Taiwan Day 2 - 剑湖山世界主题乐园 (Jianhushan Fancy World)

06-Apr - Woke up to a beautiful morning being served breakfast homemade by the 民宿 owner. The breakfast was actually not bad and the portion is more than enough - 2 slices of bread complete with vegetables and egg, local pineapples as they are local produce and one big jug of milk tea!

Yummy breakfast served by the 民宿 owner!

The room we are staying in for 2 days - 望日

After finishing breakfast, it is time for the theme park! The owner has shared with us that we will get better discount rates if we buy our tickets at the park entrance as one of the day that week is Taiwan designated Children Day. She even drove us all the way to the park entrance and we can call her to fetch us back when we are done with the theme park. It is so nice of her. =)

剑湖山世界主题乐园 (Jianhushan Fancy World) entrance

 

Inside the park entrance

First stop: The Diving Machine!

So exciting!

The park iconic ferry wheel. I think it is bigger than the Singapore Flyer

Close up look at the wheel

A Viking theme section along the way to our second stop

which happened to be The Floorless Coaster

Nice scenery at the backyard of The Floorless Coaster, overlooking the 剑湖山 mountains

 

There are only 2 coasters in the park. After we had conquered them, it is time to explore other park sections

Next stop: The Viking section

 

Don't be fooled by the water stream coming out from the rocks. They are not stationary! Well I got some hits in the end

 

Choose the Tikis that will let your wishes come true

 

After you write your wishes, you hang them on a tree. =)

 

Walking along a suspension bridge. Too bad, the water section is closed for maintenance

 

Beautiful flower decorations

 

Not my cup of tea. The tower is available in the park. As usual, I gave it a skip. =p

 

The Vikings family

 

Flowers in full bloom as it is spring time

 

Another Viking decoration

The Rainbow Walkway - Showing the Flora and Fauna

Nice scenery near the coffee museum

 

Overview of the 剑湖山世界主题乐园

 

Mirrors galore

The ferry wheel at night

 

Light decoration in the park. Daytime is shorter as it is spring season

 

Lighted flowers and trees

 

Our 民宿 balcony where we can spend time star glazing if weather and environment permits

 

We certainly had a wonderful and fruitful day at the 剑湖山世界主题乐园. =)

Taiwan Day 1 part 2 - 华山咖啡大街

05 Apr - After dumping our luggage into our room, we still had some time to kill before the sun sets. With the help of the 民宿 owner, we called a cab to explore the 华山咖啡大街, which is the only attraction around the area. 华山 is a small hill located near to the 民宿 we are staying in which is renowned for their coffee plantations. After the coffee beans are harvested, some of it is sold to the local shops nearby, hence the origination of 华山咖啡大街, where coffee based products are being sold.

华山咖啡大街

The entrance to one of the many scenic walkway around the area

Interesting....Singapore Carpark?

 

Another attraction around 华山 are the two hanging bridges called 小天梯与情人桥. This attraction was recently built a few years ago by the local government. However, I totally under estimate the effort that I have to put in to get to the attractions. Never did I foresee that I have to climb a long walk path up the hill slope to reach my destination.

The long way up...

Base of 小天梯 after walking for about 30 minutes

小天梯

To reach 情人桥, you have to continue to climb up some more flights of stairs

情人桥, where only 2 people may pass at any one time

 

Passing the 情人桥, we continue our climb past the coffee plantations at the side in order to return to the main street.

 

Scenic view awaits us at the top of the hill

 

After the vigorous climb, we took a rest at this café when we returned to civilization

 

The coffee café entrance

 

Complete with a mini garden =)

Nice yummy dessert to reward us for the exercise earlier. Well... all slimming efforts down the drain =p

 

After we are done touring the 华山咖啡大街, we returned to 望民宿 to join up with the 民宿 owner who has kindly volunteered to bring us to the local night market. It was indeed an eye-opener to see so many food and activities concentrated in an area!

 

Taiwan Day 1 part 1 - Journey to 望民宿

05 Apr - A trip wholly planned by me from the start till the end. I didn't expect that planning can be so challenging. For just about 1+ weeks worth of holiday, it took me about 3 weeks of researching to come out with the itinerary. I am really glad that most of the journey went smoothly and we enjoyed our special holiday. =)

Took a morning flight out of Singapore. Weather was fine with pretty clouds floating by...

But the food kind of needs improvement. Can't complain much though, it is budget flight after all.

Landed safely at Taoyuan International Airport

 

We quickly pick up our luggage and off we go to take a public bus to Taipei City. It is easier to navigate the airport now as signs are being put up everywhere to direct tourist on where to go. Next destination: Taipei bus station to transfer to a normal train bound for 斗六.

3 hours ride from 台北 to 斗六 with no seats. It certainly reminds us of our Tokyo to Hokkaido train ride in Japan in 2012.....

By right, foreigners are allowed to book ticket seats for the train ride on their website. But..no matter how I tried, the system just don't allow me to book the seats. End up we have to stand for almost the whole journey. =(

Train zooming by green fields of rice paddy

After a long ride, finally we arrived at our destination! But this isn't over yet...To get to our 民宿, we have to make our way to 剑湖山主题乐园 via another public bus....

which was luckily located near to the train station!

 

Upon reaching our destination stop, I had to call the 民宿 owner to come and pick us up. As it was still early, the room is not ready yet. The kind owner dropped us along the way to have our lunch.

Nice signboard, but the food is just average. =p

 

By late afternoon, we finally arrived at our 望民宿!

 

with a beautiful garden done up by the owner

 

And complete with a swing! =)