completed the tour of Shifen by walking around to get some food for dinner. Bought chicken sausage and egg cake from the food stalls there. As we returned to the car, it started to drizzle again. There were some fireworks, loud and sudden that caught us by surprise. The skies were all dark by 530pm, the time where we boarded the taxi back to Taipei.

We requested to be brought to a supermarket and was driven to Carrefour. The road back was slow with the traffic and K fell asleep. We arrived 1.5hrs later and proceeded to buy electric pot because we left our cable to the pressure cooker back home and couldn’t use. We also bought dish detergent to wash our dishes and packets of milk.

We were dropped off at the doorstep of the Airbnb and for all this, we paid paid 4.6k for 2 hrs extra and tips for messing up the car. The driver had been very friendly and professional throughout and we thoroughly enjoyed the service. He even brought umbrellas for us as we got off at the supermarket!

We returned to the rooms and left the stuff that we bought before leaving for dinner, by visiting the Y underground malls. Walked a while before we reached a group of stalls, some of them almost closing. Entered a ramen stall and ordered cha siew and pork one plus extra ramen at 30 NT for K, with soup and added hot water. K didn’t eat a lot but still had some ramen, ru egg, bean sprout and fish cake. We returned to the apartment without any other activities, at almost 10pm. Bathed and prepared for the next day. K ate some of the egg cake vomited again, with phlegm.

I wanted to do some laundry and ended with washing the clothes with hands as we couldn’t get the washing machine to work, even with instructions from landlord. Hanged the clothes to dry under aircon in the separate room and went to sleep. It was funny that the sheets were changed, but only for the bed that we didn’t sleep on.

Taiwan 2016 Day 1 – Arrival in Taipei

Posted on November 19, 2016September 22, 2019 by ziyi

Our trip started with quite a bit of traffic as we made our way to Changi airport, for after midnight flight to Taipei. There was already a long queue and it took about 15 mins before our check in at the Scoot counter. I knew we couldn’t make it at the time of packing and complaining to the wife, as the weighing scale gave us away at an overload 4kg – let off lightly as the staff gave a “don’t do it again next time”.

Wife was interested to get an Apple Watch and thought that by purchasing from the duty free, it would be cheaper. But the variety was pathetic and the model was out of stock at iStudio. K was having fun though, hyped up by the knowledge that he was about to take a plane and was running around. The Pokémon craze was still on and these colourful monsters could be seen displayed everywhere in the airport. While killing time before boarding, we went to Wang’s to eat a small supper of egg and coffee, something to last our entire flight later.

The flight to Taipei was a big plane, a Dreamliner Boeing 787. I was impressed by the spaciousness but the seats were rather simple, expected of a budget flight. It must be the school holidays and the air traffic was bad, with our plane taking off 15mins late, after a queue of planes. The flight was nice and smooth, benefits of a large plane. Although K resisted sleep for a while, he eventually snoozed, lying across my lap. While the flight had 2 instances of air turbulences, there weren’t much of a biggy. My only qualms were the irritating light buttons on the armrest that was all too easy to be pressed upon, and so frequently it activated because my arms were accidentally hit them while I adjusted after a while due to discomfort from K sleeping on my arms. We managed some sleep before landing.

Not too long after, we woke up at 5am, ready for landing. The jumbo jet landed so gracefully without a bump, indeed a very stable plane. We gained some time as the plane was 13mins early but the plane had to taxi quite a distance till the gate. We didn’t rush to get off and we’re in fact one of the last few, taking our time to fill up the immigration cards. After alighting, we proceeded to transit lounge B, where there was a very well equipped baby care room (to change diapers for K), one that came with a tissue warmer!

After taking care of our personal needs, we got to the immigration and was shocked to see so many lines of people, at this early of the day! The lines were very slow moving but luckily for us, we were spotted midway by an officer and proceeded to the counter. Retrieved the luggage at waiting on the belt. Moved to the arrivals halls and prepared milk for K, at some sitting area and then washing the bottles in the baby care room.

