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| View from our room's Balcony @ Sun Moon Lake! |
Itinerary&Reviews:
-Days: 9 nights 10 days
-Flight: Scoot (Singapore)
Scoot is Singapore's budget airlines, however surprisingly everything was good!, although there was some delay when we were leaving for Taiwan. Food on the menu was expensive though, if you do not purchase ahead of time. We were supposed to leave at 1.35 pm and arrive at 6.10pm. however there was a hour delay so we arrived around 7.10pm- Grr!
-Transport:
High Speed Rail, Taxi, bus
The high speed rail is very convenient! and fast- the name speaks for itself! You could book it ahead of time, but all the times when we booked, we just booked it like 30 mins-1 hr before as it wasn't peak time (as advised by the information counter)
-Hotels (in order of our journey):
Before choosing the hotels which I want to stay in, I search through TripAdvisor, Agoda and booking.com to view all the relevant hotels before narrowing down on my choice! I'll look at the photos, reviews and finally decide on one that I feel the best for!
Before choosing the hotels which I want to stay in, I search through TripAdvisor, Agoda and booking.com to view all the relevant hotels before narrowing down on my choice! I'll look at the photos, reviews and finally decide on one that I feel the best for!
Taipei-Cosmos Hotel Taipei- Cosmos Hotel Taipei-[ +- $140 a night]
The location for Cosmos Hotel Taipei was excellent, just next to the main station for taking the train and bus. The rooms were alright, abit small and on our first night there was an extremely musky smell. However on our last few days, our room was better, however we found a small bug in the room. For convenience this hotel would be good, but if you are particular about your stay at hotels, then this will not be it for you! Booked this on hotels.com.
The location for Cosmos Hotel Taipei was excellent, just next to the main station for taking the train and bus. The rooms were alright, abit small and on our first night there was an extremely musky smell. However on our last few days, our room was better, however we found a small bug in the room. For convenience this hotel would be good, but if you are particular about your stay at hotels, then this will not be it for you! Booked this on hotels.com.
Nantou- Spa Home Sun Moon Lake- SPA HOME [+-SGD $200 a night]
Spa Home Sun moon Lake Hotel- This boutique hotel was perfect! It was clean, modern and comfortable. We stayed at the room at the basement with a balcony. The views from the balcony was so pretty! There were just some cracks in the washroom, but other than that it was great! They even had Hermes toiletries! The breakfast provided by the hotel was simple but delicious! I got to enjoy 2 days of it! We booked this on agoda.com however, you could book directly on the website if available, I think It'll be cheaper.
Spa Home Sun moon Lake Hotel- This boutique hotel was perfect! It was clean, modern and comfortable. We stayed at the room at the basement with a balcony. The views from the balcony was so pretty! There were just some cracks in the washroom, but other than that it was great! They even had Hermes toiletries! The breakfast provided by the hotel was simple but delicious! I got to enjoy 2 days of it! We booked this on agoda.com however, you could book directly on the website if available, I think It'll be cheaper.
Cingjing Farm- Star Gaze Villa- Star Villa [NT$3800 a night ]
We had a little trouble finding a place to stay at Cingjing farm as the place that we initially wanted was full, However, through recommendation from a friend, we booked Star Villa and we weren't disappointed! The room was simple but clean and had all amenities that a simple hotel would have! However, the rooms weren't very modern looking. They also had binoculars for each room for star gazing! There was a room for pool as well. The hotel provided a simple but lovely steamboat dinner for around $SGD 10 ish. It was good and healthy- for people who are lazy to get out again at night. As we found that the rooms were full online, we had to call the hotel personally and they had a room for us.
We had a little trouble finding a place to stay at Cingjing farm as the place that we initially wanted was full, However, through recommendation from a friend, we booked Star Villa and we weren't disappointed! The room was simple but clean and had all amenities that a simple hotel would have! However, the rooms weren't very modern looking. They also had binoculars for each room for star gazing! There was a room for pool as well. The hotel provided a simple but lovely steamboat dinner for around $SGD 10 ish. It was good and healthy- for people who are lazy to get out again at night. As we found that the rooms were full online, we had to call the hotel personally and they had a room for us.
Kaohsiung- Hotel Dua- Hotel Dua [SGD$165 a night]
I was deciding between this hotel and another bigger more established hotel. I read up reviews on trip advisor (link) which at times can be useful, however not all the time. After much thought, I decided to book Hotel Dua and when we got there we were very pleased indeed! The location was very convenient - just a short walk from the train station, the ambiance of the hotel was very modern and soothing! The whole hotel had a contemporary style- Very pleasing to the eyes! The rooms were very big, clean, comfortable and even had a free minibar. The toilets were very clean and large and modernly styled- Quite a difference to the rest of the hotels we stayed so far in Taiwan which were clean, however not very modern. I will definitely be staying here again if I were to come to Kaohsiung! This was booked on agoda.com as well!
