Ahjumma..... Fighting!: Family Taiwan Trip

Cingjing Farm (Green Green Grassland - Carton King - Small Swiss Garden - Lavender Cottage)

What's the best thing to waking up on top of a mountain? FRESH AIR!!! Deep inhale.......

The room was pretty comfortable even though we were "downgraded" to a queen bed (we have a King bed at home). I expected the room to be stuffy and hot without air-con but it was ok as we opened the windows at night.

After a good night sleep, we headed off to the buffet breakfast which was included in the room rate. This is after all a minsu, so please do not expect a 5-star service and spread.

Breakfast was acceptable to my standards. The dining area was clean and food was kept warm by the warmers. The food was mainly Chinese selection. There was toast available though.

You are expected to clear your used tableware and cutlery to the garbage bin provided as there is no service staff available to do so.

Not much to rave about, nothing to complain either. Simple yet adequate.

The dining hall

The super organised garbage cart

Stoned look at breakfast

Group photo at dining hall. Didn't realise our unplanned yet coordinated
yellow outfits

After breakfast, we started to make our way to Green Green Grassland. We didn't hire the chartered car for today as we were just exploring the Cingjing vicinity which I believe we should be able to survive via public transport.

The bus stop was just a 5 mins walk from Cingjing Guest House.

Bus stop sign

There are 2 entrances to Green Green Grassland (North or South Booth). The bus will bring you to both entrances.

Our plan was to enter the grassland from North entrance (with the white castle landmark), explore the area on our own (skipping the sheep shearing and horse-riding shows) and take one of the trail down to Cingjing Guest House, have lunch at Carton King and visit Small Swiss Garden.

Super hot day!

We collected the entrance tickets to Green Green Grassland from the minsu reception as part of the room rate. Tickets can be purchased at the entrance (just behind the gate from above picture). Prices are correct as at June 2017. One Day ticket includes three parks entrance of Green Green Grasslands, Guanshan Pastoral Area and Shoushan Park (Nature Theater).

Do remember to get one of your hand stamped to indicate proof of purchase of entrance tickets.

Link to website - Cingjing Farm

Gentle reminders at entrance

On a hot sunny day, this rock remained amazingly cool to the touch

Mehhhhhhh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can buy feeds from dispenser machines located everywhere.
Do use a plastic bag to collect the feed that will spill out
after you insert the coin

My nephew feeding the sheep.
They gobbled the food pretty fast, so get your camera ready!

Isn't this view stunning?

We walked towards The Sheep Castle hoping to find more sheep but there was none there! Where are they hiding? Argh~~~~ There is a souvenir shop in the castle (with aircon!) that you can take a break from the scorching sun.

Sheep Castle

Inside the souvenir shop, there are various stamps that you can use (free of charge). Do bring a small notepad for the little one for their stamping activity. Else you can purchase from the shop.

Having fun stamping her "travelogue"

Goat Milk Ice Cream
Nobody in the group dare to try.

From the Sheep Castle, we walked towards The Sheep Show Stage and proceeded towards the South entrance for our pit stop. Exit the park and you can see many stalls selling local street food and drinks.

Let's take 5!

After our quick break, we took the slope up from the seated area. At the end of the slope, there are restrooms available. There is also a shop that sells honey (you won't miss it as there are bees swarming around). From there, you should be able to see Guanshan Ticket Booth. As the One Day ticket includes entrance to Guanshan Area, there is no need to purchase another ticket. Just show the stamp on your hand (stamped upon your entry earlier) to the attendant to gain access.

From the seated area, take the slope up

At the end of the slope, you can see a shop selling honey.

Just follow the Guanshan Trail where you can see a giant windmill. Follow the signs to connect to the 487-steps (步步高升) trail. From the trail name, you can expect steps. Lot of steps. Wear comfortable walking shoes. There are seats along the steps if you need to take a break.

As the chinese words suggest, you are supposed to walk up step-by-step to "rise higher". Well, I don't think my knees can take the uphill task. Or I may end up with medicated plaster all over my body at night. So we reversed the way and chose to descend. Who says we cannot rise higher this way? Haha.

487-Step Trail
Start of our descent

We did the 800m trek down in about 30mins. It was quite an easy walk down. You just have to take it slow, enjoy the view and fresh air and take each step with caution. After all, it's the journey that matters, not the destination.

At the end of the trail, follow the path which will lead you to Travel Service Center. There are clean toilets, souvenir shop, shops selling fresh local produce and a game arcade. Follow the road further down and you will be able to see Small Swiss Garden - you can find Carton King and 7-11 there also.

We had lunch at Carton King Cingjing. Every items were made from carton! So interesting! The restaurant is located on the second floor while the shop selling merchandise is on the ground floor.

The food selection is adequate - you can choose either the western set or the hot pot set. All set meals come with a drink.
For the hot pot set, you can choose the meat and soup base that you like. My choice was pork slices in Hokkaido milk base. For my drink, I chose the honey tea. The food was surprisingly good for a themed restaurant as I always thought such setup will place the least priority on food quality.

All meals come with a drink
This cup holder is yours to bring home as a
coin bank - just remove the cup and straw!

Half herb-roasted spring chicken.

Pan fried chicken

Cutlery holder for kids! So cute right?

Happy Meal which consists of nuggets, sausages and fries

My Hot Pot choice - Seafood and pork slices in Hokkaido Milk Soup Base

More stamping fun!

After lunch, we visited the Small Swiss Garden which was next to Carton King. Known as "Taiwan Little Switzerland", this relatively small garden can be covered in less than 2 hours. It was drizzling when we were there. So we just took a quick tour of the place. There are plenty of Instagram-worthy photo opportunities for you here. So go ahead and snap away! There is also a fountain show that takes place hourly. Nothing fanciful like the Bellagio fountain show but I reckon it will be nicer to see it at night.

The admission ticket is valid for the whole day. If you are coming back at night to see the fountain show, do remember to get a stamp on your hand upon exit.

Entrance of Small Swiss Garden

Feeding the pigeons in the rain

A good spot for wedding proposal?

As it was drizzling, we went back to our room to take a rest before heading out for dinner at Cingjing Recreation Centre which is 5mins from our minsu. The Recreation Centre is like the main shopping area in Cingjing. There are restaurants, café (Starbucks and 50嵐 aka Koi bubble tea), snacks/fast food shops (Mos Burger), convenience store (7-11) and some souvenir shops.

We had a simple meal of Taiwanese food and bubble tea, did some shopping and went back to pack our luggage as we are leaving Cingjing the next day for Sun Moon Lake.

夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏

My pork chops rice set with bubble tea

There is a shop worth mentioning at the Recreation Centre - Lavender Cottage. Friends who know me know I'm such a big fan of lavender. So naturally I was excited and looking forward to visit this shop. The story of two ladies leaving the corporate world to pursue their dreams enticed me even further. The shop did not disappoint me - it sells various lavender products, even ice cream! I bought the lavender infused camomile tea which never fails to calm me down whenever I'm having insomnia.