Thursday 10 May 2012

Lovely Taiwan @ 3


And the third day, we are here in Qing Jing Farm Land (清境农场)! From Taichung, you could take a bus to Pu Li (埔里)interchange,and from there, you could easily find a shuttle bus that could bring you to the much enjoyable farmland.


日光清境

This is our home stay (名宿)in Qing Jing, Sunnydale (日光清境). A very cozy home stay with stunning  view and friendly boss and lady boss. 









Stunning view from the cozy balcony of our room.











Missing the time having coffee at the balcony enjoying the warm sunlight and amazing view.












Our room!






Our Dinner. Simply delicious!! Home cook food by lady boss.
Night view of the home stay cafe. 


And the next day early morning we head direct to the Qing Qing Farmland (青青草原). Much descriptions is needless, the below beautiful landscape, cute sheep, bloomed flowers, blue blue sky and my pretty lady   ^ ^ simply explain how we enjoyed our day there. 





青青草原





Had our simple lunch @ 7-11, which is Taiwan highest 7-11 store up there in Qing Jing. Enjoyed our all-time favorite (关东煮 )+ a strawberry chocolate cake + Starbucks Coffee, simply full of happiness !!


After a leisure stroll from Qing Jing back to our home stay, the lovely lady boss has prepared us a fabulous steamboat dinner!! Having steamboat surrounding by windy temperature around 15 'c is simply fantastic!!



Enjoying the starly night at our balcony, we had an early sleep as to prepare to the sun-rise tour @ 4 am the following morning ^ ^



To be cont ~

Tips


#1 Bus from TaiChung train station or high speed rail station to Pu Li. Details you can refer to http://www.ntbus.com.tw/032.htm.

#2 Please take note the cute sheep show only available on Sat,Sun and Public holiday.


Tuesday 24 April 2012

Lovely Taiwan @ 2



We spent our 2nd day in TaiChung city. As Taichung is not as convenient as Taipei, which having a comprehensive MRT system. The only public transport to travel around Taichung will be Bus and Taxi (costly and time inflexible to me). As such, we decided to rent a motorcycle, which is extremely common transportation in Taichung, and it's cheap and exciting ! I reckon this will be the best way to feel the true Taichung.


Enjoy the feeling of Biking ^ ^
   

心之芳庭

Our first destination of the day,  Moncoeur. A pretty place, great for couples and family outings. Moncoeur is actually a venue for engagement or church weddings. They have a lovely chapel combined with stunning view of greenery. However, it's too bad that it is not meant for public visit but only for those invited guess of the lovely groom and bride. You may visit their website for details if you wish to hold a romantic wedding with your dear ^ ^

The garden area which opened to public consisting of romantic restaurants, gift shops, plenty of flowers and trees, wishing well and some lovely spots for a simple but lovely date with your love one.


































The ticket entering the garden is TWD 200 per person, however this is wholly redeemable (weekends and public holidays redeem only half of the ticket value) with any purchases inside the garden (sitting on the grasslands, we had a fruity ice-cream that is refreshing and full of berries).  







After having enough fun and lovely pictures in Moncoeur, before the evening time, we rush to Gao Mei Wet Land (高美湿地) in order to catch the beautiful sunset. It's a quiet place, with group of people having fun on the wet-land, enjoying the sunset and enjoyable wind blowing towards you, simply perfect and I just love this place, very much.

Gao Mei Wet Land (高美湿地)
















Romantic pictures of lovely couples ^ ^






However, as the night getting closer, be aware of the sand flies. To prevent, you might apply repellent before getting to the wet-land. I don't recommend any long sleeves or long pants, as you can see from the pics, you are gonna to get wet lol.

Satisfied but starved, we return to Taichung city to have our dinner at Karuisawa, a famous Taiwanese steamboat chain. 


輕井澤鍋物 






Environment is great for couples or friends  gathering.


We ordered 2 steamboat sets with Pumpkin Soup and Herbal Soup, yes it's Pumpkin soup steamboat, with vegetables, fishball, fish cake, bean curds and slice pork (not shown in pic as I was too hungry to remember taking a photo of it = =). The pumpkin soup is very thick and rich in flavor, however  I personally feel that if you do not like sweet, you should have ordered the herbal soup set and that's best for the slice pork to go with.



After filled our stomach, it's time now for us to head to the infamous Taichung night market, FengChia night market. It's a market that selling almost everything, from drinks, food, gifts, accessories to daily needs, this is a place that can cost you (especially girls !!) a whole night long.  




逢甲夜市 Image captured by Leanne Chien
That's all for today?? Certainly not!! The night is still young out there in Tai Chung and we headed up to the Taichung City Garden (台中都会公园) for a mouthwatering night view of Taichung city. This is also a place famous for couples dating, or a place to process friends into couples > u <  lol






to be cont~ 


Helpful Tips
  • You can easily find some motorcycle rental shops near Taichung Railway Station. The rate is around TWD 400 - TWD 500 per 24 hr or by mileage (100KM), depending on which type of motorcycle you selected. 








Monday 23 April 2012

Lovely Taiwan

Back in Taiwan Again


16 Mar 2012, marked our (with my lovely gf) 2nd journey to this incredible country that really make us hardly to find a reason to dislike. Before the journey begins, I have done up a thorough research in order not to miss any MUST Visit attractions as well as the most important part of a journey, FOOD. 


Our trip starting from 16 Mar 2012, lasted for a week. Let me share with you those beautiful memory that still remained strongly in my mind to date.




一中商圈



Very first day in Taiwan, reached Taiwan TaoYuan International Airport (桃园)> head direct to TaiChung (台中) city > checked in at our hotel @ i-Travel @ Yi Chung shopping area (一中街商圈) around 530 pm, as captured beside right in front of our Hotel, a shopping and food heaven.

i-Travelhttp://itravel.gogoblog.tw


Checked in our lovely hotel, i-Travel. They provide a variety rooms with different country/city theme and we selected the sky of Finland, simply cosy and lovely, with an attractive price of TWD 1400 per night. 





Located at YiChung District. Easily spotted with crowd 


Simply delicious and juicy pancake that mark the beginning of our journey! The pancake is crispy and you have a choice of terriyaki chicken (ours), beef, corn, tuna and shrimps as its fillings, combined with juicy and naturally sweet spring onion from Taiwan, best!










Of course you can't go without the Taiwan national drinks - Bubble milk tea!! Enriched milk tea + chewy bubblessssss, simply chilling and refreshing.










呂記正宗岡山羊肉


And dinner for the day, a tonic lamb steamboat + chilling Taiwan Beer, just nice to boost our energy after a tiring flight + bus trip. Lamb is tender, soup is clear but rich in Chinese herbal and come with plenty of vegetables. Simply delicious!

We ended our day shopping around YiChung (一中) night market, rest early for the exciting next day! 

to be cont~


Helpful Tips

1) From Taipei Taoyuan International airport, you may:
  • take a  shuttle bus (客运) from the airport to Taichung, which take around 2 hour and cost you about TWD240 per way. We took Ubus (統聯客運), comfortable and safe. 
  • If you do not wish to waste too much time on travelling, you may select to take a shuttle bus from the airport to Taiwan high speed rail station and take the high speed rail to reach Taichung for about 40 mins. However, you have to take a taxi from the Taichung high speed rail station in order to reach Taichung city  (for roughly 15 mins). High speed rail per way is TWD540 and the taxi fare could cost around TWD100.