Taiwan Day Trip 2013 Day 4,5,6,&7: Cing Jing

Day 1 and 2 itinerary can be found here.

Day 3 itinerary can be found here.

Today, we checked out at FX Hotel at 12pm and checked in at our next hotel, City Inn II. What can I say about City Inn II? Basically, it was really an awesome and homely stay there! (｡◕‿◕｡) What's so special about this hotel is that despite being a 3.5 star rated hotel in online forums, the service it provides is simply a 5 star one. In fact, it is rated the best hotel out of the 392 hotels in Taipei. Press here for more details. The receptionists never fail to greet the guests whenever they walked past them. Room service is quick and efficient too. Room is clean and spacious enough for the two of us to walk around. It also has a 24 hourly functioning laundry service! This means that you could wash your clothes, dry and then collect them at the laundry room located at the ground floor of the hotel anytime you want. Pat loves this service so much that she kept washing, drying and collecting our clothes every now and then. ó‿ó

Day 4 was meant for us to relax, especially after the previous hectic day. We roamed around Ximending and Shilin Market for supper. Day 5 started off with Pat and I visiting Taiwan's landmark skyscraper, Taipei 101. Then we took the train and alighted at 后山埤 station. Our plan was to visit Wufenpu to grab some cheap stuff and then buying supper at the nearby Raohe Night Market.

We didn't take much photos these few day because my camera was low in battery and we wanted to reserve the other battery pack for the next few days instead. (More photos for the next few days!)

On day 6, we checked out at City Inn II and made our way to the HSR station. We took the HSR train to 台中 and then transfer to a taxi in order to reach our final destination - 清境 (Cing Jing). That was our virgin experience of taking the high speed rail.

It was raining heavily (again) when we reached 清境. We stayed in Misty Villa, which is rated the best home stay in tripadvisor. Before we went, we did some homework and were aware of the flight of stairs that we had to overcome in order to reach our room. Climbing the flight of stairs do not seem to pose much of a problem to us. Carrying our 15kg luggage as we ascend and descend the stairs was. Pat told me she had a brilliant idea which was to unload our stuff and put them in our hand carries, which would lighten the weight of our luggage. True, why didn't I think of that? LOL. Just when we were preparing to embark on the climb, the boss told us to put down our stuff and offered to carry them up for us. We were so touched by his gesture. T.T Personally, I feel that Taiwanese people are really nice people! (He's not the first person to offer us help.) Thumbs up!

The next day, Pat and I decided to forgo the opportunity of catching the early sunrise. Instead, we slept our way till its time for breakfast before heading down to the various spots in 清境.

Firstly, we went to Swiss Garden, a very peaceful and beautiful garden. 

Pat posing for a picture

Flower A that we saw

Flower B that we saw

Flower C that we saw

Goose number one

Goose number one and goose number two

Duck swimming in the pond

Me purchasing the duck feed

Ended up feeding the geese

Setting self-timer and getting ready for our smiles

With the big LOVE word

We went to Carton King for our lunch! Most of the furniture in Carton King were made from corrugated paper. When I mention about furniture, I really meant the chairs, tables and even cup holders in the restaurant! Pat was so amazed by the paper products found in the souvenir shop and she started spending money on them. In short, Carton King is quite an interesting place to visit.

Carton King

Lunch at Carton King

Drink containers made from paperwood

Pat's loots - Bag and iPad holder (All made from corrugated paper)

 After lunch, we took the nantou public bus to 青青草原, which is the highlight of the 清境 trip! I couldn't believe how unlucky we were when there came a sudden downpour. It was quite inconvenient for us, especially since everyone was holding onto their umbrella and squeezing among the crowd. As a result of the heavy rain, it became very misty and we could hardly see from far. Such a pity!!! We didn't manage to watch the sheep shearing show as it was just too misty. Nor did we have the luck to see the flock of sheep running freely on the huge grassland. (╥﹏╥) Awhile later, the rain stopped and we were glad that we were able to catch a better view of the farm (at least).Actually I do have a video of me feeding the sheep, but I'm so lazy to post the video up here. So we shall make do with just photos. |◔◡◉|

See how misty this place is

This cute little sheep looking into my camera

Pat feeding the sheep

Satisfied from the treats? (｡◕‿◕｡)

Our loots from Cing Jing

See the two fluffy sheep hand phone straps on the left hand side of the photo? The furs are made from real sheep furs. Therefore, it's a little bit more expensive as compared to the other key chains that we bought. Nonetheless, it's still a very cute toy. Weeeheee~