Travelogue
Taiwan 2015 Part I
00:17I pulled myself back here to complete this simple post about my Taiwan trip in December 2015. Words didn't flow freely in my brain, making this post extra hard to finish. I am resisting the temptation to write this post in chinese.
My family and I explored 3 different parts of Taiwan: Yi Lan, Taipei and Taichung within 6 days (yeah I also think we are crazy), so there is limited places of interest we visited for each areas. Below are some recommended places to go. Definitely not a complete guide, just a very brief introduction and helping you to remove not-so-worth sightseeing locations from your busy schedule. I will write another post for the foodies.
ACTIVITIES IN YILAN
The transport system in Yilan is not as 完善 (what is that in English?) as Taipei and I suggest you to hire private driver and vehicle. It will save you a lot of time and effort. Here is Mr 吴德昌's contact: 0927-057-992 or 0910-020-132. He is very friendly and his prices are reasonable. Please wa him in chinese.
香格里拉休闲农场 (Shangri-la Leisure Farm)
We stayed in Shangri-la Leisure Resort in Yi Lan. I will not recommend you to stay here during winter because the room is not well-insulated. They have a lot of (free?) activities for their room guests, and one of them is free entry to their famous Shangri-la Leisure Farm. Tickets are given to you when you check in so don't lose the tickets. There is no animal, you get the best view of the hills and definitely a good place to take insta-worthy photos.
天燈製作
It is a must to release Tian Deng in Taiwan furthermore it is free to release it at Shangri-la. Otherwise based on research, Jiu Fen and Shi Fen are good locations. And this is my first time using youtube to embed video so you can watch it in HD hehehehe.
宜农牧羊场
This farm must be heaven to the kids and townsfolks like us because it is filled with animals such as piglets, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, turkey, ducks, gooses and etc, and we can feed the animals with the foods the farm provides. Milk for the piglets and lambs is TWD 20 per bottle, per bunch of grass for the goats is TWD 10 and etc. Some animals are free to roam around the farm. Entry fee is NTD30/pax to be deposit into the can at the entrance. Nobody is tending the can, so it entirely base on your honesty. Activities stated on their website may not available everyday.
This huge turkey is roaming around. ohgosh
Argh super cute I want a rabbit too.
They are aggressive during feeding
五峰旗瀑布
The waterfall is made up of 3 tiers. We read a lot of write-up about it and were excited to hike up to the first tier despite knowing first tier is usually not open to public. We didn't go up in the end because adults were aggressively rejecting our ideas. ):
ACTIVITIES IN TAIPEI
野柳地質公園 (Yehliu Geopark)
This is home to many of unique geological formations including the iconic "Queen's Head" (女王頭) which formed by seawater erosion, rain, sun and wind for decades. *insert geography information* Read about them from here beforehand and you will appreciate them more. Accordingly to the website, the Queen's Head is 4000 years old, and the head might come off any time soon. So visit her before her head rolls. HAHAHAHA anyway please remember to wear more if you are heading there in the winter.
中正紀念堂 (Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall)
If time allows, you can visit the most prominent historical landmark in Taiwan - the CKS Memorial Hall, was opened in 1980 as a part of national park and gathering area, in honor and memory of a former President of China, Chiang Kai-shek; this would be a good place for you to take a nice group photo hahahaha.
國立故宮博物院 (National Palace Museum)
Whenever I visit a new place, I would visit their palace though I am not really interested in their history (I can't even get Singapore history right). Accordingly to guidetotaipei.com, National Palace Museum is originally from Beijing Forbidden City then it moved to Taiwan to prevent desecration of over 600,000 most precious artifacts during and after the Chinese Civil War.
Model Yap
ACTIVITIES IN TAICHUNG
We took bullet train to Taichung from Taipei which took around 90 minutes to reach. Please be early as the train will not wait for anyone, and your ticket will be deemed as invalid if you miss your train. Definitely not a cheap ride, a round trip costs around $80 per pax. We hired private cab for 8 hours to drive us around in Taichung, costed us SGD 180 per cab. I advice you to pre-book a private driver.
天马牧场
When you are in Taichung, this should be your number one destination BECAUSE IT IS A MUST TO SEE LLAMAS WHEN YOU ARE IN TAIWAN! This farm is filled with llamas and other animals like horses, ox, tortoises, pony, raccoon and many many. The entry ticket to this park costs TWD 250, come with a small box of food to feed llamas. Initially it was scary to feed them then it became so fun that we bought more to feed them. We rode a horse for TWD 20 (just one round) and sat on an ox for free.
This llama is so pretty
薰衣草森林 (Lavender Cottage)
Located on the top of mountains, Lavender Cottage is not accessible by public transport. The narrow, winding mountain road allows only one car to pass at a time. Thus, hiring a private car to take you to the top of the mountain is highly recommended. The entrance ticket is 100 TWD per person and comes with TWD 100 voucher, which can be used to offset any of your purchase in Lavender Cottage. They have an open-concept restaurant serving a mixture of western and eastern cuisines and many gift shops sell a variety of Lavender products such as handmade soap, lotion, fragrance bags and essential oils. Come here to see flowers that we won't be able to see in Sg (okay maybe you can see them in Flower Dome)
Ohgosh another long post, bet you had the hard time scrolling down. Here are some places that I will not recommend you to go:
Unless you are fan of Taiwan writer Jimmy Liao, you won't appreciate 幾米廣場. It is a park where many fun props coming alive from his stories. Taipei 101 is definitely an over-rated tourist attraction.
