If you missed out any of the previous posts, here are the links:
Day 1 Part 1 (Singapore Changi Airport - Taoyuan International Airport)
Day 1 Part 2: (Yongkang Street 永康街 - Taipei 101 台北101 - Shihlin Night Market 士林夜市)
Day 2 Part 1: (Four Seas Soy Bean King 四海豆漿大王 - Goose Meat Shop 鴨肉扁 - Ximending 西門町)
Day 2 Part 2: (Raohe Night Market 饒河觀光夜市)
Day 3: (Taipei Breeze Centre 微風廣場 - Guang Hua Digital Plaza 光華商場 - Ximending 西门町)
Day 4: (Jiufen 九份 - Shifen 十份 - Jingtong Mining Town 菁桐老街 - Raohe Night Market 饒河觀光夜市)
Day 5: (Bafang Yunji 八方雲集 - Uncle Tetsu's Cheesecake 現做起司蛋糕 - Snake Alley 華西街夜市 - Shilin Night Market 士林夜市)
Day 6: (Banqiao 板橋 - Ximending 西門町)
Day 7: (Taipei 台北 - Taichung 台中 - Cityinn Hotel Plus Taichung Station Branch 新驛旅店台中車站店 - Yizhong Street 一中街)
Day 8 Part 1: (Carton King 紙箱王 - Moncoeur 心之防庭)
Day 8 Part 2: (Lavender Cottage 薰衣草森林 - Zhong She Flower Market 中社花市)
Day 9 Part 1: (Old English Manor 老英格蘭 - Small Swiss Garden 清境小瑞士花園 - Cingjing Farm 清境農場)
We ended the last post at the beautiful Cingjing Farm which was swarming with hungry sheep! A great place for your kids.
It was about 1-2pm by that time, so our driver Xiao Pang Ge 小胖哥 took us for lunch. I don't think we were that famished, so I can only say that the food was really good!
 |
| This location is pretty unknown, so you would definitely need a driver to take you here. |
 |
| The special oven that they roast their very amazing chicken in! |
 |
| 高山高麗菜 - Gao Li Vegetable, a certain vegetable that they have growing in the mountains which has a perfectly crisp yet fresh tasting texture. Good news for the kids out there like me, who only like the leafy parts - it is all leafy! |
 |
| 炒香菇 Stir-Fried Mushrooms - very fragrant and delicious! |
 |
| The very famous 窯仔雞 roast chicken from A Dong! They only use free range mountain chickens of a certain size, which had the freedom to run around and excercise their muscles, making the meat of the chicken extra tender and juicy. Chickens used are only between 120-130 days old, which ensures the meat is not too old and dry, and not too young that it has not much muscle development. Their special roasting technique together with their secret marinade makes this chicken an exceptional dish to enjoy. The bowl on the side contains the chicken drippings from roasting which some of you may want to dip the chicken pieces in. |
Look at our very happy and cute driver Xiao Pang Ge who professionally tore apart our delicious roast chicken! YUM!
 |
| 炒山豬肉 Stir-Fried Mountain Pork Meat - so tender and juicy! Everything tastes better when its free range and up in the mountains. |
 |
| Tables are covered with a plastic covering which are changed every time there are new customers - hygiene check! Also, you get a great view from up in the mountains looking down at the green valleys. In the cold winter air, this was just amazing! |
My verdict? Chances are if you end up here, your Taichung driver took you here. Otherwise, you can check with your driver if he will be bringing you here for lunch if you are in the Cingjing area. The food was just so amazing and delicious.
阿東窯仔雞 A Dong's Roast Chicken
No. 52 Xinyi Alley, 546, Taiwan, Nantou County, Ren’ai Township | 信義巷52號(仁愛國中對面)
Phone:+886 4 9280 2217 | Website: http://www.adong.tw/index.php
No Opening Hours Available online.
 |
| Here's a picture of the shop owners' very adorable cat who was nice and snug under its very fluffy blanket and bed. |
 |
| On the way to our next destination, Xiao Pang Ge stopped us here and told us about the sad history of this place. Many of the Aboriginals were killed here on this mountainous cliff when the area was being urbanised. |
After lunch it was time for some dessert, and what better way to enjoy ice cream than support their local brands?
 |
| This place was packed with locals and is famous for its homemade chocolates and ice cream. I'm not much of a chocolate person, but ice cream - definitely yes! |
 |
| How it works here: Pick Options 1-4 (Small cup, small cone, big cup, big cone), pay first, then choose your flavours. You even get to try the flavours here (which is awesome for the first time visitor with fickle or picky tastebuds) |
 |
| Ice cold ice cream on a freezing cold day - plus points! |
 |
| That is the crazy queue for ice cream in the background! You can tell the locals are crazy for this! |
My verdict? Initially the plan was to come here, because there weren't many other places to go, and I didn't want to shortchange ourselves by visiting less sites because there was nothing. Seeing reviews on this place, I told Xiao Pang Ge that I wanted to come here. It wasn't a bad choice, but my family is personally not that into chocolates, and ice cream would have been a better choice if we were not so full from such delicious roast chicken earlier.
