8D Taiwan Farm Stay & Hot Spring Tour Resort, 20 to 27 Dec 2015

Our last trip to Taiwan was in the year of 2012, so needless to say when it comes to this holiday, it was an easy choice when we saw this 8 Days Package tour by the agency. We had visited a few places previously and thought that it was worth covering those places and also discovering a few new spots too.  

Day1: Sunday, 20 December:  Singapore – Taipei (BR 216              1545/2015hrs) 

Upon arrival at Taoyuan International Airport, we were met by our Tour Guide, Mr. Ken Tsai. His Chinese name is 蔡程寓and he is a local Taiwanese. As our arrival flight into Taiwan was late evening, we were unable to follow the original tour itinerary of visiting the Flying Cow Ranch. Instead, we went on to Shihlin Night Marker – 士林夜市. The night market was crowded with tourist and the hawkers. We enjoyed a lovely night suppers of - 大肠包小肠，豪大炸鸡排，阿忠面线和牛排。The night ended almost near to midnight and finally we checked in to our Taipei hotel – Taipei Sunworld Dynasty Hotel.

 

Day 2: Monday: 21 December: Taipei  - Flying Cow Ranch Miaoli

The morning after breakfast, we were brought for a nice and cooling walk at the Fisherman Whaft where many of Taiwan shows were filmed. Going onward after the wharf, we visited Danshui Old Street, 淡水老街，it had a very nostalgic feel and we managed to try the famous Agei dumplings. 



Fisherman Whaft

 

 

 

 

 

Next we proceeded to Flying Cow Ranch, 飞牛牧场。This was one of the highlight of the tour. Both Anthea and Anders enjoyed the farm experienced of milking the cows and feeding the goats.  Dinner was a very sumptuous Milk Steamboat. Our rooms in the ranch were huge and it had 2 queen size bed.

 

 

Day 3: Tuesday, 22 December: Miao Li - Nantou Cingjing

After packing up from the Cow Ranch, we were heading toward another of our favorite place – Cingjing. Before going uphill, we visited a famous 中台禅寺 where we saw all the Buddha Statues. A very peaceful sanctuary. We had lunch at Tai-Yi Ecological Leisure Farm. As it happened to be 冬至, we had 汤圆as our dessert.

 

Thereafter, we headed up mountain to Cingjing resort. We visited the Green Green Grassland where the children were busied with feeding goats. Then we checked into our Ming Jing Farm and had a lovely afternoon tea. Sun was setting and we had the opportunity to capture the sun-setting scene. The night temperature was cooling and I even had the chance to sit by the balcony enjoying the night breeze.

 

Day 4: Wednesday, 23 December: Cingjing -  Sun Moon Lake Taichung

Our original itinerary did not include Sun, Moon Lake but the guide decided to give us an additional stop. It was good to see 日月潭again since the last visit. This time round we had the chance to visit 文武庙 and we all prayed for good academic results for 2016.

We had a few stops before reaching Taichung and had the chance to buy some local delights at some of the shops. Finally in the evening, we arrived at the well-known Fengjia Night Market. (逢甲夜市). Needless to say, we took Ken’s advice and ate a few famous dishes. Taiwan Night markets are never short of food. After the night market, we checked into our hotel for the night – Taichung City Hotel.  

 

Day 5: Thursday, 24 December:  Taichung  - Jiaosi Evergreen Spa Resort 

The very first stop of the day was DIY Pineapple Tarts. Yes, it’s at the famous 维格凤梨酥 shop. We had fun hand making the pineapple tarts and then sampled all the different local specialties from the shop.

 

Lunch was Taiwan all-time favorite 小笼包。They were really delicious and we could not stop eating.

 

We proceed to 菁桐 for our 放天灯 program. It was fun to be able to see how the lantern was lighted and flew away into the sky.

 

Then we checked into our long waited for Evergreen Spa Resort – 长荣温泉, we were very familiar with the resort and it felt like home again. Christmas Eve dinner was a sumptuous buffet selection. We enjoyed all the dishes.

  

Day 6:  Friday, 25 December:  Jiaosi Evergreen Spa Resort  - Yilan River Forest

The morning was simply relaxing and doing spa till our checked out at 11am.  The day was relaxed and we visited a few places in-between before going to 罗东夜市。

 

The night was spent in River Forest Villa in Yilan. A very beautiful and lovely place and it’s a pity we didn’t had more time to explore this place.

