Taiwan - Day 2

Taiwan - Day 2 (10-16Apr2013)

Woke up in the late morning to have our breakfast as we were all too tired by the long travel hours the day before. It was not really planned for the day and I was thinking to take the public transport bus at Taichung station to Cingjing which will definitely be cheaper than other transports.
However, we were a lil late so we decided to take a cab to Taichung station which will also save us from the troublesome to carry the luggage around.

The taxi driver then recommended us to book a day with him for 2500NT and he will bring us around to Sun Moon Lake and CingJing. After consideration, decided to go along with it since we will be able to visit Sun Moon Lake first instead of going straight to CingJing. During the tour, the taxi driver suggest to introduce to us more about Sun Moon Lake before we visit there. However, it's not what I am interested with and I find it quite a waste of time since we booked him 6hrs and even till now I feel regretted to book a day with him. Even though the taxi driver is nice to us but it will definitely be more worth it to take the bus straight to CingJing for our situation.

Definitely need a good skills to place all this stick in one by one. 

After introducing to us the legendary person in Sun Moon Lake and also paying 100NT per person, he brought us to take photos at a part of Sun Moon Lake. Just like what my friends had told me about how boring it is to visit Sun Moon Lake, it really disappoint me. To be honest, I don't find it great or special with the scenery and lake. After taking a few photos, we headed on to CingJing. While on our way there, we drop by for a short break at 18degree chocolate factory to have ice cream and some chocolates.

Driver treat us this taiwan food call mei ren tui 美人腿

Finally after 3hrs in the taxi and turning round and round up to the mountain, we reached CingJing and checked in to our minsu, Misty Villa 雲濛仙境. We left our luggage in the room before we proceeded to Carton King 紙箱王 and Small Swiss Garden 瑞士小花园. It was drizzling and super cold since we were up on the mountain. I was bearing with the freezing cold and trying my best to take photos in Small Swiss Garden.

Everything here is made from carton.

Paper eiffel tower

Still find it crazy as I only wearing a thin stocking to withstand the cold weather.

After taking photos, we walked around and I ended up having lavender ice cream from Lavender cottage despite being at such a cold weather. It was seriously shiok however my mum were nagging at me for having too much ice cream when the weather is already so cold.

There were not much restaurants up on the mountain and so we decided to make a reservation for dinner in our minsu. Before we headed over to have our dinner, we took more photos of the spectacular mountain scenery which was my first experience and I was seriously in love with the fresh air up there!

It was a good deal, we only paid roughly $10 and we get to enjoy a sumptuous dinner! It's totally worth it with the wide spread of dishes and even my parents were both satisfied with the dinner. Especially my mum who was really happy because we finally had a proper meal after having all the street foods.

We headed back to our rooms after dinner and the temperature was 5degree at that night. Luckily, they have electric heated blanket to keep us warm so we were basically hiding below the blanket. It will be fantastic if they installed a room heater. I then plucked my courage up to bath and of course at a fast speed cause the heater was not in a good state that it will turn super hot suddenly and then back to the temp I had set.

We ended our day early since CingJing had nothing much to do at night and we wanted to wake up early the next day to catch the sun rise.

Yummy chocolates from 18degree chocolate factory

Taiwan - Day 1

Taiwan - Day 1 (10-16Apr2013)

Finally another trip with my parents after a year passed and this time we are going for a Free & Easy trip since we didn't like to travel with tour. This is the first time I did so much research to ensure a smooth trip and hope that my parents will be able to enjoy this getaway. I have been to Taipei so its nothing new to me, however this time I planned to visit Taichung, CingJing and HuaLien as well.

Arrived in Taoyuan International Airport and first thing is to get a data sim card. I did some research on the different telecom and decided to get my sim card from Chunghwa Telecom as they offer cheaper pricing for  7days data plan. It's necessary for me to use internet during overseas as I need to locate directions using google map and not forgetting to update my social network.
After getting my sim card, we went to UBUS counter to purchase tickets for bus 1623 which will took about 2hrs to reach Taichung from TaoYuan Airport.

Alighted the bus at ZhaoMa station and took a cab to our accommodation in Taichung.
We stayed in Tomato Rooms since it's near to FengJia night market. The price is more than worth it with a night for 3pax only cost 1880NTD (sgd$80) during weekdays. The room is awesome with the size, cleanliness and location.

We rested awhile in our rooms before heading to Yi Zhong Jie which have the same concept like night market. I find it not worth to travel there if you only have a night stay in Taichung as FengJia night market is big enough for you to shop and eat all the street foods. We tried some street foods at Yi Zhong Jie and traveled to Zi You Rd, a place famous with their Tai Yang Bing (Sun Cake). However, I am quite disappointed with the taste of the sun cake that I tried and decided to purchase other brands on the last few days in Taipei.

Cheese大雞排

Then we headed back to FengJia night market for shopping. I bought some covered shoes which are make in Taiwan as it is seriously damn comfortable and it only cost about 150-175NTD.
I tried a lot of street foods in Taichung and those that I tried are mostly recommended based on my research. I know I won't be able to eat so much if I ended up trying all the street foods so I did a research on all those street foods that is a must to try in different night market.

Street foods to try in FengJia Night Market:

• 黄金右腿
• 麻糬鯛魚燒
• 官芝霖大肠包小肠
• 熊手包
• 爆漿蝦
• 爆漿大雞排

黄金右腿

麻糬鯛魚燒

官芝霖大肠包小肠

We didn't expect a cold weather in Taiwan, it was super cold at night when the wind blew so mummy decided to get a wind breaker coat as she couldn't stand the temp. However Dad and I decided to bear with it since it's a waste of money buying those coat which will not be needed at all in Singapore.
Spent 3hours shopping in FengJia night market which was totally not enough as there are many more shops that we didn't explore. However, it was quite late and some shops are closing so we decided to end our day and headed back to Tomato Rooms.