Taiwan Travel: Yue Fei Pavilion, Taroko National Park

I had to admire the taxi driver for not falling asleep together with us. Hahaha. He woke us up when we reached one of the touristy spots in Taroko National Park, Yue Fei Pavilion. Just a bit of background, Yue Fei is a great general and national hero of the Southern Song Dynasty. His famous quote is "If officials do not like money and generals do not fear death, the world will be in peace." I kinda agree with the first part but the second part, does that mean more war???

The whole great story of Yue Fei happened in China. The pavilion is simply named after him, and hence it's called Yue Fei Pavilion. 

There is a suspension bridge near the pavilion. It looks quite scary. 

Make sure you follow the warning, okay! =P

This is the view from the bridge. I did not cross over because it was pretty scary. 

Our cab driver is waiting for us near the main road. If you happen to be here, go take a look at the view at the other side of the bridge. 

It is pretty awesome, right? =)

There are more beautiful scenery to see in Taroko National Park. So, we hopped back into our cab and continue our journey. Exciting! ^^

Long and winding road at Taroko National Park

Did you still remember about the trip to Cingjing Farm? If you don't, you can see it here, here and here . Actually the trip is not ended there but yeah, I got distracted along the way with my blog posts. =P

If you plan to go to Cingjing Farm, you can continue your trip to one of the most awesome tourist place in Taiwan, Taroko Gorge. Although the route there is farther from Cingjing Farm as compared from Hualien. We spent around 8 hours by car from Cingjing Farm to reach Hualien but we choose the route via Taroko Gorge. You'll see a lot of awesome sceneries in between this route.

Because of this long hours drive, we departed around 8AM from Misty Villa (see my review on Misty Villa here ). Our taxi driver picked us from the accommodation directly and we are ready to visit Taroko National Park (太魯閣國家公園/ Tài lǔ gé guójiā gōngyuán). You will reach the mountain peak within 2 hours drive from Cingjing Farm (if I'm not wrong).

The first point in Taroko National Park (from Cingjing Farm direction) is Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area. This is kinda like the top of mountain and the weather here is freezing cold. Brrrr~~~

Despite the freezing temperature, the mountain scenery that morning was so beautiful. ^^

If you need a toilet break, this is your chance! Because the next stop will take another 1 - 2 hours by car. O_o!

And the cab driver drove in a foggy condition. This will make the drive kinda...thrilling (or scary??) I suppose. 

The cab driver is quite nice to stop along the way whenever there is pretty scenery. He wanted to show us the view of clouds descending upon the mountains and hence, he stopped here and helped us take picture. =)

Another shot along the way when the clouds have cleared up. I love seeing greeneries. It has..calming effect somehow. ^^

If you are those people who easily get hungry, not to worry! I'll show you in my next post where to eat along the Taroko route. There are only two restaurants to pick from though. Hehe.

My student's meal at 7-11

I'm broke. Like really broke. *facepalm*

And hence I tried to hold back from eating at restaurants. And stick to my beloved 7-11. XD

If you are broke too, welcome to the world of 便利商店 (Biànlì shāngdiàn/ convenience store). Fyi, 7-11 near Wanlong MRT Station have a big eating space downstair. =P

Cup noodle is definitely my comfort food in times of no-money. And the cup noodles sold in Taiwan taste awesome. Don't ask me about the healthy contents in this cup noodle though.

Sharing crackers with my friend. The menu is getting healthier as ever. *sarcasm*

This snack taste a bit spicy but nice. Crunch crunch.

To balance the diet, I bought strawberry yakult (多多/ duōduō). 

What's your favourite convenience store food? I wonder if 7-11 in Japan sells the same thing. 

If you are bored of eating 7-11 food, you can try different varieties from other convenience stores like Family Mart or Hi-Life. =)

Night Market Food: Fried Milk

It is time for another night market food post. Nom nom nom.

Fried Milk is not a new thing I suppose. And every country has its own version of this well-known street food. So how do the locals sell this delicacy? Let's see the one sold at Shilin Night Market.

For a start, the cart and the seller's apron is totally in the theme. =P

These are the pre-fried milk cubes. Looks like milk candy? 

You can see from the sign that 1 stick of these food will cost you NTD 20. You can buy 3 sticks for NTD50. 

The seller will fry it for few minutes before giving it to you. When the fried milk was given to you, it will look like this. Yes, how on earth does it become round? Hahaha.

