I like the air con at Hive Hotel. I no need to adjust the temperature. I feel very comfortable inside the room, with my tshirt and shorts.
Hive Hotel is not bad. Wheelchair friendly. Great location, whereby you step out of the hotel, within a few metres, there is 7-11, All Family Mart, bubble tea shops, eateries, and also ufo machines (very very dangerous if you have kids). The breakfast is normal though. Ala carte, with 3 different choices. Skip the breakfast, and go out and explore other yummy breakfast options.
100 metres away there is a Wellcome supermarket. The place that we will definitely go to when we are in Taiwan, to purchase some local groceries/products.
Our flight is at 210 pm, so we must reach Taoyuan Airport by 1210 pm. And we also need to return the car.
From Hive Hotel to Taoyuan Airport is about 1 hour 25 min journey. We also need to top up the fuel at a petrol station near the Airport, because need to return the car with full tank.
So at about 8 plus in the morning we go to Wellcome Supermarket, bought our stuff, went back hotel to pack, and we check out of the hotel at 10 am.
And it was still drizzling...
Even though it was drizzling, the drive to Taoyuan was much better, as compared to the drive on the first day from Taoyuan to Yilan. Now I am more confident, and also more used to the left hand drive.
Anyway, presenting to you the car that served us well for the 5D4N:
Thank you so much 小白! So thankful that this car is quite new, got bluetooth function, so Yuan Ze still get to listen to his nursery rhyme songs on this car. The engine a bit sort sort though, because when I press on the brake for the car to come to a stop, then when I release the brake and step on the accelerator, the engine will jump. Dunno why also.
Some reflections from this trip:
1) Yuan Ze really likes travelling. And he loves staying at hotels. And he was totally ok on the flight. Taking off, he is ok. Landing, he also ok.
2) It was a very good break for me, to go on holiday to a country that I really love, to eat nice food, admire beautiful scenery, and most importantly spend quality time with darling and Yuan Ze. I can't wait for our next holiday together, and the next time will definitely bring Yuan Yi. Going for holiday gives me the motivation to work, earn money and bring the whole family to nice places and to create wonderful memories.
3) I dunno why, but I can never get tired of Taiwan. Ok, I am tired of Taipei already, so the next Taiwan trip, will explore more of Yilan again, as well as other parts of Taiwan. No more Taipei as of now.
4) Thankful that both darling and I are well versed in Mandarin, and we converse in Mandarin with Yuan Ze since young. The locals commented that Yuan Ze's 国语讲的很标准. Made me very very proud. Darling and I will continue to converse in Mandarin with both Yuan Ze and Yuan Yi. It is important for our 2 kids not to lose the Mother Tongue. Sometimes darling will speak to Yuan Ze in english, then Yuan Ze will say 我不要妈妈 english. Hahahahahaha.
Ok and this brings a closure to our Taiwan Trip 2019.
Next up, Hokkaido in June 2020, with my two sisters (including huanyang's family and xiaoyu's bf)!
It was still drizzling in the morning... :(
We packed our bags and check out of 湖漾.
Today our plan is to go 松茂果园 to pluck fruits. 11 am we are going to this DIY pizza cafe. If we are done with the fruit farm very early, we will go to 梅花湖. We stayed at 湖漾 because it is very near 梅花湖, one of the signature places in Yilan. But we didnt go there because it was always drizzling. And then, after lunch at the DIY pizza cafe, we will head to Luodong to check in to HIVE Hotel, that is near Luodong Night Market.
This is the entrance to the fruit farm. It was manned by an ah ma. Ah Ma welcomed us, and then cut an orange for us to try. Not bad, sweet and juicy. And then she explained to us how it works. Each adult pay NT150. Yuan Ze no need to pay. Then she gave us two baskets and two cutters. Then the fruits that we pluck, we can bring all home. Actuallywe know that we definitely will not bring all the fruits home so we just took one basket.
Orange tree well protected under plastic bag.
