This trip was pretty uncalled for - since we initially planned to go Bangkok at first - but we ended up booking this Taiwan tour. I was still at Australia when all this happened though, so I didn't have any say in this, but hey, I'm not complaining!
Anyway, we start with the usual info!
Information about Taiwan
Currency: NT$100 = RM10.5 (But we thought of it as NT$100 = RM10 for easy counting!)
Weather: Winter and Rainy - 14C ~ 23C.
Time differences: No time difference.
Duration of Stay: 8 Days and 7 Nights
Date: 7th December 2012 - 14th December 2012.
So this is our third trip with Apple Holidays, my previous ones were Shanghai (2011) and Japan (2009).
Pictures are credited to Jo Ann's Canon EOS550D and Samsung S3 (my sister), and my mum's Olympus!
Word of warning: Since Taiwan is a really good place for SHOPPING and EATING, you might find yourself drooling to some pictures. Read this after your meals! I'm not responsible for your malfunctioned keyboard/computer caused by your drool :P (I'm only kidding :P)
1st Day : Kuala Lumpur Int'l Airport - Taiwan Taoyuan Int'l Airport - Taoyuan - Taipei - Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人碼頭) - Shilin Night Market (士林夜市)
Our flight was at 9am-ish. So we had to wake up at 5.30am and I slept at 1.30am that night and I felt like crap. Nauseated and tired, WORST FEELING EVER.
Our cab came and we left to KLIA. Group checked-in and met our other "Apple Pies" (other Apple holiday members, nyehehe.)
And since somehow our flight is a 'small flight', we only get a lousy small MAS plane and a terminal that doesn't require you to take the Aerotrain. WHAT IS A TRIP WITHOUT THE AEROTRAIN RIDE?!
picture not mine!
"Coffee Time!"
Malaysian Rice, Nasi Lemak!
And that is when everything went chaotic; apparently our gate caters to another flight to Ho Chi Minh City - and our boarding times were really close to one another and Ho Chi Minh's gate is already closing; it's the Final Call for the passengers. And we Taiwan flight peeps are supposed to board now but the staffs wouldn't allow us because they were crazily calling out 'HO CHI MINH ONLY, HO CHI MINH ONLY!' But sheesh we have to board now gdi.
Anyway that aside, we boarded the plane and took off without any further delay. And since I had only 4 hours of sleep, I was really, really nauseated. I could say that this was the worst flight ever. Do you want me to start on how small the plane is? I think not.
5 hours of flight, and we touched down at Taoyuan Airport. Got our luggage, got Subway cookies for a snack (since I totally skipped my in-flight meal) and we met up with the tour group!
Hopped on the bus and here we go, Taiwan!
yay we're leaving!
We were then introduced to our tour guide, Jackie! (Chen Dao)
He's a really nice man!
The tour guide gave us the guides!
On the way to Taipei from Taoyuan, and then heading to Fisherman's Wharf!
Where my HTC phone originates :')
Aaaand we're here!
It was already 5pm and the sun is already setting! (Due to the winter season)
Museum of Tamsui fishiegoodies - I really don't get it..
Cha Ye Dan (茶叶蛋) Chinese Tea Leaf Eggs from OK Mart (a convenience store), just because we were too hungry!
Sightseeing there for half an hour or so and then...
A bus ride to Shilin Night Market! Wooooooooop shopping!
I love them bus rides!
Night market!
These long potato things! Noms! But I think we chose the wrong seasoning..
Food, food everywhere!
Don't you feel so tempted to enter these shops right now?! Well I do. D:
Gangnam Style is catching up everywhere, alright.
After spending a good hour there, we headed back to the hotel! Today our dinner isn't booked or organized so we have a free night tonight!
We were sent to our hotel and we dropped our luggages in our hotel rooms and then went out for dinner! There's a pretty good variety of restaurants and hawker centers outside of our hotel so it was a breeze to find something good to eat. The only problem is that we were spoiled for choice!
Ended up settling for this delicious bowl of Beef Noodles! The icon of Taiwanese food.
And to top it off, we ordered steamed dumplings too!
Had a scrumptious dinner and we head back to the hotel for a good night rest - pumped and ready for the exciting days ahead!
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2nd Day : Taipei - Yehliu Geopark - Jiufen Market - Yilan (Leo Ocean Hotspring Resort)
So this day is pretty much wrecked.
