Dec Holidays Relflection: Brrr....Taiwan's cold!⛄️

My holidays was mainly going for tuition and staying at home doing stuff. However, my family did go to Taiwan this year from 19-27 December. As we do not often go overseas, and it is our first time going to Taiwan, plus we spent a lot of time preparing beforehand for the trip, I think I will remember this trip for a long time to come.

Day 1(19 Dec 2014)
My family (my younger sister, mum, dad, and aunt) reached Changi Airport at 6am and took the 7.10am Jetstar flight T1 3K721 to Taipei(台北). It was supposed to be a 4h 30min trip, but due to some delays, we reached the Taoyuan Airport(桃园机场) at 12.40pm instead of 12pm as planned. There we met up with our guide cum driver,(小曾) where he drove us 1h to Yilan(宜兰).
On the way,we stopped at a highway rest stop to eat lunch at the food court. The first place we went to was the Lanyang Museum(兰阳博物馆).

The exhibits were about different parts of Yilan, and were phrased in different time periods. It was interesting to see how Yilan was in the past. Afterwards, our guide brought us to "Jun" to eat dinner. 

[The sun sets SUPER early there! I thought it was 8pm when it was actually 5.30pm!😦] The food there was delicious. The theme of the shop was in the 90s. There were old movie posters all over the walls, and souvenirs of the past were all over the place. 

After dinner at 9pm we headed to "Jane's Castle", the theme which is based on Disney castles.

After we got settled in [actually the kids watched television while the adults got things settled😅], my mother asked me to check the fridge downstairs. I was surprised to find a chocolate cake in the fridge. My mother told me that the cake was pre-ordered by the owner of the home stay/motel, and it was to celebrate my 13th birthday. Since we couldn't finish the cake, we gave some to the people running the motel, to say thanks.

Day 2(20 Dec 2014)
After breakfast, we departed at 9am for Toucheng Farm(头城休闲农场). On the way, we visited the National Center for Traditional Arts(传统艺术中心). We watched a Chinese Orchestra performance, a street show and a Chinese Opera. 

We also went to the closed-down Jhulin Station(竹林车站). It has become a tourist attraction. We ate at some shops nearby.

At 3pm, we reached the farm. The farm was packed with many families and some under-grads.  There is a lake with a small raft for people to paddle on, hammocks strung across trees for rest, and a bubble basin with many handmade bubble wands for children. Me and my sister played with the bubble basin while the adults went to register us in.

Once we were registered, we had to lug our luggages up 5 flights of stairs, as there was no elevator in the farm. My aunt nearly twisted her wrist, trying to carry a heavy luggage all by herself. The room was very cramped; we barely had space to put the luggages, and the beds were rock-hard. The floor was actually more comfortable to sleep on. I had cramps in my back the next day from sleeping in the "beds", while my aunt was full of energy from sleeping on the floor.[She insisted on sleeping on the floor. UNFAIR!😤] 

There were many activities organized for the guests. We made our own pizzas that were baked in clay ovens

and made a BIG paper sky lantern, which we let loose. We put down our wishes on the sky lantern.

Also, for dinner we had a Korean-styled BBQ buffet, in honor of some Korean students on a school overseas trip.[Can't say I liked it😑]

Day 3(21 Dec 2014)
After breakfast the next day, with all the food made from poultry and vegetables grown in their farm, we went to see the farm's gardens and animals.

After that, we tried making our own rice cake using a traditional stone mill. It was my first time using it, so I had trouble using it. [Watching an elderly man do it with ease while I struggled is really embarrassing!😓]

We ate lunch, then learnt how to make fruit vinegar using fruits we plucked from the farm. We brought some back for our extended family.  It was 3pm by the time we left Toucheng Farm.

We reached the Hotel Bayview(七星潭渡假饭店) at around 6.45pm[I thought it was 9pm by then😦] Once we were settled in, our guide brought us to the Zhi Qiang market(自强夜市) to eat dinner, 

and to Hualien(石艺大街)to watch a free cultural performance, which lasted from 7.30pm-8.30pm. It was enriching to learn about the different tribes in Taiwan.[My sister fell asleep during the performance. LOL😋]

Day 4(22 Dec 2014)
We had an early breakfast, then went to the beach next to the hotel. The beach was filled with stones of different shapes, colors, and sizes.