Feeling 18 Degree Chocolate Factory 18度C巧克力工房
No.20, Ci’en St., Puli Township, Nantou County 545, Taiwan | 545 南投縣埔里鎮慈恩街20號
Telephone：+886-49-2984863 | Website: http://www.feeling18c.com/en/company_01.php
Opening Hours: 10am - 10pm
This was honestly the last stop I told Xiao Pang Ge to take us to. Seeing how we had such little activities planned for today, he asked if we wanted to make a few more stops. "Sure!" we were all excited to explore more areas anyway! He said, "Okay, let's go to Puli Winery!"
Truthfully, none of us were that keen, since none of us drink. He said however that this was one of the oldest factories of the area that helped the town to thrive. It was now a visitor's attraction for its history! There was even a huge fire that burnt their huge metal fermenting machine (that is on display).
 |
| GIANT BOTTLES OF ALCOHOL - keep the alcoholics away! |
 |
| If you can find it in your heart to forgive me for this terrible photo which has my finger covering the bottom left part of this photo, you'll see that this is the huge metal thing that was destroyed in the huge fire. |
 |
| One of those traditional shaped blown-up jars of wine. |
 |
| Wine God: Dukang |
 |
| Puli Winery is famous for its Shaoxing Wine, one of the 10 most famous liquors from China, that is commonly used in Chinese cooking nowadays. Puli Winery's Shaoxing Wine is made from spring water, which makes it taste naturally sweet. If you're not into drinking wine like that, there are other products which you can buy such as Shao-xing rice cakes, ice bars, tea eggs, candies, and even instant noodles. |
Puli Winery 埔里酒廠
No.219, Zhongshan 3rd Rd., Puli Township, Nantou County 545, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Telephone: +886-49-2901649 | Opening Hours: 0830-1700 (Mon-Fri), 0830-1800 (Sat-Sun)
Our last stop was a surprise from Xiao Pang Ge, and honestly we were all so dead tired in the car ride there that we mostly slept. It turned out to be one of the most fun, and interesting places to take photos at of the day.
Telephone: +886-49-2901649 | Opening Hours: 0830-1700 (Mon-Fri), 0830-1800 (Sat-Sun)
Our last stop was a surprise from Xiao Pang Ge, and honestly we were all so dead tired in the car ride there that we mostly slept. It turned out to be one of the most fun, and interesting places to take photos at of the day.
 |
| GIANT TEDDY BEAR! If you stood next to it, you'll only be half its height. |
 |
| A play on America's Mount Rushmore - can you recognise the various faces? |
 |
| The key idea of this place is to use humour to encourage the possibility of peace around the world - with these two billboards (for North and South Korea) and the "Mount Rushmore" replicate! |
 |
| How cool would Hitler be if he knew kungfu? Probably a whole lot scarier I believe! |
 |
| A large fairytale-like castle for all your kiddy fantasies - in the castle itself, they sell some souvenirs and snacks which are local products that also make good gifts to buy home! |
 |
| We truly had so much fun taking photos everywhere, along with the throngs of people that were snapping photos all over this place. |
King Garden 大黑松小倆口, 埔里元首館
No. 219, Section 4, Zhongshan Rd, Puli Township, Nantou County, Taiwan 545
Telephone: +886 4 9291 8668 | Operating Hours: 9am-5pm (Mon-Fri), 9am-5.30pm (Sat-Sun)
Thereafter, it was time to head back to Taipei for our flight back to Singapore in the wee hours of the morning. Technically, we could have gone to the airport from Taichung. But due to the lack of research on my part, we left our luggage in Taipei, and already had a cab booked from the Taipei hotel heading to the airport.
 |
| Train tickets back to Taipei! We booked these when we booked our train tickets to Taichung, just to ensure we would definitely have seats back on this train which had the best timing for us. |
 |
| The only place left open this late at night - New York Bagels Cafe which my sis raved about being so awesome the last time she was here in Taiwan. |
 |
| Really substantial portions of very delicious Western food which filled our cold and hungry tummies. |
 |
| I ended my Taiwan trip with the classic Mango Beer - yum! One of the things I miss from Taiwan. |
One word of warning folks, don't take a weird-timing for a flight back home - ever (which is especially the case for budget airlines). Unless you're one of those people who have no problems falling asleep on planes. Otherwise its just plain torture hanging around outside waiting for the flight, then struggling with fatigue but not being able to sleep on a plane, followed by days (I MEAN DAYS) of having to cope with leftover exhaustion.
And we have finally arrived at the end of my Taiwan posts! Whew, that took long, I'm sorry.
Finally we can move off from Taiwan and head into Beijing which was my next holiday in July 2015.
Till the next post,
Fly Safe and Eat Happy,
V
P.S. If you have any queries or opinions, do keep me informed!