 

Day 7 – Saturday, 26 December:  Yilan - Taipei City

After checking out of River Forest Villa, we visited 九份. Yes, great time for final shopping of local delights and we cannot leave the place without having its famous 粉圆。 

Then we headed back to Taiwan to enjoy our remaining Free and Easy day.  

We had a great catch-up lunch cum shopping in 西门町 with our friend 小麒。 He also brought a lot of goodies for us to bring home.

 

  

The night in the hotel was spent repacking all the suitcase so that I can squeezed all the food and gifts into the luggage’s.

  

Day 7 – Sunday, 27December:  Taipei – Singapore (BR 225            0720/1200 hrs.)

A very early morning call and we headed off to the airport for our morning departure flight. The heart was heavy and sad as we bade goodbye but again, we know Taiwan is too near to be miss. We will be back.

 

宝岛的热情和友谊让我们不舍，所以我们肯定会重游。

Families met at 7-11

Anders 3Days 2Night Adventure Camp, 24 – 26 March 2014

Anthea did her camp while she was in Primary 5. However due to the P5 heavy curriculum and many other awaiting activities, the school decided to change the Adventure Camp to take place during Primary 4.

Anders batch was the first batch to sample the 3D2N adventure camp. Based in the same camp based as Anthea, we were more or less mentally prepared for the camp.

So packing was done quite last minute. Packing boy’s stuff seem much easier compared to girl.

24^th March – Day 1: Setting off for the camp. I can sense that he was a little nervous and kept telling him that we would be seeing him soon, at the camp fire.  He even told me that he Love me and will miss me for the next 2 days.

 

I had no worries for him as he had been pretty street smart all these while and I knew he had the capabilities to look after himself.

We were also getting “LIVE FEEDS” from the teacher-in-charge and seeing all the great photos, we knew they were in good hands and having good time.

 

The home was very quiet without him.

25^th March – Day 2:  Campfire night. Adrian,

Anthea and I went for the campfire; we knew our presence meant a lot to him even though he didn’t said much.  It was a fun night to see all the children performing together and they had so much fun singing their cheers.

At 9pm, the campfire came to a closure and we left for supper. We brought Anthea to The Kranji Resort to have their lovely zi-char dishes. This place seems to be our annual retreat for supper.

26^th March – Day 3: Home Sweet Home – Buses arrived around 12.30noon and the children had a quick debrief before they were all off for home sweet home. Anders came back and had a good hot shower and lunch before he slumped off to slumber land.

After all, he had enjoyed the 3D2N camp and even said that they are going in P5 again. I wonder? 

Happy 10th Birthday, Anders

His birthday always coincide with the Term 1 school holiday, thus it is not easy to invite friends to his party as most would be off for their own holidays.

 

This year he had a few wishes for us to grant:

1. Catching a movie with his best friend
2. Play date with his few good friends at kids Amaze
3. Special meals with the family

 

Yes, all these were full filled and he had a great time with his friends and families.

At every birthday, I felt a sense of accomplishment as he reaches the 10^th milestone. He has not been an easy child, very temperamental and emotional and many times can set me to edge of tearing.

I know I had to embrace all these with an open heart and mind, it’s easy said than done but I know I WILL HAVE TO DO IT. 

On this special day, I wish my son – Happy 10^th Birthday. 

 

Happy 14th Anniversary!

04 Dec – 2013 : Yes, our marriage is as old as old first HDB home in those days it’s the SOP: wedding proposal – buy flat – weddings – matrimonial home.

14 is not a big numbers and neither is it considered small in term of Marriage years. We had truly grown as a family and understood now why the older generation said a family is incomplete without children.

Looking back at the years that the kids were born and growing, the marriage became stronger as we learnt to manage all the difficult situations that aroused from those times.

Today, we are stepping into a new journey with the new home and new environment but all the familiar movement and people.  We are still growing and learning every day to live and love each other our own special way.

Happy 14^th Anniversary!

 (PS: almost left the wedding portrait behind during the recent house moving…)

 时间过得好充实，十四年了！这十四年我们都很努力的经营这个家和婚姻。一段姻缘来的不容易，所以我们必须用心和爱，还有许多耐心去好好培养它。没有一段婚姻是十全十美的，我们从不完美中学习保护它和克服任何困难。

新的家“诞生”了，希望它代表新的生命力和毅力让我们勇敢的走向另一个婚姻的领域。

注：在搬家的时候，竟然差一点忘了把结婚床头照带走。。:P

Our Wedding Portrait