It's extremely hot. Be careful and don't burn your tongue. Eat this slowly, okay? Hehe. Taste-wise, it taste a bit sweet but still okay, not too sweet I suppose. This delicacy can be easily found in any night market in Taiwan. I've seen this stall at Shilin and Raohe Night Market. So if you want to be sure, you can just go to either one of these night markets.

Taipei Arena Adventure

Do you ever wonder where do the locals go when there is a concert? If you do, you will find out now.

I was bored one fine weekend (oh boy, why do I often get bored?) and I decided to take a stroll around the usual concert venue in Taipei, Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋/ Táiběi xiǎo jù dàn). I think there are more places to hold concert in Taipei but at the moment, Taipei Arena is the biggest one (they are building a bigger place near Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall MRT station but it won't be ready this year).

Taipei Arena is quite big and it is usually used for sporting event or center-stage performances. I took the MRT to Nanjing East Road MRT station. From there, I walk for about 500m (yes, it's not that near!!) before I see the stadium. Other than the concert hall, there is an ice rink inside as well.

When I wandered around here, SNSD was going to have a performance at night. I did not buy the ticket because their ticket is pretty expensive. *sob* *sob*

You can also check their website to see the full schedule of the performances - http://english.taipeiarena.com.tw/

Since there are a lot of Korean singer having a concert here, there is a pop up store for all K-pop merchandise here. That day, I saw a lot of SNSD official merchandises inside. 

If you cannot find what you want inside the store, no fret. Whenever there is a concert, there will be a lot of sellers selling the singer's/the group's/ the idol's merchandise outside Taipei Arena. 

Caps, T-shirts, lightstick, you name it, they sell it. You can bargain the price too. 

If you are hungry, there is a McD in the vicinity. But if you are walking from Nanjing East Road MRT station to Taipei Arena, I suggest you pay attention to your left side. Because somewhere in the middle (I think it's near Brother Hotel), there's a rice-ball/sushi store and the rice-ball/sushi looks so awesome!

You can simply do a pick and match. I got myself a box of rice-ball and sushi for my late-lunch. Hehehe. This box costs 150 NTD. Yummyyy! 

I suppose staying at Brother Hotel is really convenient if you want to go to watch concert in Taipei. After all, it's near Taipei Arena, near the MRT and there's a yummy rice-ball/ sushi place just next to it. If you are interested to try, you can go check hotel .

So, anyone fancy carrying rice-ball to concert? =P

Taiwan Travel: Cloudy day at Yehliu Geopark, New Taipei

After listening to my weekend travel stories all the time, my aunt and uncle were adamant to go for a trip together. And they propose to go to Yehliu. Which I don't mind because I did not know how to go to Yehliu, since it's located outside Taipei. Hahaha.

Everything located outside Taipei is considered a challenge for me. =P

You can take a bus from Taipei Main Station (same station from which you can take a bus to the airport, see this post . The journey from Taipei to Yehliu is roughly around 90 minutes. The bus' final destination is actually Keelung so if you don't know where to stop, you have to open your eyes widely (or ask the driver to let you know when it's near Yehliu) and alight down when you see this sign.

You need to walk a bit of a distance to reach the main attraction, Yehliu Geopark. The place is usually crowded by tourist buses so you won't miss it. 

If you are collecting entry tickets from all around the world, Yehliu Geopark's ticket will be a pretty addition to your collection. The admission price is NTD25 for students. 

Yehliu is famous for its natural landscape. Before you moan about seeing rocks, you should see the view of the cape. 

And let's get going with the rocks, shall we? The rocks in Yehliu are eroded by seawater and times. But the formation is somehow..pleasing to the eyes. Like the formation of these mushroom rocks. 

The pathways are built all around the rock formation so you can enjoy viewing all kind of rock formations inside the park. 

A statue for the boy who was drown here before. Did not know about the complete background details though. 

A bridge is built on the formation of Sea Groove (I had no idea on these rocks so I took the information from Yehliu Geopark's website). XD

This is the star of the rocks, the Queen's Head. There's always a long queue of tourists surrounding the Queen's Head. The neck of the Queen is getting spoilt both by nature and mankind. So the geopark staff is pretty strict with the tourists and they will only allow us to take picture with the Queen's Head one by one. You better get your camera ready when your turn is near because the time allocated for each person to take picture is pretty short. Talking about seconds here. 

The weather was quite chilly when we came. Luckily it was not raining though. But I love this kind of weather, I don't like to walk under the hot sun. Hahaha. 