This was taken at 幾米廣場 thou
Sad to say I didn't have the time to explore night market and night club this time but it's okay I will be back soon.
It took me 3 months to put this up. Oh gosh how lazy I can be? I will be back in another 3 months for Part II hahahaha kidding. Till then.
My family and I explored 3 different parts of Taiwan: Yi Lan, Taipei and Taichung within 6 days (yeah I also think we are crazy), so there is limited places of interest we visited for each areas. Below are some recommended places to go. Definitely not a complete guide, just a very brief introduction and helping you to remove not-so-worth sightseeing locations from your busy schedule. I will write another post for the foodies.
The transport system in Yilan is not as 完善 (what is that in English?) as Taipei and I suggest you to hire private driver and vehicle. It will save you a lot of time and effort. Here is Mr 吴德昌's contact: 0927-057-992 or 0910-020-132. He is very friendly and his prices are reasonable. Please wa him in chinese.
香格里拉休闲农场 (Shangri-la Leisure Farm)
We stayed in Shangri-la Leisure Resort in Yi Lan. I will not recommend you to stay here during winter because the room is not well-insulated. They have a lot of (free?) activities for their room guests, and one of them is free entry to their famous Shangri-la Leisure Farm. Tickets are given to you when you check in so don't lose the tickets. There is no animal, you get the best view of the hills and definitely a good place to take insta-worthy photos.
天燈製作
It is a must to release Tian Deng in Taiwan furthermore it is free to release it at Shangri-la. Otherwise based on research, Jiu Fen and Shi Fen are good locations. And this is my first time using youtube to embed video so you can watch it in HD hehehehe.
宜农牧羊场
This farm must be heaven to the kids and townsfolks like us because it is filled with animals such as piglets, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, turkey, ducks, gooses and etc, and we can feed the animals with the foods the farm provides. Milk for the piglets and lambs is TWD 20 per bottle, per bunch of grass for the goats is TWD 10 and etc. Some animals are free to roam around the farm. Entry fee is NTD30/pax to be deposit into the can at the entrance. Nobody is tending the can, so it entirely base on your honesty. Activities stated on their website may not available everyday.
五峰旗瀑布
The waterfall is made up of 3 tiers. We read a lot of write-up about it and were excited to hike up to the first tier despite knowing first tier is usually not open to public. We didn't go up in the end because adults were aggressively rejecting our ideas. ):
野柳地質公園 (Yehliu Geopark)
This is home to many of unique geological formations including the iconic "Queen's Head" (女王頭) which formed by seawater erosion, rain, sun and wind for decades. *insert geography information* Read about them from here beforehand and you will appreciate them more. Accordingly to the website, the Queen's Head is 4000 years old, and the head might come off any time soon. So visit her before her head rolls. HAHAHAHA anyway please remember to wear more if you are heading there in the winter.
中正紀念堂 (Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall)
If time allows, you can visit the most prominent historical landmark in Taiwan - the CKS Memorial Hall, was opened in 1980 as a part of national park and gathering area, in honor and memory of a former President of China, Chiang Kai-shek; this would be a good place for you to take a nice group photo hahahaha.
國立故宮博物院 (National Palace Museum)
Whenever I visit a new place, I would visit their palace though I am not really interested in their history (I can't even get Singapore history right). Accordingly to guidetotaipei.com, National Palace Museum is originally from Beijing Forbidden City then it moved to Taiwan to prevent desecration of over 600,000 most precious artifacts during and after the Chinese Civil War.
We took bullet train to Taichung from Taipei which took around 90 minutes to reach. Please be early as the train will not wait for anyone, and your ticket will be deemed as invalid if you miss your train. Definitely not a cheap ride, a round trip costs around $80 per pax. We hired private cab for 8 hours to drive us around in Taichung, costed us SGD 180 per cab. I advice you to pre-book a private driver.
天马牧场
When you are in Taichung, this should be your number one destination BECAUSE IT IS A MUST TO SEE LLAMAS WHEN YOU ARE IN TAIWAN! This farm is filled with llamas and other animals like horses, ox, tortoises, pony, raccoon and many many. The entry ticket to this park costs TWD 250, come with a small box of food to feed llamas. Initially it was scary to feed them then it became so fun that we bought more to feed them. We rode a horse for TWD 20 (just one round) and sat on an ox for free.
薰衣草森林 (Lavender Cottage)
Located on the top of mountains, Lavender Cottage is not accessible by public transport. The narrow, winding mountain road allows only one car to pass at a time. Thus, hiring a private car to take you to the top of the mountain is highly recommended. The entrance ticket is 100 TWD per person and comes with TWD 100 voucher, which can be used to offset any of your purchase in Lavender Cottage. They have an open-concept restaurant serving a mixture of western and eastern cuisines and many gift shops sell a variety of Lavender products such as handmade soap, lotion, fragrance bags and essential oils. Come here to see flowers that we won't be able to see in Sg (okay maybe you can see them in Flower Dome)
Ohgosh another long post, bet you had the hard time scrolling down. Here are some places that I will not recommend you to go:
Unless you are fan of Taiwan writer Jimmy Liao, you won't appreciate 幾米廣場. It is a park where many fun props coming alive from his stories. Taipei 101 is definitely an over-rated tourist attraction.
Sad to say I didn't have the time to explore night market and night club this time but it's okay I will be back soon.
It took me 3 months to put this up. Oh gosh how lazy I can be? I will be back in another 3 months for Part II hahahaha kidding. Till then.
 TAIWAN 2015 PART 1 |  TAIWAN 2015 PART 2 |
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