To get from Taoyuan International airport to our Airbnb in Taipei, we were going to take a bus on the first floor. The bus 1819 tickets costed 250NT to Taipei train station. As we waited in line and the bus came, we couldn’t get onboard as it was full. The second bus came late and we managed to board at 745am. All this time I kept K busy having him explored the airport.

We boarded the bus and fed K some bread before falling asleep, a result of the lack of sleep on the flight. Only woke up as we approached our stop at east gate of the Taipei station. Then we walked through the underground to exit Z3 and climbed the steps before crossing the road to 24hrs McD, all the while K still sleeping in my arms and mommy had to lug the luggage around. Found ourselves some seats in McD and had our breakfast for 130nt while waiting for the landlord to our Airbnb. As it was still to early to check in, we were only allowed to leave the luggage at the apartment, handing over the luggage to the landlord first who picked them up from us at McD. With K still sleeping, we just sat at McD, played phone games and chatted until he woke up briefly at 10 before dozing back, and finally at 1020.

24hrs McD next to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi mall

We wanted to get a data plan and proceeded to the ground level stores near the McD where there was one selling phones and SIM cards. There were a couple of options available but none that fitted the 9days itinerary that we have, so we got 2×5 days card instead. Activation of the card took some time, requiring to send an SMS and what not, but the storekeeper sorted it out for us.

There wasn’t anything planned for the city visit as we would expect ourselves to be tired. First we went to the nearest mall Shin Kong Mitsukoshi‘s supermarket to see if we could stock up on some groceries for K’s meals but we didn’t get anything – not much variety and we didn’t have a fridge to keep our groceries yet.

Our next stop was the K underground shopping mall with Eslite stores. Window shopped the bookstore where they were some interesting moving toys on display, K was throughly amused with the hanging gorilla. Mommy bought a peppa pig book before leaving for the Taiwan Railway Administration to get our train tickets for a train trip out of Taipei planned at a later date. Mommy booked the tix online and we only had to collect at counter. The station was decorated in anticipation for the Xmas coming in another month’s time, a big xmas tree and some walls deco caught the attention of K slightly while we waited for mommy who had to wait in queue for collection.

The data plan didn’t seem to work while we were trying it out at TRA and decided to return to the store after lunch. Within the huge station on the 2nd floor was a gourmet heaven, entire floor full of restaurants and eating places. Our choice was a Chinese restaurant Long Tang that had porridge in their menu, so that K could eat that. Other than that, it boosted a view overlooking the main ground floor of the train station and also baby seat was available. We ordered Zha Jiang Mian and fried rice eventually because as we picked the porridge item twice, twice we were informed that the items were sold out. Thankfully K ate some fried rice. For the so-so food, we paid 280NT for the lunch. We tried to look for other alternatives with worry than K hadn’t have enough of food, we went downstairs where they were quite a few other food outlets. Thought of getting waffles but they came with honey, something K hadn’t tasted before. Bought him a totoro bun instead.

Upon return to the shop, the lady owner checked the phone and sorted out the APN which was the cause of the problem, taking of time for troubleshooting. After that, we visited Shin Kong Mitsukoshi mall again, this time going to the 8th floor, where the entire floor was dedicated for kids stuff. Changed out K’s diapers while spending a little time time, as there was a climbing structure in the shape of a train and loose Lego bricks and pad for K to play around. We finished the visit at the same supermarket we visited earlier to buy groceries and milk and the remaining time till the agreed meeting time of 315pm sitting around near the mall.

The landlord of our Airbnb agreed to meet at 315 on the 6th floor. We ended up waiting at gloomily lit corridor till 330pm, all the while not knowing what to expect as the landlord didn’t show up nor did she informed. Even at 330pm, she only gave us a temporary room as she said that the cleaning of our room was still in progress, blaming the earlier guests for being too dirty. We just rest in the room and K fell asleep on the bed drinking milk.

At 4pm, we shifted to the right room but we were disappointed to find the apartment small and didn’t have a kitchenette. K continued to sleep and mommy also took a rest while I took the time to clean up the milk bottles. As the apartment was kinda run down, I had doubts on the sterility of the tap water and whether it was safe for consumption, I sterilized the bottles with boiling water. I took a nap myself till 5ish while mommy woke up to prepare dinner for k.

