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Monday, 27 November 2017

Family Taiwan Trip - Day 1

Welcome to Taiwan!!!

One of my favourite Asia country to visit. It's a land filled with beautiful landscape, passionate folks and yummy food.

The last time I went to Taiwan was in 2009 when we had our wedding photoshoot. Those were the carefree (and slim) days which I still have fond memories of. So when my sister-in-law suggested bringing my in-laws together to Taiwan, we thought it was a good idea to bring our princess to experience the Taiwanese culture.

The planning started early February for our visit in June. As the trip involves the elderly and the young(s), necessary steps need to be taken to ensure everyone is well looked after. It certainly took a lot of time and effort to get things organised and booked (flight, accommodation, transport, activities etc). We even have family meetings to discuss about it. Everything was going accordingly to plan. The only thing to do is to sit back, relax and enjoy the holidays!


Departure Day
Singapore Changi Airport - Taoyuan International Airport - Cingjing Guest House

We took the early morning flight on our national carrier. While the adults were still in dream mode, the princess woke up in jest and raring to go! Yawnzzzzzzzzz.........

Let's go!

The princess holds a bad record for taxi ride - she gets carsick easily and throw up most of the time. So Mummy is always on standby with a plastic bag in hand. However, the ride to the airport was smooth as we booked ourselves a Maxi-cab! This is our first time riding on a Maxi and so we arrived at the airport safely with no merlion episode.


The Tan kampong

So excited!

Singapore Airlines - what a great way to fly ~~~~~~~~~
Onboard the A330
Thank you Singapore Airlines for the children giveaways

Breakfast time!

Child Meal which was requested in advance

My oriental selection of braised duck with egg noodles

 
After our inflight meal, it was time to surprise my sister-in-law! I've ordered a birthday cake from the airline in advance and everyone was informed except the birthday girl.
The Chief Steward approached my sister-in-law and family claiming that there was an issue with clearing immigration in Singapore. So he informed us that the whole family may need to return back to Singapore upon arrival in Taipei. Bummer! What a start to our holidays! He then asked for everyone to gather in the galley to discuss in details. Ahhhhhhh ~~~~~ That was my cue that the birthday surprise was in action. I could see the panic in my sister-in-law's eyes and the "ok I know what this is about" from my brother-in-law's expression.

And this was what greeted us in the galley


SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!
Ta-da!!!!! Happy Birthday, Sis! I could see her relief when she realised the "immigration issue" was just a prank and her smile makes it all worthwhile.

A memorable birthday with the crew

As we were travelling in a group which consisted of the young and elderly, we decided to engage the chartered car service.  In Taiwan, they called it 包车. The hired car which comes with a driver will be at your disposal for 8-10 hours. You can plan your itinerary with the driver and make stops along the way to your liking, as long as the stops are "along the way".

Advantages
  • No timing issues - checking of schedule to catch the next bus/train or transfers
  • Travel in peace - can rest/sleep in the car without worrying about missing your stop
  • Luggage - no need to worry about lugging from point to point
  • Stopover - make frequent stops to your liking
Disadvantages
  • Cost - It's not exactly cheap eh!
  • Carsick - only applicable to my princess
Clearly, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. As the chartered car will be at your disposal for 8-10 hours, we only engaged this service when we needed to travel long distances. On days where travelling was relatively easy or within the city, we will rely on public transport.

So before the trip, we have already informed the taxi company of our flight schedules, places of interest to visit and our accommodation details.

From my knowledge, there is a 8-seater vehicle available. As our group consists of 9 passengers, we had to hire 2 separate vehicles instead. As Taiwan has very strict rules on car safety - all passengers (including a child) need to occupy a seat with seatbelts fastened at all times. No child is allowed to sit on adult's lap.

Upon arrival at Taoyuan International Airport, the drivers were on standby at the arrival hall. After collecting our pocket wifi router, we proceeded to our respective cars to make our way to Cingjing.


The exhausted princess


Our drivers recommended this lookout point called 后龙好望角 (Houlong The Cape) in Miaoli. According to the driver, we can expect to see giant windmill at a good vantage point.


Giant windmill

The tree got its shape from the constant strong wind



 We then made a quick pit stop nearby for our toilet break and stocked up our drinks.







Then we made our way up Cingjing mountain. We were told that the winding roads up Cingjing is not going to be an easy one. As the princess (and sometimes me too!) is prone to carsickness, we need to be well prepared. So I bought these - you wear these on your wrists pressing on a certain acupoint to prevent carsickness. It works most of the time. However, there are also times when the ride proves too much for the princess. Well, at least we manage to reduce the potential damage.




We stopped at the halfway point at Cingjing for dinner. The place we visited - Ah Dong Roast Chicken was highly recommended on a lot of travel blogs. They are famous for roasting the chicken in urns which produces chicken with crispy skin and tender meat. Actually, there are a lot of such roast chicken restaurants at Cingjing area.


Finally dinner ~~~~~

The urns that roast the chicken

Check out the chicken oil that drip to the bottom!

Sour plum drink - can help to counter the oil from the food

Our 2 drivers who worked hard throughout the day

Stir fried cabbage. Simple yet delicious!

Crispy tiny shrimps

Ostrich meat

Bamboo shoots

Prawn balls with mayonnaise

Stir fried mushrooms - my fav!

The chicken fresh from the urn!

Wild roast pork

Golden Tofu

Shan Shu Vegetable (山苏菜 ) An exotic Taiwanese fern

You will be given gloves to "tear" the chicken apart yourself.
Our driver has kindly offered to do it for us.

Pork ribs with Dang gui soup

No idea what fish this is

Excellent service - one scoop soup, the other tear chicken.

Look at our feast (and happy faces!)

 
It was dark by the time we finished dinner. After a 10 minutes drive, We FINALLY checked in to Cingjing Guest House at 8.30pm, way past our expected arrival time of 7pm. There are many minsu accommodation available at Cingjing. Cingjing Guest House was chosen due to its proximity to amenities (7-11, Starbucks etc) and the room rate includes entrance fees to Green Green Grassland (青青草原) and Small Swiss Garden (小瑞士花園).

We booked ourselves the double bed room. If you are looking for elaborate furnishings or posh settings, then this is not the right place for you. The room is very basic but clean. There is no air-con in the room - only a portable fan is provided. The windows are fitted with netted grilles so that they can be opened in a way where cool air enters but not any insects (not including mosquitoes). As Cingjing is in a mountainous area, mosquito repellent/patch/coil is highly recommended here.



Our room

Basic amenities



After settling in, we went to the 7-11 which is just across the road. So convenient right? It was a cool 20 Celsius at night.








After purchasing some snacks and drinks, we went back to our room to rest for the night.

What a long day we had! Looking forward to a day of fun at Green Green Grassland tomorrow!





                                                                                               Family Taiwan Trip - Day 2  ---->

 

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