Taiwan: Day 6 Hehuanshan 合欢山 and Lushui Trail 绿水步道

Day 6~ Oh~ Time flies~ I'm more than halfway through my Taiwan Trip after 3 weeks of writing.

Coming posts will be more on scenery -- heaps of them! Enjoy!! =)

Early morning of Day 6, we had our breakfast in Margaret Minsu and left Cingjing around 8.30am.

Me with the beautiful building of the minsu.

Spotted some nice flowers in the garden of the Minsu

Blur face. Last photo before we left Cingjing area. =D

On the way to Hehuanshan. Look at the fog -- covered up all the nice view.

Ah well, when you are traveling, you have to take photos at every nice spot (even though the fog spoilt the view).

I like this photo a lot! Look like being photoshop-ed. Surrounded by mountains -- amazing!

Taiwan: Day 5 Cingjing A Dong Roast Chicken 阿東窯仔雞

We rested for about 15 minutes in our minsu before dinner time. Uncle suggested us to try this famous roast chicken in Cingjing. Yes. Along the way to Green Green Grassland, and on the way to our minsu, I see a lot of restaurants selling roast chicken in Cingjing. Of course we have to try! 

Uncle told us that some restaurants have nice view, but the roast chicken is just O-K-A-Y. We can either choose that or go for the restaurant with nice chicken, but no view. Without much consideration, we chose the latter - WE WANT GOOD FOOD!!

This is the restaurant uncle recommended. A Dong Roast Chicken 阿東窯仔雞
They even have a website! Check it out --> HERE

This is where they prepare the chicken. Very traditional way. Hmm... Something different!

Here's the MENU! Very simple but it took us some time to decide what to eat.
Girls making decision = wait... should we choose this or that?

Well, we decided to order:
 A roast chicken 窯仔雞  (whole) (NTD 500)
Fried wild boar meat 炒山猪肉 (NTD 200)
Fried Cabbage 炒高丽菜 (NTD 120)
Three cups Mushroom (Taiwanese style) 三杯杏鲍菇 (NTD 220)
Fried Bird nest's fern 炒山苏 (NTD 180)
Fried Egg with Stalk Basil 九层塔煎蛋 (NTD 120)

While waiting for our dishes to be served, we took a look at the tea corner.
Highland tea (高山茶) can be found here! 

Taiwan: Day 5 Cingjing Veterans Farm Green Green Grassland 清境农场青青草原

We rushed to Cingjing Veterans Farm's Green Green Grassland (清境农场--青青草原) from Chung Tai Chan Monastery. Green Green Grassland closed at 5pm and we reached there around 4pm. And hence, with such timing, we missed the sheep show (绵羊秀) -- which according to our friend, it is quite a good show. =( Ah well, we enjoyed our short trip to Green Green Grassland by looking at the sheep and enjoyed the scenery. 

This farm is very European-style and buildings are mostly castle-like.
Awwww <3 Look at this building!

Ta-Daa! Got the ticket for NTD160 each! 

Another castle in Green Green Grassland. Too bad we have no time to walk around. Haihhhhh

Ho Ho Ho.... Spot the sheep!!!
OMGOMGOMG... Am I in New Zealand??? My dreamland??? 

Look at my hoodie!! Yes yes, I changed in the car, in front of uncle. (Can you believe it?)

They are so adorable!!

I was scared while feeding it. So this is the best photo out of all that look crazily scared, still, I have my awkward smile. Oh yea, we bought their feed for NTD10 per box and shared.
Enjoy the sheep licking your palm while feeding them. =D

Spotted this cutie! So adorable and special!

Awkward #1

Taiwan: Day 5 Peacock Garden 日月潭孔雀园 Chung Tai Chan Monastery 中台禅寺

Before we depart to Qingjing Farm (清境农场), we stopped by 2 more tourist spots: Sun Moon Lake Peacock Garden (日月潭孔雀园) and Chung Tai Chan Monastery (中台禅寺).

Sun Moon Lake Peacock Garden is still part of Sun Moon Lake area, hence we went there for about 10 minutes to take a look. Peacocks are undeniably beautiful. This peacock garden is small but is very well decorated. 

The entrance of the peacock garden.

From the entrance. This small area is kinda pretty isn't it. Nature = Beauty.

Look at the peacocks!

WOW! So elegant!

The pretty male peacock and me!

After our visit to Sun Moon Lake (日月潭), we continued our journey to Chung Tai Chan Monastery (中台禅寺), which is also a great tourist spot in Puli (埔里), Nantou (南投) area.