Ah Ma removing the plastic bag for us so we can pluck the oranges.
Yuan Ze very happy to see so many oranges.
The scenery at the fruit farm was so good that darling wants to take photo.
We are done within half an hour. Then out of the whole basket of oranges that we plucked, we only brought 3 oranges back. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Ah Ma felt so paiseh and told us to bring back all the oranges but she eventually gave in to our insistence.
So we went to 梅花湖 next. It was still drizzling. So we decided to rent this e-scooter thingy in the form of a poli car.
Yuan Ze was so thrilled to sit on this. Out of so many cartoon characters to choose from, he chose this poli car immediately. NT300 to rent this, for one hour. If you drive and park your car, your NT70 parking fee will be reimbursed. Smart marketing gimmick. Best decision ever to rent this, because it protected us from the rain, and it was very refreshing to ride on this along the entire lake. The circumference of the lake was about 3 km I think? Cannot imagine if we chose to walk.
The beautiful 梅花湖. Yuan Ze was so happy to see the ducks. Which means he got the chance to feed the ducks again. LOL.
Anyway there is a very nice pastry shop here called 橙靖手工烘培坊. The cakes and biscuits here are not bad! We bought quite a few back as souvenirs for our family.
Next, the place that we are having lunch, and also letting Yuan Ze make pizza: 屋顶庭园咖啡.
Such an instagrammable backdrop.
Playing on this rocking horse while waiting for the boss to prepare the pizza ingredients.
And let's get started!
All ready to be placed in the oven!
The finished product!
Looks legit, tastes legit as well! Well Done Yuan Ze!
The first place that we went to is E-Long Goat Farm 宜农牧场.
First, when you reach the entrance, you have to pay the entrance fee of NT30 (SGD1.40) into a coin box. It is all about integrity.
Then at the shop, you spend NT100 (SGD4.50) to buy a feeding basket that consists of: snacks for ducks; carrot for rabbit; a bottle of milk for the pigs; sunflower seeds for the parrots. after you feed finish, you return the basket to the shop and you can get a bunch of grass to feed the goats.
these pigs damn aggressive. they push each other out of the way just to drink the milk.
later on this 2 little goats also join in the fun to snatch the milk. also damn aggressive. they followed us everywhere just to drink the milk. i had to feed finish the milk and throw the bottle into the recycling bin to let them get the idea, then they stopped following us. -.-'''
the rabbits were more tame as compared to the pigs and goats. yuanze enjoyed feeding them. :)
yuanze enjoyed feeding the ducks too.
see how happy he is. it started drizzling so he put on the beanie.
feeding grass to the goats. these goats also quite aggressive, will bite on the grass and pull the grass towards them. that is why i held on to yuanze's arm while feeding them.
The next destination is Kuchen Kennwort Museum 亚典蛋糕密码馆. It is a shop that specialises in doriyaki, cakes and all kinds of food-related souvenirs. Yes it is a touristy place.
The shop features the doriyaki making process. This is a must go for Yuanze because he loves eating doriyaki.
Have a longer look at our hairstyle now because later on we are going to cut our hair!
After that we went to Jimmy Theme Park. Really nothing much to see. If you intend to go there, you can give it a miss.
So we decided to go have a haircut. Initially I found a salon at Luodong, that is affordable and have very good reviews. But since we are already at Yilan City, so we went to find a salon here. On my google map, found a salon nearby and has good reviews as well. Off we go!
TA DAAAAAA. Yuan Ze's new hair style. Got hip a not?
Darling ask Yuan Ze to smile and he decided to look cool instead.
But he cannot maintain his cool expression for too long. Hahahahahaha.
How do we look? Handsome? :D
The haircut, that includes washing, cost NT428 (SGD19.40) per pax.
For tonight's dinner, darling found this noodle shop, 朴食甘味小馆, that is about 6 min drive away from 湖漾. The noodles here is nice and price is affordable as well! I highly recommend! Beside the shop also got sell cheap and nice bubble tea. Thank you darling for finding this place!