K slept till nearly 730 and woke up grouchy. I gave him a bath and afterwards, left the apartment at 830 to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi again, this time for dinner. Went to 8th floors after looking at the floor directory and found only a few restaurants there and were not too affordable. We then went to the food court at B2 as mommy wanted some food quick as she was famished. Bought omurice and cheese baked rice for 318NT and had our dinner in the sparsely crowded food court.

After dinner, we spent the last bits of the night catching region specific Pokemon. While out on the street, we stopped at a shop selling accessories, we bought a candle in the shape of the number 2 for birthday cake. After successfully catching the monster, we went back to the apartment, sweaty.

The night time was spent washing up the dishes, as expected of all trips and frankly used to it already. Sleep happened at only 12MN.

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.

Taichung 2014 Day 4 – Ximending before Home Sweet Home

Posted on May 13, 2014September 26, 2019 by ziyi

Nothing planned for the day as we knew that the Taiwan mornings were usually least productive as the shops don’t open till noon. As we had a plane to catch at 4pm, we were just taking it in our stride.

Only managed to checked out after 10am and went over to the MRT, having breakfast en-route to the train. There was a area that consolidated some of the shops like a food court and we had some Taiwanese food there.

Took the MRT one stop down to Ximen stop for the shopping area Ximending.

It seemed like nothing much have changed since we last been there. Ximending was just waking up from its slumber, at 11 plus. Most shops were still closed so we made the most out of the visit by shopping in those that were opened. Spotted some stores selling foodstuff and regretted immediately that we should eaten here instead.

50 Lan milk tea from the place of origin. Nice, though ordering it tested my Mandarin.

Red Theatre, hasn't changed since I took the same shot. — Red Theatre, hasn’t changed since I took the same shot.

Shopped around till it was 12 and returned to the hotel for our luggage using the MRT. Bought some lunch including one that was named under the Railway company’s name. It wasn’t tasty as we found out after eating but it would do as lunch. Then it was HSR NT150 per pax back to Taoyuan.

There was a check in served available at Tao Yuan HSR station. It was pretty convenient as we need not tug the luggage to take the shuttle bus back to airport and also proceed to immigration without having to queue at the airport. The only problem was that there were limited counters and had to queue for a bit before getting our tickets.

Used the Wifi at Taoyuan HSR station before hopping on the Ubus 705 (NT30, payment at counter at the line itself, located just outside the entrance) to the airport. Final last minutes shopping for Taiwanese goodies where though these were limited to products from established stores. The shopping area did have a couple of big brand names too and as we found out, were mirror image for both boarding sides.

Waited at the gate till the boarding that was on time and the rest was a smooth flight home.

This trip meant to be a short one for us to escape Singapore to relax. It could have been longer if not for the expectancy and the uncertainty that comes with traveling pregnant but it met our expectations for the trip. It was also a nice time to return to Taiwan after 5yrs.

Taichung 2014 Day 3 – Back to Taipei, Raohe Night Market and Wu Fen Pu

Posted on May 12, 2014September 26, 2019 by ziyi

Alarm sounded at 515am to wake me up for sunrise. The view at the balcony showed a cloudy scene, not too hopeful for a good photoshoot. Sure enough, after an hour of waiting at the balcony, not much improvement made me jumped back into bed.

Alarm sounded off at 8am again. This time we overslept and had to moved a little faster since it was a day back to Taipei and much traveling was anticipated. Proceeded to 8th floor for a simple breakfast buffet with a panorama view of the lake.

After checking out, we proceeded to the jetty to board the ferry back using the complimentary ferry tickets given by the hotel. This time, the stamp on the hand was blue in colour, not that it mattered as this was the only ferry trip we were taking. It was amusing listening to the commentary as you get to hear new stuff with different captains.

Back at Shuishe, went to take some photos from a viewpoint on the right hand side of the jetty before going back to the visitor center to wait for the bus back to Taichung. Got to purchase some tea leaves for NT400 each for Assam and honey red tea.

At the center, we had to frequently checked back with the ticketing or the bus drivers to ascertain which bus to board. Although shown on the front of the bus was the our destination, the drivers actually said that they were going there. Until when it was almost time, checked with the driver before boarding the bus. Nap time.