This building was completed in 2001 and was the world's tallest Buddhist building from 2001 until 2006 and the world's tallest Buddhist temple since 2001. The monastery complex is dominated by the massive central building with its 37 floors and surrounded by a serious of ancillary halls and statues. ~~ information from roughguide.com and Wikipedia

The side entrance to the monastery

Taiwan: Day 5 Sun Moon Lake 日月潭

Day 5 of our 8-day trip! More scenery photos will be up as we traveled south and also up the mountain range. 

Our FIRST post for Day 5 is about Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) at Nantou (南投). This is the largest lake in Taiwan and a very famous tourist spot.

"Divided by Lalu Island, the Sun Moon Lake scenic area got its name from the unique terrains that look like sun on one side and crescent moon on the other. It is also crowned as one of the Eight Wonders of Taiwan, and the most famous source of hydroelectric power." ~ information from the official website of Sun Moon Lake.

Driver uncle brought us around the lake, and stopped at a few spots, for us to take photos. We even take a ride on the boat to Syuanguang Temple (玄光寺) and enjoyed the famous Ah Ma Herbal Tea (阿婆茶叶蛋)

WARNING: THERE ARE A LOT OF PHOTOS IN THIS POST. ENJOY~~

Sun Moon Lake Tourist Center.

Sun Moon Lake Tourist Center.
Owl is a representative icon for the aboriginals here in Sun Moon Lake area.

Sun Moon Lake Tourist Center.

The lake with mountains as background. So beautiful!!

This is nicer! Look at the colour of the lake!

Tourist photo of the blogger. =)

Look! This is so pretty and I'm so flexible! LOL

Taiwan: Day 4 Fengjia Night Market 逢甲夜市

Check out our cute room in Taichung @ Ai Shang Feng Jia 爱上逢甲民宿

After our visit to Gaomei Wetlands (高美湿地), we checked in and headed to Fengjia Night Market right away to hunt for food, and of course, to shop after that. The night market is just within walking distance from our minsu. 

To search for the famous stalls, you need to go to a small lane along Fengjia Road, which means a street after you see McD.

First stall that we found was the Da-Chang-Bao-Xiao-Chang Stall (大肠包小肠). Remember I mentioned about it in Shilin Night Market post?? Forgotten?? Click here. This stall in Fengjia night market is very famous, which you can't miss it as the queue is very long!

We asked KS to queue while we went to search for other food. That's the good point about travel in a big group, you can divide the task and enjoy lots of food in the end. =D

Found a smelly toufu (臭豆腐) stall, where there's a guy that give out sampling. Smelly toufu sampling! Must be good!

The stall! Red Tea Smelly Toufu Stall (红茶臭豆腐). The queue is quite long too!

While waiting for our smelly toufu, KS is back with the Da-Chang-Bao-Xiao-Chang (大肠包小肠). YEAH!!! FOOD!!!!

Close up of the famous Da-Chang-Bao-Xiao-Chang. It is really nice, compared to the one we had in Shilin Night Market. XD

The smelly toufu! Cost us NTD 60 per box.

They served the smelly toufu with Taiwan-style kimchi and some preserved carrot. The toufu is really NICE -- crispy and not VERY smelly.

[Must Share] Spotted a TGV deal on Groupon!

http://www.groupon.my/deals/klang/tgv-cinemas-1/718270794

Taiwan: Day 4 Gaomei Wetland 高美湿地 and Jam Hsiao's Music Video

                                              Are you a fan of Jam Hsiao (萧敬腾)? 

Ever heard of a song called "Shou Cang" (收藏)? That's the song of his first music video in 2008. 

Can you recall???

Watch the music video below if you can't remember. =)

This music video is mainly taken in Gaomei Wetlands (高美湿地), or officially known as Gaomei Wetland Preservation Area (高美湿地野生动物保护区). It is a wetland in Qingshui District of Taichung. It is first established on 29th September 2005, spans over 300 hectares (only about 10% of Dadu River (大肚溪 or 乌溪) wetlands) ~~ Information from Wikipedia.

You won't believe how pretty is this place until you step in. Before I go, I was like "wetland? water and mud? What? Seriously?". Driver uncle told us that it is very famous now, even among the locals. We are going there to watch sunset, and I'm really thankful that uncle planned such nice thing in our itinerary. Such a romantic place, even I'm watching it without a partner. XD Being alone and being lightbulb can be very romantic too. (PM me if you want to learn how)

Uncle told us, you don't have to go Holland for windmill! LOOK!
(Did not edit this photo, other than putting my blog url.) 

The windmills weren't spinning when we reached. So it was a pretty quiet visit.

The wetland. Where I took this photo isn't the famous tourist spot, where Jam Hsiao took his MV.

The famous spot is right opposite, see the red & white stripe building? There it is! We headed there  for sunset after some photos with the windmills. 

Better view compared to the second one. Love it!

Group photo is a must! Wanted to take with the windmill right behind us, but our tourist friend failed our photo. But there's windmills behind. Alright. Alright.