Taiwan 2013 - Misty Villa Cingjing

There is no option to book this Misty Villa Cinging other than making it through their own website. Check out their website for more information. Booking of the room is via their website. After the booking, they would send an email to lead us through the payment.. It is through the completion of a visa form with your credit card details and then emailing them back. Thus, I guess some might feel uncomfortable to book through such system. Do consider it carefully.

However, the service at this Villa was great. They would advise and recommend activities to do during your stay there. 

Direction:

We took the Nantou Bus at Taichung Station which is located at the basement just at Exit 5. For more information on the bus, do check out this website for more information. To reach the villa, please alight off at "Guo Min house stay/國民賓館"and 5 mins by walk on "Rong Guang New Village/榮光新村", you will see us on your right hand side

We booked the standard room 2F and total cost is NT2520 come with breakfast only. The breakfast was a simple buffet where you have try authentic Taiwanese snacks. There is no lift at all, thus, do not bring big luggage there unless you want to lug up the stairs! 

There is no aircon in the room, but well, there is no need for that. The weather at Cingjing is really cooling. You would rather prefer a heater instead. Good thing about the place, there is a 'heater mat' under the bedsheet. You can on it if you really feel cold and would want to have a good rest at night. In the room itself, there is a water point that disperse both hot and cold water. What a good way, we do not have to boil our own water! For this room, there is a balcony - I like. You can just go out and view the place (well, we are up on a slope) - very nice scene there! See the stars, well, you can at night, but bear with the coldness!

Misty Villa

Address:
Misty Villa (雲濛仙境)

南投縣仁愛鄉大同村榮光巷9號

Taiwan 2013 - Day 8 - Cingjing Farm, Taipei

Walking up as early as 2am was not really a very desirable thing to do during a tour - but well,  all for the sunrise, I really thought it was worth the sacrifice and trouble. 

It was really cold in the wee hours and on our mini van, there was another Singaporean young couple. Off we went together with the driver up to Hehuanshan. The driver told us that it would be well below 0 degree when we reached the top for the sunrise view. Good thing about his service was that he had prepared winter thick jacket for us. Thank you so much as our basic jacket would not be able to take the cold for us. 

First, he dropped us off at the convenience store to grab some drink and snacks. Then off we went to a dark pitch place where we dropped off and looked at the starry starry sky!. Then the journey up was a little long that we fell asleep. The next moment when we woke up, we had reached the pitstop for the sunrise. It was still a little early and thus, we sat in the van as we did not want to be out in the cold. But time came and off we went to the viewing platform. Good sunrise for the trip - totally loved it. Here's some of my captures:

Hehuanshan, 合歡山 - Sunrise tour

After the sunrise, we went back to Misty Villa for breakfast - a very simple buffet spread but it was good enough. Took a quite rest in the room and off we went back to Small Swiss Garden (really wanted to make full use of the time at Cingjing). The view in the day and at night was totally different. While there was new lightings at night, the Small Swiss Garden in the day seems so calming and relaxing. 

Small Swiss Garden, 小瑞士花園

We checked out at 11am and rushed to take the 11:10 Nantou bus back to Taichung HSR. Though the timetable stated 11:10, we waited for quite some time. So my take was, please be there early, just in case though you might have to wait - we did not want to take the chance as we had prebooked the HSR tickets. Our trip back to Taipei was smooth-sailing and back to CityInn Plus hotel at Ximending area. After checking in, and resting, we decided to head to Shilin Night Market (士林夜市) for Dinner. Eating street food has been a routine for us. Loved it!

At Shilin Night Market (Jiantan MRT), remember to try the 豪大大鸡排 and 卤肉饭. But well, like I always say, try whatever you think you want to try - my liking may not be yours! At this market, I bought 2 pairs of shoes - wooah... at NT390 for each pair and well, I am still wearing them now!

Shilin Night Market, 士林夜市

Taiwan 2013 - Day 7 - Cingjing Farm

Start of day 7 was spent on travelling again. From Zuoying Station, we travelled to Taichung Station (高鐵台中站) to take a Nantou bus to Cingjing Farm (清境農場). Like I mentioned before, we pre-ordered our train tickets online and collected them via the machine at the station - it is really a fast and convenient way for tourist.  