Yang Ming Shan Tien Lai HotSprings- Yangming Shan Tien Lai Hotspring Resort [+- SGD $350 a night]
I booked this hotel on agoda (link) as they had specials which included buffet dinner! This Hot Spring resort has quite a few different hotsprings with different scents and themes! I enjoyed the outdoor hotsprings! There was indoor one, but i did not use that! There was also a sauna thingy- where u lie on heated stones! So Relaxing!! The room was simple but nice- consisting of an individual hot springs too! I would recommend that you have the Mongolian buffet dinner too! We sure stuffed ourselves that night after a day of nice relaxation in the hot springs!
Day 1: Taipei
First night we reached around 7 + pm, took a cab and checked in Cosmos Hotel Taipei. We then decided to just walk to the train station which had restaurants, food court, and little stalls selling all kinds of food! We ate some beef noodles at the food court but it wasn't too nice...
Day 2: Nantou- Sun Moon Lake
We departed for Taichung on the High Speed Rail at 10:30 and arrived in Taichung at 11: 19. We asked the information staff and on the counter, there is a list of all the timings for the high speed rail. We quickly grabbed some Sushi rolls from 7-11 and some snacks and we were on our way! We then took a bus from the Taichung station to Sun Moon Lake! The Taichung Bus station was on the ground floor had trouble finding it, but we asked the information desk so it was all fine. We got our Sun Moon Lake pass from the counter at the Bus station for NT$330. It included the round trip boat ride around Sun moon lake, the cable car, Bike rental etc. However, we regretted not getting the other pass which included entrance into Formosa village! Next time if you do want to go to the Formosa village get the pass which includes that! I think there were some which included Cingjing farm too. Check with them!
The bus ride took around an hour and it stopped us at the tourist centre which is walking distance from our hotel Spa Home! We left our luggage there as we couldn't check in yet and grab some lunch at this little store among the lane of little food restaurants! we ordered few simple dishes i.e: *lu rou fan* which was not too bad!
We then found the pier where we were going to start our boat tour around the beautiful island of Sun moon lake!! On the first stop, we got down, and got their famous Tea eggs from this little store sold by this granny. It was delicious! you would not miss it as everyone was lining up for it! There were performances by their tribal group and people were going to walk the trail, however as for Traveller J and I, we got our tea eggs and went back to the boat for our next stop! Not much around the first stop other than the tea eggs and the performances.
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Our second stop was at Itashao! There were little shops just like at our area at Shuishe.. We got their aboriginal wild bore sausage which was good! We found a nice tea shop which was owned by this very nice man who had mentioned that his wife was the daughter of the head leaders tribe? Something like that.. And they had their own tea plantation as well! We did some tea tasting and ended up buying some nice Oolong tea as well as their black assam tea which is their main product in Sun moon lake!
We then ventured around some more and headed back to Shuishe and further explored the area around the beautiful lake! We wanted to cycle around, but got tired so we changed our minds. We went back to our hotel to check into our room! As mentioned previously, our room was awesome!! The views just sitting from our balcony was breathtaking! It was so relaxing to just sit outside, watch the sunset, watch people walk by and the boats going by!
Its so nice to just sit back and relax after a day of walking and exploring! Soon, we headed out again and got some course dinner in one of the restaurants- most of the restaurants here were serving their wild boar meat as well as the fish which is caught in sun moon lake. The fish was nice, although it sure did have a whole load of bones!
Day 3: Sun Moon Lake - Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village
We woke up, had delicious breakfast at the hotel. It was simple yet really delicious!:P sorry for repeating but its true;)
I was deciding between this hotel and another bigger more established hotel. I read up reviews on trip advisor (link) which at times can be useful, however not all the time. After much thought, I decided to book Hotel Dua and when we got there we were very pleased indeed! The location was very convenient - just a short walk from the train station, the ambiance of the hotel was very modern and soothing! The whole hotel had a contemporary style- Very pleasing to the eyes! The rooms were very big, clean, comfortable and even had a free minibar. The toilets were very clean and large and modernly styled- Quite a difference to the rest of the hotels we stayed so far in Taiwan which were clean, however not very modern. I will definitely be staying here again if I were to come to Kaohsiung! This was booked on agoda.com as well!
Yang Ming Shan Tien Lai HotSprings- Yangming Shan Tien Lai Hotspring Resort [+- SGD $350 a night]
I booked this hotel on agoda (link) as they had specials which included buffet dinner! This Hot Spring resort has quite a few different hotsprings with different scents and themes! I enjoyed the outdoor hotsprings! There was indoor one, but i did not use that! There was also a sauna thingy- where u lie on heated stones! So Relaxing!! The room was simple but nice- consisting of an individual hot springs too! I would recommend that you have the Mongolian buffet dinner too! We sure stuffed ourselves that night after a day of nice relaxation in the hot springs!
