Taiwan Trip 2010 (Day 4)

Taichung -> Cingjing Farm

   Since I could not sleep well and I did not feel like reading my book, I have decided to continue on what I have left off years ago. That is, to write about my trip to Taiwan. Anyway, I should get this started.

   The fourth day was spent in the mountain near the Hehuanshan Range. Cingjing Farm is a ranch that is also opened to tourists. It is surrounded by the beautiful mountains in central Taiwan. It is also located in Nantou County, the only landlocked county in Taiwan.

   Soon after we got up, we took a morning bus in the Central Bus Terminal in Taichung. The bus took about 2 hours from Taichung to Cingjing Farm. The bus went south toward Puli, a small town in Nantou County that is known for its rice wine brewery, artistic paper, rice, and clean water running from the mountains. After departing Puli, the bus started to go up across the Central Mountains, broke down for about half an hour, and we finally arrived Cingjing Farm safely.

   What is unique about Cingjing Farm is that it is very tourisy. It does have Alps-like scenery, and many European styles guesthouses were built to accommodate the tourists' dream of being in the Alps. It is also a theme park with things such as sheep farm, horse riding, souvenir stores, Yunnan style restaurants, and plenty of hikes. It is probably more suitable for romantic trips than backpacking adventurers but we were only coming for the scenery and the fresh mountain air. Oh well...

   We checked into the guesthouse and finally we got to stay in a spacious room, after the three previous nights in the compact rooms in the chaotic, but exciting city.

Our guesthouse. It is very well-kept and clean

    After we dropped off our stuff in our guesthouse, we ventured out and first started the mountain touring in a place called Green Green Grassland (青青草原). The morning rain has stopped by the time we reached there, but the paths were still very wet. Green Green Grassland is actually a touring farm that has rolling grass for sheep grazing, hikes to look at the Hehuanshan range, and souvenir stores that sell sheep milk candies from the milk of the local farms. From here, pictures would tell better stories so I am posting a few photos here.

Inside Green Green Grassland, overlooking Hehuanshan

 

More pictures

More pictures

Castle-themed guesthouse

The view is just magical

Breathtaking image.

Sheep grazing but it was inaccessible for close looks

I wished I had attempted to paint this

Still inside Green Green Farm

Sorry, no sheep exhibition today.

Bee on lavender

Depress-looking pony that made me feel sad, perhaps her back hurts or she is too tired?

Ice cream made of sheep milk

    We snacked ourselves with ice cream made with sheep milk, then found walked up to a staircase that leads to a bronze statue of the ex-President (aka dictator Chiang Kai-Shek). I heard there were used to be his statues everywhere in Taiwan. Many Taiwanese disliked him for his implementation of martial laws between the 50's and 80's and the sanction of the mainland. But politics isn't that point of this blog so I'll hush.

Statue of thet ever-controversial Chiang Kai-Shek on the top of the ladder. Perhaps he is over looking Taiwan from above?

Part of the 355-steps inside the clouds (literally)

    We continued to walk down slope toward our guesthouse through a system of staircase and wooden path. The path was very foggy and cool but I felt very comfortable. There was a 355-step staircase that made me think about the most-played song from the band Led Zeppelin. Fortunately we were walking down so it was a Staircase to Hell (pun intended). We stopped by the souvenir stores but there was not much to see or to shop for.

    Originally, we planned to grab a dinner in a Yunnan style that the guesthouse

keeper recommended, but we lingered for too long and the restaurant was already closed down. Instead we went to a shopping arcade in the dark through

Biohazard/Resident Evil like pathway but it was built for visitors' safety from automobiles

the pathway (above) and had some mediocre meal. It was a lost cause but at least we filled up our stomach. We bought couple cans of Taiwan Beer to drink inside our room, along with peanuts to snack with. And this time, I was able to drank about half a can of beer before I felt tipsy and fell asleep (for those who know me, I have a low enough tolerance toward alcohol that people would not believe).

Another set dinner.

Part of the mediocre dinner