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