Day 1: Taipei
First night we reached around 7 + pm, took a cab and checked in Cosmos Hotel Taipei. We then decided to just walk to the train station which had restaurants, food court, and little stalls selling all kinds of food! We ate some beef noodles at the food court but it wasn't too nice...
Day 2: Nantou- Sun Moon Lake
We departed for Taichung on the High Speed Rail at 10:30 and arrived in Taichung at 11: 19. We asked the information staff and on the counter, there is a list of all the timings for the high speed rail. We quickly grabbed some Sushi rolls from 7-11 and some snacks and we were on our way! We then took a bus from the Taichung station to Sun Moon Lake! The Taichung Bus station was on the ground floor had trouble finding it, but we asked the information desk so it was all fine. We got our Sun Moon Lake pass from the counter at the Bus station for NT$330. It included the round trip boat ride around Sun moon lake, the cable car, Bike rental etc. However, we regretted not getting the other pass which included entrance into Formosa village! Next time if you do want to go to the Formosa village get the pass which includes that! I think there were some which included Cingjing farm too. Check with them!
The bus ride took around an hour and it stopped us at the tourist centre which is walking distance from our hotel Spa Home! We left our luggage there as we couldn't check in yet and grab some lunch at this little store among the lane of little food restaurants! we ordered few simple dishes i.e: *lu rou fan* which was not too bad!
We then found the pier where we were going to start our boat tour around the beautiful island of Sun moon lake!! On the first stop, we got down, and got their famous Tea eggs from this little store sold by this granny. It was delicious! you would not miss it as everyone was lining up for it! There were performances by their tribal group and people were going to walk the trail, however as for Traveller J and I, we got our tea eggs and went back to the boat for our next stop! Not much around the first stop other than the tea eggs and the performances.
.jpg)
Our second stop was at Itashao! There were little shops just like at our area at Shuishe.. We got their aboriginal wild bore sausage which was good! We found a nice tea shop which was owned by this very nice man who had mentioned that his wife was the daughter of the head leaders tribe? Something like that.. And they had their own tea plantation as well! We did some tea tasting and ended up buying some nice Oolong tea as well as their black assam tea which is their main product in Sun moon lake!
We then ventured around some more and headed back to Shuishe and further explored the area around the beautiful lake! We wanted to cycle around, but got tired so we changed our minds. We went back to our hotel to check into our room! As mentioned previously, our room was awesome!! The views just sitting from our balcony was breathtaking! It was so relaxing to just sit outside, watch the sunset, watch people walk by and the boats going by!
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| Hotel Lobby |
Day 3: Sun Moon Lake - Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village
We woke up, had delicious breakfast at the hotel. It was simple yet really delicious!:P sorry for repeating but its true;)
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| View from the cable car |
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| Entrance to Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village |
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| Mini Theme park! |
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| Mine was supposed to be number 5, but 2 got shot over to number 4! |
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| Traveller J's is number 6! |
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| Bamboo Rice Set |
Overall, this village was nice- gives u an idea of their culture and all, and you get some entertainment as well from the theme park! There are quite a few restaurants in the area too! Food coupons are included when you purchase the tickets at the entrance!
As this was our last night at Sun moon lake, we ventured around the little town, enjoyed the views from our room some more and had a last meal at the place! Our last meal was an experience indeed!;O we were tired of wild boar meat already and decided to order chicken! Our chicken that came was so puny-it was actually abit freakish! Check out the two heads in the picture below!!!!!:O The food was alright. The vegetables and the tofu was quite good though.
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| Our meal |
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| Wierdly small bird/chicken-Spot the 2 heads! |
To end the night, we went back to the hotel lobby cafe, and got ourselves a cold beer and waffles for supper! Ahhh~~~!
Day 4: Cingjing Farm
We woke up earlier today, had our breakfast and got our luggage and went to the Shuishe Tourist Centre to wait for our driver for the day who we had arranged previously with Star Villa to take us to Cingjing area.(link) The name of our driver was: Mr Ho/ He shien shen (in mandarin-haha). You can contact him at: 0982-523-253 - Or you could just email Star Villa and they would arrange it for you! There was another passenger in the cab too, thus it was cheaper. The journey took around an hour and was really beautiful passing by the mountains! As Cingjing was on higher ground, it was cooler and the journey path was winding but still not too bad. The driver was kind enough to let us put our luggage at Star Villa and then took us to Cingjing farm AKA Evergreen Grasslands! Entrance fee was NT$200, then you gotta stamp your hands with some chops so you are able to go out and come back in again! The whole place smelt funky.. haha.. But what do you expect from a farm! But i just loved the sheeps! So cute! and so fun to feed them! There were some sheep that were pretty feisty and would barge other sheep out of the way when you tried to feed them! The air was very fresh and we had great weather that day! You can buy pellets in the vending machines around the area.
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| Evergreen Grassland |
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| Cute sheep! |
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| Showgrounds |
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| View from our Balcony at Star Villa |
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| Steamboat dinner! All the stuff were below the veg!haha |
---Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Taiwan Trip!---
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