Taiwan: Day twelve
Friday, May 21, 2010 at 10:04 AM

Today's itinerary:
Morning train from Yunlin to Taichung -> 新社 (千桦花园 -> 又见一炊烟 -> 薰衣草森林 -> 安妮公主花园 -> 幸福农庄 -> 阿亮香菇园) -> 一中街

It was too brief a stay in Yunlin, but much as we couldn't bear to leave coz' of the great hospitality from the grandparent-ish couple, we had no choice. So we gorged ourselves with more coffee & passionfruit jelly puddings T.T They were very nice, cut a very sweet and big pineapple to add to our breakfast spread, and even packed another freshly cut guava into our bags so that we can eat on our way to Taichung. *touched* I want to go back and visit the ah gong ah ma~~



Our hostel in Taichung.
Brace yourself, fellas.


2 single beds put tgt -- this is what the hostel called, a FOUR-man room.


What's that?
A hole in the bathroom ceiling, attempted to be covered with a metal tray of some sort, but failed miserably.

We were.... horrified, appalled, stunned, ...... The place seemed kinda run-down and spooky.
1. The doors were very thin, like those kind of wood that will smash to pieces if you give it a kungfu kick. Now I know what kind of doors they use in Bruce Lee and Donnie Yen's kungfu flicks.
2. Holey rooms. The bathroom hole in the ceiling wasn't the only one. The 4-man room had a holey wall, holey blanket...
3. And a doorless cupboard. Ok, at least my room had the doors still, albeit threatening to fall out anytime w/o even us tugging it.
4. Even YH hit her hands when she tried to clothe herself in the bathroom. This is how low the ceiling is.

But oh well, we were on budget, and this only cost less than SGD10 per person per nite. Can slp can liao lah. I think the hostel had a newer building somewhere else, but the boss gave us this one coz' it's more accessible.

Alright, we should just forget about the horrible rooms and move on.
Today we scheduled for someone to pick us up to go Lavender Cottage at Sinshe. Sinshe is a place that houses many flower gardens, farms, etc. Think nature =) The driver came to pick us up at a bus stop after our public bus trotted unsteadily and made us sick. Turned out that he would be our guide as well (I didn't know there would be a guide). And of coz', we followed his recommendations and let him bring us round Sinshe to other places as well.

1st stop:


Many pretty flowers here (duh, it's a garden) but I shall spare everyone the pics coz' there's just too many.

But we saw a duck! Ok, like we've never seen one b4... Somehow we were just excited to see one.


The guide next brought us to this restaurant which serves fine dining, and the menu changes with the ingredients available each day.



The interior is quite pretty and Japanese. Rather like a big mansion.


You can even dine by the pond!


Or take a shade somewhere in the front porch.


Finally, the reason for planning Taichung in our itinerary :)



YH found some self-justification here.


Ok, we'll walk slow (not that we haven't been haha).
But first, we need to cleanse ourselves.


不能说的秘密。。。就用写的。

Love the way they incorporate chalk boards into the themed garden. Nice art too.

Taichung is unbelievably hot (Hualien wasn't better off, the sun was scorching), best to indulge in a treat like this =]

Bandung and soap flavors ice-cream.
Ok, it's actually rose and lavender flavors (but Fang renamed them after tasting lol), and it's actually quite nice. Other flavors are great too!

Great sights along the way...

A pity the lavender fields were all drying/dried =\ We missed the full bloom by a couple of weeks.

累了不妨休息.


许愿树~ =D

Ironically the tree was fenced off so we could only hang our wishes on the fence. Alternatively, some people hung theirs on other trees nearby. Oh well, it's the gesture that counts rite? =]

On to another beautiful place.


According to the guide, 下一站幸福 came here for filming b4. At the restaurant I think. I'll watch the show and update everyone again if I see this place pop up =p



Cute little bird-houses (that's what I think they are anw) in the garden.


My new found partner.


All hail the sovereignty of NUSSU!


让幸福的钟声响起吧~

The number of times we sound the bell carries different meanings. Given that 6 of us took turns, we sure made a din that resounded through the vast piece of land.

Someone's heart very yang wor... ^^



Isn't this sign so cute? =D

Next stop:

No pics of the cute animals and mini farm plots (the fruits and crops weren't out anw). But according to the guide, it's something like Happy Farm or Farmsville on Facebook. Well, I didn't play so I can't say if it is.

B4 we headed down the hill for the day, we went to this mushroom farm. Dun think you guys are interested in pics of mushrooms growing out of the hosting stalk (whatever that is) =p But yeah, we saw alot of 'shrooms that were new to our eyes. The mushroom snacks and kimchi mushrooms are great =D

The guide offered to send us all the way back to Taichung city, since he would pass by on his way home too. Of coz', not for free lah. Still, it's a nice gesture lah. He dropped us at Yizhong St, which is somewhat like Ximenting -- a bustling shopping and food district. And this is where Cheryl went crazy on shopping lol.

As the day came to an end, we had to......
Retire to our lok kok hostel rooms and resign to our fates once more ='(

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Accommodation: 南北大饭店
Rating: 2.5/5.
Pros: Price wise it really beats all other places hands down. If you are not particular, as long as you can sleep, then this is a good option especially for budget travelers. The other building may not be as run-down, btw. It's very accessible too, near Taichung train station and several bus stops and bus terminal.
Cons: The room kind of carries a spooky feel to it due to the state it's in.

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幸福需要秘密收藏的。
有一天，如果你觉得自己很幸福，
请把幸福收藏起来吧！
因为只有懂得收藏才会懂得品味，
只有懂得品味才会总与幸福迎头碰到。

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