Weather forecast says 60% Chance of Rain. I knew that we're doomed. We went on the bus and traveled from the Taipei city to Yehliu Geopark. Trust me, I'm so clueless with where we're going, only finding out the names of the places after we've reached.
Short info about Yehliu Geopark..
The cape, known by geologists as the Yehliu Promontory, forms part of the Taliao Miocene Formation. It stretches approximately 1,700 meters into the ocean and was formed as geological forces pushed Datun Mountain (大屯山) out of the sea.
A distinctive feature of the cape is the hoodoo stones that dot its surface. These shapes can be viewed at the Yeliu Geopark operated by the North Coast and Guanyinshan National Scenic Area Administration. A number of rock formations have been given imaginative names based on their shapes. The most well-known is the "The Queen's Head" (女王頭), an iconic image in Taiwan and an unofficial emblem for the town of Wanli. Other formations include "The Fairy Shoe", "The Bee Hive", "The Ginger Rocks" and "The Sea Candles." - wikipedia.org (thank you Wiki)
If you're too lazy to read all that, just get this: volcanic eruptions - pushes sea beds out - weird formation forms - funny shapes and stones.
Panoramic view of the park (thanks Wiki)
And apparently they have really funny shaped rocks, so they coined certain rocks with a certain shape so that people won't go like 'I think this is a potato.' 'No I think it's a carrot.'
They named it so that it'll be all standard and it won't cause arguments among people who tries to decipher the shapes with their own imagination.
Like this, for instance. What do you think this is?
(credits to Google, not me)
It looks like some bird resting on a tree stump to me.....
It's actually called the 'Queen's Head'. Don't ask me how they came up with that.
Apparently her neck is getting thinner each year. Someday it's gonna fall off. *gasp*
ANYWAAAAY. This place is supposedly a place to slowly walk and enjoy the sights and smell of the sea breeze while trying to decipher the shapes of each rock BUT it's not the same for us.
It was raining. Like, a strong shower of rain with STRONG winds. How are you supposed to enjoy when you have to wear a flimsy raincoat and an umbrella which keeps snapping because of the strong winds?
I've no idea.
And our cute tour leader all wrapped up.
The people around me, all wrapped in plastic. :(
Apparently, this one is called the Ginger Rocks. And if you can see that whitish thing with the brown thing inside, it's called the 'Sunny Side Up' (The eggs, people. The eggs.)
And just look at that line just to see the 'Queen's Head'...
I was suffering so much because my shoes got really wet. When the tour guide said 'OKAY LET'S GO BACK TO THE BUS!', the amount of relief I felt was indescribable.
Rain droplets on the windowpane... and a 'Inspector Gadget' look-a-like on the bottle.
But my happiness was only short lived because we had to go to a mountainous town called Jiufen (literally 'nine portions') and it is NOT a place you want to be when it's raining heavily.
A brief info about Jiufen:
During the first years of the Qing Dynasty, the village here housed nine families, thus the village would request "nine portions" every time shipments arrived from town.
Later Jiufen ("nine portions" in Chinese) would become the name of the village.
Jiufen was only an isolated village until 1893, when gold was discovered in the area. The resulting gold rush hastened the village's development into a town, and reached its peak during the Japanese rule. Many present features of Jiufen reflect the era under Japanese colonization, with many Japanese inns surviving to this day. During World War II, a POW camp named Kinkaseki was set up in the village, holding Allied soldiers captured in Singapore (including many British) who worked in the nearby gold mines. Gold mining activities declined after World War II, and the mine was shut off in 1971. Jiufen quickly went into decline, and for a while the town was mostly forgotten.
- wikipedia
How it looks like in a bright sunny day:
pictures not mine! credits to owner.
How it looks like when we came:
Crowds of tourists straggling their way while carrying umbrellas and the water just falls on you.
So much stress.....
AAAAAAAAAAH. Just seeing the pictures makes me relive that daunting moment.
So my family got really tired of this and we stopped at a restaurant nearby to have some hot Taiwanese desserts.
Red Bean soup with glutinous taro (yam) balls! It's sweet, chewy and HOT.
SOOOO GOOD. Made me feel like I'm heaven on "hell" (the bad weather conditions lol)
And this is the condition outside..
Opposite the restaurant we were eating in is a fish-ball soup shop. Dad was craving for some 'Grandma Traditional Fishball soup' so we went there after our heavenly dessert.
