Hello hello!
On this very day, a month ago, we were still in Taiwan. Fast forward a month later, am here blogging on my Taiwan trip. Man, how time flies yeah? laughs. Anyhoo, am very eager to share with you guys this beautiful place in Taiwan! It’s probably my favorite-st (hehe) place in Taiwan: Nantou District
P.S. We were in Nantou exactly one month back, on 19th November #justsaying laughs
From Taichung main station (TRA station), we took a bus at “Nantou Ke Yun” (南投客运) to Puli district, which was a 1 hour 10 minutes bus ride from Taichung City. It cost us about NTD $150 (S$6.50). This is the link for the bus schedule: http://www.ntbus.com.tw/032.htm. Alternatively, if you’re staying near the main station, you can always drop by the night before to check the timing for the bus service. If I never remember wrongly, the interval between each buses is about 30-45 minutes.
After an hour plus ride, we were here at Puli! From Puli, we were supposed to take an internal bus to our Homestay, which is situated near the foot of the mountain. However, we were told that the frequency for the internal bus service is usually about an hour or so. Hence, we decided to take a cab to our homestay as we had our heavy luggage with us. Besides, we also did not want to waste our time waiting for the bus, since we were only here in Nantou for a night.
However, we had a problem, we were afraid our luggage could not fit the cab, as all our luggage were pretty huge, especially mine…..laughs. Thankfully, we managed to stop a cab in this really quiet town. The cab driver was a helpful aunty who helped us to contact her husband to bring a bigger cab over so that we could fit our huge-ass luggage in it. It was only about a 15 minutes ride up to our homestay resort/hotel!
Here we are, at our homestay for the night! Beside night markets, bubble teas and shilin chicken, homestay (aka Minsu) is another unique feature of Taiwan. If you did not visit a Minsu when you’re here in Taiwan, your Taiwan trip will probably not be completed…..laughs. Anyhoo, we found our pretty and homely Minsu (and all our other hotels) at agoda.com.
Young Chi Ku Hot Spring B &B
No.151, Sec. 1, Zhongshan Rd, Nantou, Nantou, Taiwan 545
Once we reached, we were all pleased that the Minsu has a really homely and cosy environment. We were also supposed to change into the sandals provided by them when we enter their house. Checked with the owner on the recommended attractions at Nantou, as we were torn between the famous Sun Moon Lake and Cingjing Farm.
Found out that Sun Moon Lake is situated at the other side of Puli, where we took our cab from. And if we want to go over, we will have to travel all the way back to Puli, and take another bus over to Sun Moon Lake, which will prolly take us another 2hours. Also, we will have to give Cingjing Farm a miss. So, we settled for Cingjing Farm in the end, and I can safely say we did not regret our choice! Teeheeeee.
We had to take an internal bus service up to Cingjing Farm, which is a 45 minutes ride up the mountain. The owner checked the timing of the bus for us and we had some time to spare, so we decided to head for the nearest 7 eleven to have our early lunch before heading up to Cingjing.
Ain’t the surrounding gorgeous? Was in awed when I saw the pretty clouds across the mountainous landscape. And yes, there is a 7 eleven, up in the mountain!!! A really pretty sight indeed. We had our lunch at 7 eleven (Say YAY)! I was told that another interesting thing in Taiwan is their 7 eleven. How interesting can a 7 eleven get right? laughs. They have practically ALL kinds of drinks and instant noodles, they also sell warmers & t shirts, you can make payments & top up your youyou card (ezlink), AND you can also dine in the 7 eleven toooooooooooo.
So before the trip, I already told my fellow comrades we gotta experience the life of a Taiwanese, by dining in a 7 eleven! To think we had this chance here at the scenic Nantou, we definitely had a great view from here! We were also thankful that the weather was really good that day, it was sunny and cooling, perfect weather for us to visit the attractions.
Headed back for our hotel aka house after lunch as the bus stop was just right outside our hotel. As compared to the other Minsu in Nantou, our hotel is probably one of the better ones, in terms of accessibility and convenience. And the unique thing about our Minsu is that there is a hotspring located in our room’s toilet!! Oh yes, hot spring is another iconic feature of Taiwan, other than minsu, shilin chicken and Night matkets. laughs
Took our group photo at the hotel/house front! It’s really a pretty house isn’t it!!! Sorry, really loved this place, that explained why I got so excited and all. The owner was kind enough to take so many photos for us, at least 2 on each device we passed to her. laughs. Also took an awesome panorama shot of the surrounding of this beautiful place!
Waited for a while for the bus to come, and was surprised to see a packed bus! It was only about 12 noon on a Monday morning, and the bus was packed with people, probably tourists like us too. So we board the bus and headed up to Cingjing Farm!
It was a pretty long ride up…prolly because we stood the the entire time since there wasn’t seats available for us. AND, the ride was filled with twists and turns, and no doubt really bumpyyyyyyy! Also, the bus driver in Taiwan are all really skilled drivers, they can actually speed up the super steep slope. What an insane ride up!
After what-it-seems-forever-bus-ride, we reached our destination: Cingjing Farm!!!