Got off at Taichung HSR station to place our luggages at the deposit lockers. Those at the main station were full and we had to go over to the one at the train station, while helping 2 old Japanese tourists at the same time. Although the bus did allow for disembarkation at Taichung Railway station, we didn’t want to tug the luggage around while doing our foodstuff shopping.

Took the train to the Taichung main station by buying the tickets through the counter, NT30 for 2 and boarded the incoming train.

The first foodstore to visit was the popular ice cream cafe Miyahara. Already there was a line of ice cream lovers digging into their waffle biscuit bowl of ice cream along the corridor of this store. At the store itself, it wasn’t too long a wait. Scoops of ice creams were going for NT90, right price for quality ice cream. There were 3 fridges long of choices and so we just got to the cashier for recommendations, one of which is mango. There were also 3 choices of toppings which we had raisins and 2 other pastries. It was delicious.

Rows of flavours, yummy! The names of the flavours are actually various Mandarin songs.

Went back around to the front was another store under the same company, designed beautifully and kinda reminded me of wizardry shop in Harry Porter, that sold local foodstuff packed in interestingly designed boxes. Of course these come with a price but would make good gifts.

Left the store and the goodies after paying to collect later. We went to look for another popular store for the Sun biscuits. When we reached the supposed road, we found that there are multiple stores with similar names! We didn’t note which was the store signage while doing our research. Went into one of them with certain uncertainty and bought 2 boxes. Returned to the previous store to retrieve our purchase and got back to HSR station to repack. Got onto the HSR for NT1590 for 2 with reserved seating, to arrive at 1536pm in Taipei.

Store where we bought our Tai Yang Bing. This is not the most popular one according to the internet, but still it tasted fine.

Walking to our accommodation at New City Inn was pretty short and within the underground shopping mall, it was easy. The only difficult part was the climbing of steps to the floor level with my luggage. The hotel itself was located in an older building on the 5th floor, accessible through the old buildings lift. Checking in was also easy, and the room was on the same floor. Spacious and modern design with a huge TV and wifi. The only available windows were in the toilet though.

A little small toilet with the only windows.

Took a long break in the hotel before we decided to head to Rao He night market and Wu Fen Pu. Shopped around the underground shopping corridor that we hadn’t been before, Eslite. This location looked newer and also had a more expensive feel than the older and longer mall parallel to it. It wasn’t long enough before we took the train to Songshan station for Rao He night market for our dinner. This was the first time we were taking the train (stumbled onto without knowing about this option till the station assistant advices) to Rao He as we took the MRT the previous time. It was only one stop away and even closer than the MRT.

On arrival, signboards were everywhere to guide passengers how to get to Rao He Night market. We followed till we got till the ground level and from there, we could see the temple which was just next to the Rao He Night Market. Then it was lining up for food and shopping before the next location.

Signpost showing the directions to Raohe and Wu Fen Pu.

Donned a mask that I bought from the night market as I was coughing.

After having our fills at the market, we walked over to the Wu Fen Pu, just across the street within 15mins walk. Great to revisit again and it was not crowded. However many trucks and motorcycles plied the right streets in between stores. Bought some stuff before we got tired and decided to return back home, also taking the train and purchasing the tickets from the counter.

Rested for the remainder of the night.

Taichung 2014 Day 2 – Sun Moon Lake

Posted on May 11, 2014September 26, 2019 by ziyi

Sun rose very early, thought that we were late though it was only 6am. Our destination for the day was Sun Moon Lake and knowing that we had to take buses and stuff, we decided to get up early for the trip. We had some bus timing info given by the recept the day before and had checked that the best timing for us was the 830am bus from Gancheng bus station which would see us arriving at 1010am at Sun Moon Lake. Went for the buffet breakfast in a chic basement eating place and checked out of the hotel.