Otw back, I took a wrong turn and drove past a long stretch of road, where both sides of the road are cemeteries. My balls was shrinking and was praying to myself to reach 湖漾 asap.
Woke up at 5 am plus automatically. My body clock is now tuned like that, thanks to my job, and also because of my duty as a father.
I open up the curtains a bit, and saw the sunrise! Felt so happy. Stepped out of my room and went to witness it. Felt so blessed that I am able to stand here and witness something so nice and so magical.
Let me say more about 蜻蜓石. It was opened by this guy, 石教授, who is a professor, and his area of research is insects. Based on what I know, and the information that I gathered through magazines and TV shows, he chanced upon this piece of land high up in the mountain, and then he noticed many dragonflies here. And he spotted an opportunity as well as potential in this piece of land, and decided to build a 民宿 on this piece of land, and the 民宿 architecture is shaped like a dragonfly, and hence this place is called 蜻蜓石, because of the dragonfly design and the professor's surname.
This place is really great, and is a place that I really will want to come back again, even though the drive up to this place is quite torturous. Google maps brought me to this nice house up in the mountain, but is actually not 蜻蜓石, and thank god darling spotted a sign labelled 蜻蜓石 further in front, and I followed the signs all the way for another 1.5 km. Omg. But once we reach this place, the scenery and the positive vibes coming out from this place totally made the drive worth it!
breakfast! looks good isnt it? hot porridge with sweet potatoes, carrot cake, egg, saba fish, chicken floss, some purplish green veges plucked from their garden, together with warm soya bean milk. definitely a breakfast for champions.
thankful for this good weather because before we came to yilan, we checked the weather forecast and it said that it will be raining everyday for the whole time we are in yilan. in fact, day 1 and the morning part of day 2 was the only time we saw the sun. after that it was rain, rain and rain. this pic shows yuanze using his hand to touch the water in the pool to feel for himself how cold the water was.
we went for a farm tour, conducted by one of their staff. he was very knowledgeable and introduced us the various fruits, plants and animals that they have in the farm.
yuanze also had the opportunity to collect eggs at the chicken coop! its really once in a lifetime experience for him.
we checked out at 11 am and our first destination for day 2 was Lanyang Museum. the design is nice, but we did not go in and view the exhibits (because we are not museum people LOL). so we straight away proceed to the next destination, that is called 掌上明珠, for lunch.
掌上明珠 is a very atas restaurant, and serves omakase for lunch/dinner. for kids, they have an ala carte dish, that is fried rice. the omakase lunch course is NT1500 (SGD68).
the words written on the table cloth is actually the menu. 10 dishes in total! omg. there is only 8 dishes in the pic because my hp camera anglen not wide enough.
first dish: appetiser. bun with sweet potato filling, with ikura on top. and i also found out only today that yuan ze likes to eat ikura. #mindblown
that is the fried rice dish for yuanze. tastes quite good. yuanze loves the little coloured balls at the side. we asked the waitress what it is and wanted to buy for yuanze if is available in taiwan supermarkets. the waitress said is actually some sort of rice krispies and can only be found in japan supermarkets. WOWWWW.
THIS FISH IS DA BOMB. so so so good. the whole white chunk on top is salt.
this prawn also. omg, so so so good.
after lunch, we went to our 2nd accomodation for this trip to check in. our 2nd accomodation is 湖漾189风格旅店.
this 湖漾189风格旅店 is a heaven for kids. they have a big playing area indoor, as well as a big playing area outdoor. they have many electronic motor vehicles. yuanze was really so thrilled.
as for the room, we booked the 亲子三人房. NT4800 (SGD218) per night, breakfast included.
WARNING: the toilet is a bit too open. HAHAHAHA.
one of the reasons why yuanze love this place so much.
anyway this place is quite ulu. so in yilan, it is best that you rent a vehicle and self drive. for our dinner for both nights, i drove to nearby restaurants to da bao food back to eat.
that's it for day 2!