So if you are like me, you shall visit Yehliu during those no-sun-no-rain days. And please do not go here during typhoon days!!! =)

Luroufan saved the day

It is one of those days when I feel kinda under-the-weather. I wonder if it is really due to the weather since it's still winter now. In times like these, my friend posted this kind of link -> http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/10-scientifically-proven-ways-to-be-incredibly-happy-wed.html

If you are free, you can take a look at the above link. Otherwise, you can follow my way of becoming happy. By filling my tummy. I suppose happy does not always mean healthy. =P

I'm lazy to walk far in the cold so I went to the neighborhood on-the-wall restaurant, 客家 (Kèjiā). This restaurant is located just opposite Wellcome and next to Comebuy bubble tea stall.

If you are curious on what does this place offer. The price for the food are quite student-friendly. =)

I stick to the good ol' 滷肉飯 (Lǔ ròu fàn). It looks so fattening but I like this food. Cannot beat the one sold by Formosa Chang though. 

Saw a lot of people ordering the fish soup. Maybe it's not bad too. I guess I'll be back next time for the fish soup. 

I was a little bored after eating so I went to my favourite store, 7-11 to buy some things for dinner. I love the onigiri the most. And this one came with egg and pork floss. Awesome, eh? Heard you will not find this in Japan. Hahaha. 

You can get the onigiri + one choice of drink (only for certain brands) for NTD 39. They rotate the choice of the drinks everyday so customer will not get bored. ^^

So, do you have a good day today? If you are feeling lousy like me, I suppose the least thing you can do is filling your tummy with good stuff and probably go for a little shopping or "window shopping". Hehe. 

Cingjing Farm Eats: Dinner time at Misty Villa

Helloooo, have you seen this lamb before?

If you feel that these decorations are somewhat familiar, you are not mistaken. Remember this post ? Yes, we are back at Misty Villa. 

If you ever wonder what did we eat at Cingjing Farm apart from those food at Carton King (see post), well...we never really went out to another place to eat. Why? Simply because the dinner was served by Misty Villa kitchen. Woot! Another reason to start making your booking here? We'll see what they are serving, shall we?

The weather is quite cold up here and nothing will warm you better than a bowl of egg mushroom soup. Slurrppp~~~

Marinated fish with veggie. 

Chicken drumstick. They will give you one piece per person. So don't eat your friend's portion! (unless they are allergic to chicken I guess)

Fresh cabbage with minced pork. Oh, are we eating Korean-style? Hehe.

And voila! My favourite dish, eggplant! Yum!

They taste quite yummy. We were really full to the brim. So happy when people serve us good food. Hehe.

Dinner is inclusive in your staying package at Misty Villa so don't miss it! ^^

Taiwan Travel: Green Green Grassland, Cingjing Farm

After we finished walking around the Small Swiss Garden (see previous post), we walked back to Misty Villa to check into our room. Shortly after, the minsu owner offered us a ride if we wanted to go to another tourist spot, Green Green Grassland (青青草原/ Qīngqīng cǎoyuán). As none of us like walking a long distance (lazy-bums), we replied yes with so much enthusiasm.

After..uhm..10 minutes drive I think, we have arrived at the entrance to Green Green Grassland.

Not many visitors on that afternoon because it keeps on drizzling. But, we did not have any other activity to do around Cingjing Farm, so we bought our ticket (cost NTD120 for students, yeay!). We are ready to catch see some lambs. 

Okay, a bit of warnings before you decided to come here. Do Not Wear New Shoes. I repeat. Do Not Wear New Shoes. Why? As you can see, the lambs scatters here and there on the grassland. This means their shits are scattered everywhere too!!! So yeah, you have been warned. =P

Actually the lambs are not that weak, they will chase you instead if they know you are carrying food. As far as I noticed, the picture in this sign never happens. LOL.

At certain timing (we went around 3ish), the staff will open the gate to let a horde of lambs come in (or charge in?). It's quite a spectacle since there are so many of them. Big and small. 

If you are not really a fan of lambs, you can go to watch the riding horse show. The horses are manned by a group of Russian. I guess they are able to find niche jobs here in Taiwan. The shows start around 3ish too I guess because when we arrived around 4, the show was already at the final stage. The show is free but you can donate some money for their performers to appreciate their hard work. 

If you are looking for some souvenirs, you will be able to buy them at roadside stall or souvenir stall inside the mountain pasture. 

The view from the top of the mountain pasture is really awesome so I still suggest you to visit the place even though you may not be a fan of lambs and horses. =)

Save up to 25% on hotel deals in Cingjing Farm here!