Cingjing Farm (Green Green Grassland)
NO. 170, Renhe Rd., Datong Village, Ren’ai Township, Nantou County, Taiwan
It is accessible via the internal puli bus service. It stops at quite a few attractions in Nantou, so you will need to let the driver know your destination beforehand/when you board the bus, so that he will stop the bus.
Operating hours: 0800-1600 (Holiday: 0800-1700)
Tickets fare: NTD 120 (S$6) for student fare, NTD $160 (S$8) for adult fare
CHECK OUT THE GORGEOUS SIGHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. It’s sooooooooooooo pretty right!!! And I really really love the panorama feature on iPhone. Check out how pretty the photos below are! Teeheeeeeee
More of such aweeeeeeeeeeeesome sights!
And here is our group photo we took against the beautiful landscape of Cingjing Farm. It was no doubt a breathtaking sight! For those who are in Nantou, Cingjing Farm is a MUST-VISIT attraction in Taiwan. Take a look at the 3 photos below, my fellow comrades are no doubt poser ttm, they are supposedly the ‘boyband’, doing their signature boyband poses! laughs
“This wide grassy plain is the most popular site of the Qingjing Veterans Farm; the herds of sheep grazing on the land, the azure skies above, and the verdant mountains in the horizon have a distinct European air. The sheep here are very friendly; visitors usually have their pictures taken with them. Then there is the sheep shearing show, with sheep shearers all the way from New Zealand hairdressing these furry farm animals for the audience’s enjoyment.”
Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, Yes sir, three bags full! Laughs
At Cingjing Farm, it is a scenic place with sights that you will never at to see it at home. It’s a place where you can just stay calm and bask in the serenity. I love it for its peaceful environment, with the adorable sheep and horses roaming freely around the farm. They also have a daily sheep show, but unfortunately, we missed the show when we were checking out other parts of the farm.
But we were glad to be strolling in the farm since it allowed us to steer from the fast paced life we have back home, to relax and chill at the pretty place. But for those we are looking for entertainment and whats not, Cingjing Farm will probably disappoint you, the only entertainment they have here is probably their sheep show. Laughs
But many tourists (including us) were self entertaining ourselves by feeding the sheep the dried food available on sale there. I FED A SHEEP FOR THE FIRST TIME EVERRRRR, IT WAS PROLLY MY FIRST EVER CLOSE(ST) ENCOUNTER WITH AN ANIMALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Am semi-conquering my fear of contact with animals/pets, so glad I did it!
🙂
Found a new method for selca! We used the ear piece to assist us in the photo taking, YY was the one who suggested this brilliant method! laughs. Used it on a separate occasion, and we could fit 10 pax in a photo, awesome stuffs!
My favorite panorama shot of the day!!!
Photos here onwards are from Joseph’s Olympus Pen, the camera sure takes really aweeeeeeeeeeeeeesome photos! (P.S. YY was the photographer)
Check out their whacky poses! And yes, Shuwen is a part of their boyband too. Laughs
YY is prolly trying to take some artsy fartsy photo!
More pretty photos taken by YY!
“Don’t cry because it’s over; Smile because it happened.”
Memories are forged at this beautiful place with my fellow comrades, so glad to be able to catch this pretty sight and share moments like this with them. These beautiful memories will definitely go a long way… 🙂
Combed the entire Cingjing Farm, and walked like what it seems forever once again! But it wasn’t as bad since we were trained in Kaohsiung and Taichung, so it’s peanuts to us I supposed. Laughs
Ended our trip at Cingjing Farm when it’s close to sunset, we actually spent our entire afternoon in Cingjing Farm, and we really loved the place a lot!
Took the internal bus back, and thankfully the bus came soon after we reached the bus stop! And this time, it was not pack AT ALL, we had the entire bus to us. Yayness. Got back to our lovely homestay, and had a simple dinner near our house. It was supposedly some simple Taiwanese meal; a homely local cuisine.
Really loved the homestay here at Nantou! As mentioned earlier, we have a hot spring tub in our room, and man it was good! I can totally feel the effects of the hot spring after Shuwen and I soak for 45 minutes or so. Soaking in hot spring is the best for chilly weather, had a goooooood time indeed.
We decided to hang around at the lobby aka living room as the signal for WIFI was not that good in the room. Managed to chat with the owner when we were in the living room playing some chinese games. We found out that the owner chanced upon their hot spring after Taiwan’s 921 earthquake. After the earthquake, they were forced to relocate from their home; they bought a piece our land in Nantou, with the intention of building their new house. However, while they were digging the land for their new house, they discover a hot spring right under their land. It gave them a business opportunity that probably changed their life from then on. Laughs
The owners were really friendly and welcoming, the usual heartwarming Taiwanese! It’s a pity we only stayed in Nantou for a night, it would be better if it was a two night stay. Nantou is a place I would love to visit again; I WILL BE BACK, Nantou. Till then, Nantou!
And next up will be to Hsinchu City, do stay tune for more of our adventures in the amazing Taiwan!
Teeheeeeee
the amantha's travelogue 