We departed for Hualien, Taroko Gorge at 10am in the morning. On the way, we visited some tourist sites (清水断崖，长春祠，燕子口，九曲洞，慈母桥，天祥，碧绿神木，大禹岭，合欢山，武岭)

At about 4pm, we reached the Star Villa(清境民宿), and said goodbye to Xiao Zhen(小曾).  His trip with us ended here.  We were at 3000 feet above sea level which means it was really cold especially in winter. First time experiencing beds equipped with a built-in heater. We rested for a while before catching the sunset. Unfortunately, we were too late and only saw the orange sky. We had a steamboat dinner with the people running the villa, and went to explore the surroundings.

At 9pm in the night, we went to the upper deck to glaze the stars. The person running the program showed us the different constellations in the sky, and told us all about the different stars which appeared in different seasons. It was the first time I had seen so many stars as Singapore's sky is always very cloudy, and we were so much closer to the sky in the mountain. We also caught 3 shooting stars. The person told us we were very lucky to have caught so many shooting stars. [I only saw one of them,SO SAD!😂 ]

Day 5(23 Dec 2014) 
After breakfast, we took the hotel's shuttle bus to the CingJing Grassland.

We watched the Horse Show which was at 10.45am. After that we had lunch at a local eatery which sold good roasted chicken, and then we visited the Swiss Garden.

Once we got back to the villa, we packed our bags while my mum booked a taxi to Taichung train station. At 3pm we said our goodbyes to the friends we made there, and got into the taxi. It took us about 2h to get to Taichung HSR, and another 1h to get to Taipei via the speed train HSR 716.

By the time we got to "Cosmo Hotel" in Taipei, it was 7pm. We ate dinner at a Sichuan restaurant in Ximending before heading back to the hotel.

[Cosmo Hotel is my favourite hotel, because we FINALLY get to settle down in one nice hotel without moving from one to the next. YAHOO!😆]

Day 6(24 Dec 2014)
After breakfast[The FIRST WESTERN BUFFET BREAKFAST I HAVE HAD IN TAIWAN😝], we took the train to Jingnan Station, and a shuttle bus to Liu Fu Chun,(六福村) which took about 1h 30min. Maybe because the only theme parks I have ever been to is USS and HK Disneyland, but it was SO FUN! I had a blast riding the thrill rides there[The rest of my family were too chicken to try, and my dad was bored after a while, so I rode them myself😕]. A parade started at 1.30pm in the Wild West Zone.

At 4pm the rides started to close, so we took the train to Zhong Xiao Fu Xing Station, and had dinner at a Hello Kitty-themed restaurant. [All the food were Hello Kitty-shaped] I liked this day the best.

Day 7(25 Dec 2014)
After breakfast, we took a taxi to Yehliu, Jiufen and Shi Fen, which is in the outskirt of Taipei. 

Day 8(26 Dec 2014)
After breakfast, we went to the Taipei Historical Museum. We were able to learn about a lot of ancient artifacts.[Seriously, it was awesome😄]  My dad rented an audio tour headset for me and my sister, we both enjoyed the entire tour and were sorry when we were told it was time to head to our next destination.

At 3pm, we went to the newly-opened theme park. It was not as big as Liu Fu Chun, but it was still fun.

At 5pm, we took the free shuttle bus to Shilin MRT for dinner in a nearby shophouse. After that, we went to the Taipei Eye to watch a Chinese Opera show, "Journey to the West:The Gold-Coin Leapord"(西游记:金钱豹). The stunts performed by the actors were really cool, as they did not use stun wires.  

Day 9(27 Dec 2014)
After breakfast, we went to Xinmending City Mall. My mum and aunt went to the clothes department, while me, my father and my sister went to the toy department[That's the only interesting place in the mall😕]. After purchases, we ate lunch in a nearby restaurant and went back to the hotel to get ready to depart for the airport. At 2.30pm, we reached the Taoyuan Airport. We board the Scoot flight TZ201 at 3.45pm, but due to delays we only took off at 5.30pm and reached home at about 10pm.

All in all, this trip was very educational and amazingly fun. I'm glad that I was able to spend it with my family. I hope that there'll be more trips like this.