When you reached Taichung Station, get to the basement and look for a ‘Nantou Bus’ counter inside the station, just beside the exit 5. There, you would be able to buy the bus tickets to Cingjing Farm. We bought the return tickets that came with some perks and well, it was cheaper in that sense. There are actually timings for the buses and some buses only brings you to Puli Station. Do opt for the direct bus to Cingjing farm though it will also stop at Puli Station to pick up other passengers. Do be clear and check out this website for more information. We took the 10:20 bus and managed to reach Cinjing Farm area at 12 plus. Do check with your mingsu on the location to be dropped off. There are quite a number of stops in which the bus will drop off the passengers. 

As we stayed at  Misty Villa (雲濛仙境), we were advised to alight at "Guo Min house stay/國民賓館". Thereafter, it was a 5 mins walk (up slope) along "Rong Guang New Village/榮光新村". Misty villa is located on the right. A very nice villa with very nice host. It was not the time to check in and thus, we left our luggage at the counter. The coutner lady, Ms Chen recommended some of the attractions and showed us a map. She was very attentive and was able to give good advice, introducing us to places according to our liking. There, we booked the sunrise trip to Hehuanshan (合歡山) from her. That cost NT400 per pax. 

Then, off we went to the Green Green Grassland (青青草原). There is shuttle bus services that brings us from the Cingjing Carpark to the Grassland on Weekends only. If not, I reckon the walk to be half an hour. There was not much direction and we decided to take the bus. As there was still time, we went to 7-11 to grab a bite - there, I had the instant noodle, with a tea leaf egg and a drink. It was not an expensive meal but the hot noodle brought warmth to us. The temperature at Cingjing was drastically different from that at Kaoshiung. It was cooler and was around 15 degrees. Travel time for the shuttle bus to reach Grassland is about 10 minutes and the fare is NT$20. However, this was included in the return tickets package that we bought earlier on. It was only a one-way ticket but that was fine as we were able to walk back to our minsu from the Grassland.

It was great to spend the afternoon at Green Green Grassland. A very relaxing day with sheeps to keep you company. After the entertaining sheep shearing show, some of the sheeps were left free to roam around the grass patch. It was time to take some memorable photos with them. While strolling back to Misty Villa, we encountered beautiful sunset -  something we did not expect. Nice calming view.

Green Green Grassland

As we reached back Misty Villa, we did the check in and rested for a while. Next up in the itinerary was DINNER. We were also advised by Ms Chen to visit the Small Swiss Garden (小瑞士花園) after 7pm. In this way, we would be able to see the nightview of the garden tonight and the morning view of it tomorrow morning. Wasn't that helpful of her, ensuring that we see both views of the garden. Thumbs up.

After the musical water show at Small Swiss Garden, we proceeded next door to Carton King Creativity Park ( 紙箱王創意園區). It is a creative park where almost everything is made of corrugated cardboard - from the ceilings, the floor, the furniture to everything! We had our dinner at the restaurant where we sat on cardboard, dined on cardboard!. Lucky us, we heard that there were shortage of water after we ordered our food and the restaurant had to deny entry for other customers. Phew!

We ordered the pork rib set and a seafood hotpot -  nice hotpot for the cool weather. We even drank our drink from a carton box. Well, there was a cup inside but I guessed they wanted to showcase their cardboard legacy. The good thing about ordering drink was that, you can bring back the cardboard (asked the waiter to dismantle') and it could be a good souvenir to bring home - it can be converted to a piggy bank!

Alright, back to the food, I quite liked them. I guessed the set was pretty well-thought - Each set comes with a cup of olive rice, soup, vegetables and dessert. They are priced pretty reasonably between NT$200 to NT$360 and I think there was a minimum purchase. Do check this out again if you plan to eat there. 

Carton King Creativity Park 紙箱王創意園區

Okay, time for a good rest after the dinner as we had to wake up super early for the sunrise tour that starts at 3am!

Address:
Misty Villa (雲濛仙境)

南投縣仁愛鄉大同村榮光巷9號