The 'Grandma' is a celebrity in her own shop!
Fishball soup!
Dat fishball.
So we moved from our comfort zone and into the war zone, where we had to take out our umbrellas and spend another 1 and a half more hours in this rain.
We were pretty moodless to actually enjoy this amazing place - it is amazing hey, just look at all these pictures of this place when it's not raining! (pictures credited to respective owners!)
But too bad we got the bad timing. Meh.
We walked around a bit and then couldn't stand the rain again - so we hid in a cafe that so happen they serve hot coffee! "I don't care what they serve, I'm gonna order anything they have on their menu as long as I have shelter and warmth!" - Dad. I'm seconding that too, heh.
Cafe Latte and Cheesecake.
Fried rice!
The view outside the window. Rain, rain everywhere.
Ehehehe, photo op!
All these beautiful pictures were taken by my sister --- I was too busy squeezing water out of my socks and trying to dry my soaked shoes...
We sat in this cafe for 40 minutes and we mustered all our courage again to walk out of our comfy zone and out to the rain to meet up with our tour group.
Some misunderstanding happened here though...
Our fam was the 'first' one to be at the waiting spot, but we found it quite peculiar. Was everyone enjoying the rain and still shopping when it's already time to go? So we sat and waited.. and waited.. even our tour guide was confused and he went to look for them. We waited for 20 minutes, watching crowds of people walking in and out of this place.
Soaked shoes :(
People watching!
Oh but it turns out, they were ALL waiting for us, in ANOTHER spot. And all of them were like 'WHERE WERE YOU GUYS? KIDNAPPED AH?'. Dammit. If we knew earlier we would've left 20 minutes ago.
Anyway, we had to take a 'City Bus' on the way down -- and trust me, it isn't one pleasant journey either.
Heaps of people pushing through the bus stop with umbrellas open because they want to get in the next bus ASAP to get away from the rain. I got pushed to a side and got all DRENCHED.
Thankfully for our tour guide, the bus came and he let us all in at once - phew.
View when we were sitting in the bus.
It wasn't a really pretty sight of everyone drenched under the rain - I kept singing this to my sister: "Aeeyaiyai Aeeeeyaiyaiyai let it rain over meeeeeeeee"
Our whole group then went back to our own bus and the tour leader looked at us with a frown, seeing all of us drenched and sad, so he said "Okay let's just go to the hotel." I was reaaaaaaally relieved.
Here's some "on the way" to the hotel pictures:
Sky's so gloomy, the waves are so strong and rough ..
And finally we reached the hotel - Leo Ocean Resort. It's located at Yilan and it has a spectacular view overlooking the sea. What's special is that the hotel's bathtub is supplied with hot springs water!
The toilet is visible from the bedroom .... oh.
I immediately washed my shoes when I finally settled in my room, HAHA. We had dinner after that, then we rested up and got ready for the next day.
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3rd Day : Yilan - Some temple - Hsinchu (Leofoo Village Theme Park) - Miaoli (Flying Cow Ranch)
So today's itinerary is pretty special.
We departed from our hotel - oh by the way, we had breakfast and there was a Korean tour group which has so many cute Korean boys oh - and then stop at a temple before going to Leofoo Village Theme Park.
Being blur and 'just wanna go with the flow', we didn't even know that we're going to a theme park at all.
But first, a stop at the temple! Not sure bout it's name tho.
A weekly ritual is going on
Gloomy weather again..
One of the Gods for the ritual
Some trance is going on
We only visited the temple for 30 minutes and as usual the rain is drizzling down on us.
Left to a rest-stop for toilet breaks lol.
The loot from the convenient store ;)
And finally, we left to Leofoo Village theme park!
The weather is such a killer.
The theme park just started its opening hours and we're the first batch to be there. The rides look so dead because there's no one on them!
Uh oh, Gangnam Style domination?!
Time for lunch!
Lunch oh
You can see how windy it is!
We just walked around....
Apparently this part of the park (a small shop) is a filming set for a Taiwanese Drama "Inborn Pair"
And this is the shop I got my Alpacasso from! This theme park sells HEAPS of Alpacasso plushies.
Meet Pekkie!
HUGE ONE! ;D
We walked around some more.
One sick ride.
Meet ma new bffs. LOL.
Saw this in one of the shops in the park.
This is what happens when Mr. Krabs get bankrupt.
