Finally, we woke up to cold weather. I really enjoyed the cold weather but it was short lived.
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| the minsu we stayed |
We showered and got ready for breakfast. The scenery at the top of Cingqing was really beautiful.
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| Taiwan - 80% mountains |
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| the minsu we were allocated |
Breakfast was the same place as dinner, in-house chef which was the owner himself. The dining area was nicely decorated with country style theme.
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| it was all about being in the countryside |
After breakfast, we were ready to head for our 1st tourist spot, 清清草园。It got the children excited because potentially we were going to meet a lot a lot of sheep.
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| sheep everywhere |
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| really everywhere |
Remember I said about the cold weather being short lived. At the grassland, it was really hot! In fact, the children got sunburnt around the neck area. The whole grassland was about walking again. We fed the sheep with pellets along the way.
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| little pony needed a sip |
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| riding with ease |
We came to an atrium where we took a pit stop for toilet and the boys wanted to ride the little pony. But when you are at such places with roaming animals, be very careful that you don't step on their poo. We then had to walk further in for the Mongolian's horse show. It was really hot, we were much nearer to the sun because we were at the top and the whole grassland was big too. The children had to be coaxed a little, dragged a little, shaded by umbrellas to make it to the venue.
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| horse show |
We were quite late and the show was about to start soon. It was crowded with tourists and luckily we managed to squeeze ourselves at the front, away from the hot sun. After the show, we purchased bag of carrots to feed the horses and took pictures with the performers.
It was another long way back to the marketplace where we would meet the driver. As we drove down Cingqing, we stopped by the Old England for photo taking and little Swiss Garden.
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| Old England |
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Little Swiss Garden
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| me and my mum |
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| my fav family photo |
Old England was popular as a photo taking venue because of the outlook and the interior decoration was filled with relics brought in from England. Old England was a hotel with restaurant and it was equivalent to our Fullerton. Very classy and tight security which non hotel guests were not allowed to enter.
As we made our way down, we also stopped by Little Swiss Garden. The boys got distracted with feeding of the ducks so it was just me and my mum strolling the garden.
You must be thinking about lunch... it was quite late by the time we reached our dining place.
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| this is it! |
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| the main star |
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egg omelette
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Don't look down on the chicken. It was not deep fried but using woods to slowly roast it. The taste was fantastic and we finished the whole chicken clean. Very hearty meal and this place made it to Top 3 of my favourite meals in Taiwan.
After lunch, it was all the way back to Taichung. Along the way, we stopped by Carton King and did the touristy stuff - photo taking and purchasing of souvenirs.
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| group photo |
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| my 2nd musical box |
Dinner was actually sloppily done with the glutinous balls. Perhaps we were really slow and the sky was very dark now. We had this to fill our stomach as the driver rushed us back to Taipei.
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| original |
We were caught in a jam on our way to Taipei because it was a Thursday night. Many cars were also returning to Taipei to spend their weekends there. It took us almost 2 hours to clear the jam and the boys drank some milk and napped in the car.
Finally we reached our Taipei minsu which was near Ximending. The first impression wasn't good. The streets were a little dark. Again, the minsu was at 2nd level and we had to lug our luggages up the stairs. But once the owner handed us the keys, I felt I was in heaven.
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| living room |
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hidden corner to relax
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| bedroom |
We got the whole place to ourselves and it was a relief to me. The boys had their spaces so we could at least take a breather from the bickering. There was a water filter system so we didn't had to worry about drinking water and a small fridge freezer. The toilet was clean and a small balcony to hang our laundry.
We got the children sleep and the husband went to recce the neighbourhood. Indeed this was an excellent choice to stay. It was a mere 5 minutes walk to Ximending, family mart was down the corner. MacDonald was around too. For such convenience, our minsu stay was only SG $150 per night. It was a real gem and I liked the minsu a lot. It was clean and minimalistic. We didn't had to worry about the children making too much noise because the next unit was not near to us anywhere. What a blessing!
With a happy mood, we ended our Day 5 in Taiwan counting the sheep we fed.
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