Boarded a taxi for NT100 as walking would take too long though it was close in distance. Again, there were questions on whether we would like to take a taxi to Sun Moon Lake. Guess that was where the real income would come. We arrived at the bus stop and went over to the counter to purchase tickets. As what the receptionist mentioned, the people at the counter would be most helpful for any questions on the trip to Sun Moon Lake and we benefitted from one of the advice on the combo tickets. As we were visiting Formosan Village, he advised that it was cheaper for the women to purchase separately for the Formosan Village tickets due to the discount that was on for ladies during the weekend. In the end, we bought a combo ticket (NT990) for me and a return bus tickets (NT340) for my wife. The combo tickets consisted of unlimited rides on round the lake bus, ferry rides and tickets to Formosa inclusive of the ropeway ride.

We passed by the Taichung station fairly quickly and it meant that the receptionist was right again. For tourist with luggages, it was more convenient to go to the main station to board since you must recognized the bus before flagging it. If not, you might missed the bus as it wouldn’t be stopping to wait for passengers like it did in the main Gancheng bus station.

The one and a half hour bus trip wasn’t really interesting and so we fell asleep. There was a video playing, showing the places of interest at Sun Moon Lake but the tiredness simply was too much.

Once we reached She Shui bus station, the final stop, we alighted and was immediately greeted by a personnel from the boat company that exchanged part of my combo tickets for a ferry ticket. We proceeded over to the boat and transportation counter to purchase another boat ticket at NT300 and went over to the visitor information counter to get brochures.

Just following the road towards the pier and taking a right turn at the fork, we could see the ferry counter where we got stamped, a full day access recognition in order for us to get on and off the ferries freely. There were fixed timings of 15mins per hour (different from the brochure) and you could get on any ferry from the same location (since a specific location was allocated to each companies). There was commentary in mandarin about the lake and hotels and temples, quite amusing. The ferry was operating a merry go round for 3 piers and our hotel was on the 3rd one and only alighted then.

Since it was still early, our rooms weren’t ready but we left our luggage there. We decided to go to Formosan Village first and took a 10mins stroll to the ropeway station. Purchased the tickets for NT340 and boarded the cable car on the 2nd floor. There weren’t many people at this time and it was great.

We reached the other end of journey after going pass 2 intermediate towers and disembarked. Once at through the entrance of the Village (where we were stamped with invisible ink), we got ourselves a map and went onto another cable car not knowing where that would take us. It brought us to the theme park.

View from cable car on the way to the village.

There were some rides there including a roller coaster but we weren’t that interested. We went back onto the ropeway shortly and go on to explore the various ethnic group exhibits. There was a dart blowing activity which was fun. It was quite a big area to explore but we were getting hungry and returned to cable car. At that time, rain started to drizzle and the winds were getting stronger as we were arriving back at the station, a little scary.

Blow pipe shooting activity.

My results - No Good! — My results – No Good!

Rain over the lake on the way back to the ropeway station.

Had lunch at the station as the rain continued but not much choices were left. After lunch, walked back to our hotel with rain being intermittent and checked into the room at Hu Yue Lakeview B&B. Spacious room with Loccitane bath accessories was impressive but what really made the room it’s worth was lake view from the balcony – totally worth it!

Went out to board the ferry back to She Shui to continue exploring the place. Bought some food along the way before returning to the ferry for the 2nd wharf where we could visit Xuan Guang, built on higher elevation and thus a great viewpoint of the lake. There was a stone with the Sun Lake Moon name that was really busy with tourists wanting to take a picture with it and with the lake as backdrop.

Store selling the popular Grandma tea egg.

Xuan Guang temple after a few flights of steps.

Bought the Tea Leaf egg that was supposed to be popular (Ah Po Tea Leaf Egg) at the shop at the entrance of the wharf and it was delicious. Returned back to our hotel pier finally and explored the streets that were lined with eatery and foodstuff. Spent some time at the wharf listening to ethnic people singing songs as a street performance before returning to hotel to chill and wait for the beautiful sunset on the lake.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Assam tea store.

Went back to the hotel to watch the sun set over the mountains. Had dinner at one of the 2 restaurants beside the hotel. Had 3 dishes and a soup for about NT580. After the hearty and porky meal, we went to the convenience store nearby to get more mineral water before retiring to the hotel to enjoy the amenities. Had some time and worked out the costs for the tickets, we discovered that what the combo tickets were actually tickets for both men and women regardless of the promotion. Oh well.