Cute buildings!
Sat on the Merry-Go-Round to relive my childhood. HAHAHA.
One is never too old for Merry-Go-Round rides
Sisters
And we spent 3 good hours there. Then we went back on board on the bus.
Pekkie and Alfie - my sister's is on the right!
THIS IS JUST TOO CUTE!
Then off to Flying Cow Ranch at Miaoli - the journey took an hour plus.
Had a cup of chilled Café au Lait
The lobby area
Entrance to our accommodation
Welcome drink. Malt Flavoured milk!
COWS EVERYWHERE.
Then we were ushered to the farm - which is at least a 5-10 minute walk out to the fields to see the animals!
First stop: FEEDING THE BUNNIES!
ERMERGEERRRDDD BUNNAYZ
Second stop: Feeding the GOATS!
Oh there's cows
The view of the Bunny Farm from afar!
Oh we got to milk a cow too. The picture looks horrible though, so I'm not gonna put it here. Hahaha.
It's getting late!
The bakery!
EVERYTHING that has milk as its recipe is sold here.
Nyehehe.
They have cute toys here aaaaaaaaaaah!
COWS. COWS EVERYWHERE.
Aaaand it's dinner time! The highlight dish for tonight: MILK STEAMBOAT.
Milk steamboat. Wow.
Pretty good beer!
Recipe is all written on the board!
And there's an activity for kids too.
Them ingredients.
Mixing!
Moulding!
And making them into hilarious shapes with red bean filling.
While waiting for the pastry to be steamed, the emcee asked for any kids who wants to dress up as a butterfly, a bunny and a cow.
They had a milk drinking competition - the fastest drinker who drinks milk from the baby bottle wins a toy. Hehehe I'm glad I'm 'old' so that people won't point fingers at me to go up and join.
After the game, our pastries are done.
This looks so unappetizing - but it tastes pretty good actually!
By 9.30pm, the activity is done and we went back to our own rooms to rest.
Flying Cow Ranch in a nutshell.
And that's the end of Day 3!
--
4th Day : Miaoli - Nantou (Wen Wu Temple, Lingzhi Center, Sun Moon Lake (boat ride), Tea Center) - Taichung (Fengjia Night Market)
Good morning cow farmers! Fresh new start of the day and ready to take on another day of Taiwan!
Morning walk around the farm before heading off to the next destination.
Some fake cows chillin' under the tree
After breakfast we left to Nantou - where we will see a temple called Wen Wu Temple
And then there's a 'Terracotta Warrior'........
Who did this when we talked to him:
The Chinese expression for "-___-|||"
He's adorable, hahahaha!
Tourist-y look!
View of the Sun Moon Lake!
Chinese Tea Leaf Eggs! They are EVERYWHERE!
Goose eggs! They are HUGE!
Hohoho.
The jetty!
Boat ride!
And we finally reached the other side! And we had lunch!
We boarded the bus later and they dropped us at a small Peacock Garden on the way down the mountain.
Golden Pheasant - great shot by my mum!
Brainwasher #1
It was pretty hilarious because she suddenly burst out singing a song and then there are two kids sitting in front of me who quickly covered their ears. She stopped and told them she felt insulted, LOL.
The walls are filled with historical portraits.
We didn't buy anything because we weren't that kind who likes drinking pounded mushroom as a dietary supplement.
We thought we were able to be done and over with these things, but then the bus stopped at another place, now selling TEA.
The half-awake tea farmers lulz
This is another place of 'omg plz buy our stuff it's real good and it's cheaper than anywhere else'.
Anyway I spotted this grammar nazi in the toilet. I'd do that too if I had brought along a Sharpie with me.
Funny how they use the word 'chamberpot' as 'toilet bowl'.
As in, really? THIS is a chamberpot.
It's a medieval potty, okay?
Anyway their teas again.
For anyone who doesn't like drinking green tea alone, why not add it with YAKULT?!
After that, we headed to Taichung, the center of Taipei!
Went to Fengjia Night Market! Finally, SHOPPING!
Had McD's for dinner!
We went to the hotel after that - and that's the end of the 4th day!
--
Part TWO here - [WOOP, Part TWO!]
1 comment:
So much fun! And the foods look fantastic, really. I'd so like to try the potato spiral thingy and milk...steamboat... (looks weird but I'm sure it wouldn't taste too bad no?)
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