Sunday 7 July 2013

20130608 Taiwan Day 7 - Cingjing Sheep Farm

The next day, we had breakfast at Starry House.  As it was the lunar first day of the month, the owner arranged for po po to have vegetarian breakfast so her bread came without the bacon that the rest of us have.  She also had extra vegetables.  Good service!
 
A view from the courtyard of Starry House.  Doesn't it remind you of some beautiful beach resort? :P



Popo eating her breakfast at the restaurant close to Starry House


Me and mommy eating our breakfast


Charlie, yy and si yiyi eating their breakfast
The night before, we had made arrangements with our next minsu.  Their staff would come and collect our luggage while the owner of Starry House would arrange for a driver to bring us direct to the Cingjing Sheep Farm.

We thought that it would be  a cold and windy day (from our previous day's experience) and dressed the kids in warm clothing.  Oh boy, were we badly mistaken.



Me with the zebra.  The zebra has flowers on his body.  Anyway, a real zebra does not have grass on its body.
Cingjing Sheep Farm turned out to be a hilly area stretched over a large area.  We had to walk quite a distance from the entrance to the sheep show and po po gave up and chose to sit under a tree instead.

The rest of us sat in the seats in the show area (they closed the gates to area even before the show started but being thick skin, we climbed in :P) but there was no shelter and it was a cloudless sunny day with hardly any wind.

Halfway during the show, Charlie could not take it anymore and nearly fainted and Si yiyi had to carry her out of the show area to sit under a tree.  After a while, yy said that he felt uncomfortable too and went for the same tree. 

After the show ended, gong gong, mommy and K went to look for the three of them and we went in search of po po who was happily sitting under a tree (with a good view of the show below LOL!)

The people on the show shaving the sheep. I did not know that instead of using a scissor to cut off the wool, we can also use the razor to shave the sheep.

Mommy went back to the shop to buy many cold drinks and also ice cream made of sheep's milk and cow's milk.

Me from the sheep show and I have to climb way, way, way high to get away from the staircase.  How long.
We rested for a long time under the tree, taking the time to enjoy the scenery and the ice cream.  Si yi yi does not like the ice cream made of sheep's milk though.

The whole family under the tree.  Anyway, during the sheep show, Charlie has a heatstroke so we went under a tree to wake up Charlie.


Me with the house and the houses have sheeps and it is a rubbish house.



Me with my ice cream.  There are two flavors.  The flavors : sheep and cow. 
The kids regained their energy after a while and started to pose for photos.


Me, Charlie, yy and si yiyi under the big tree



Me and Charlie



Me and mommy on the rocks


Me and popo sitting on the rocks
After that, we went back to the shop near to the entrance and bought souvenirs.  Popo and gong gong also tried out the piping hot sheep's soup (yang rou tang) as they were hungry.  There was a very limited choice of food there (like, 2 choices?).

Me in front of the fence.  Behind the fence is a beautiful garden and behind the beautiful garden is ....people!


There were vending machines all around the place selling pre-packed sheep food and the kids had a wild time feeding the sheeps.

Me feeding a sheep.  The sheep is so cute!






Me with a funny fluffy cotton wool with a face.  The sheep is not real.

After that, the kids started to get hungry and we bough the only other food option there - hot dog.  The hot dog was fried in dough and the dough was so hard (perhaps it was fried many times?) that it was impossible to bite.

Me with the lamb that Charlie was feeding just now.


Me with the sheep.  The signboard will show the time for the next show.
It was only after we had started walking that we realized that the whole area was huge!  All in all, we walked at least three hours before we reached our next minsu.

There was a 'hawker center' after the 'sheep area' and we went for lunch.  There were many stalls selling fried food and fruits.

Me with a bigger windmill and on the way we found some windmills but this is bigger.
To our horror, there was one part which we had to go down 487 flights of steps!!!! There was an alternative, a windy slope which the staff said was a longer route, but we decided to take the stairs as we had no idea how much longer was the slope.

When we were going down, we saw some tourists coming from the opposite direction - climbing up 487 flights of steps! Mommy really pitied them!

And of course we had to take photos at the end to prove that we went down 487 flights of stairs.  Po po's toes even cramped halfway!

mommy put the circle around the 487.  It's not me! Me, Charlie and yy on the floor with the 487 in the white oval.

 
Gong gong with the upside down 487.  The shape is a rectangle!


Popo with the upside down 487.  The shape is a star!

After the stairs, we had to walk along a road for another half an hour or so before we reached this junction where we saw a 7-11 (yeah civilization).  To our relief, our next minsu was across the road, though we had to walk uphill to reach it.  Again, no lift (played scary music)!

The owner of this minsu, Misty minsu, told us beforehand to call them so that they could use the buggy to fetch the old folks, but we walked up to the reception instead.  As the rooms are on the hillside, they arranged for the buggy to send the old folks, Charlie and K to the rooms while the rest of us took the stairs.  It could be due to the thinner air in the mountains but those flight of stairs took mommy's breath away (not in the good way).

Me in my new hotel room.  Popo is already sleeping and there is one bed with one pillow and another bed with two pillows.


Po po decided not to go for the hehuanshan sunrise tour the next day as she was very tired and Mommy whatsapps and email to cancel the activity.  To her surprise, the staff called back, and when requested, offered to drop by later to return the deposit! Kudos for good service!

After a nap, we went to the nearby Carton Box for dinner. Everything there was made of carton, including the tables, chairs and cups!

We all at the Carton King restaurant.  Everything is made of paper but not the cup and the food.  How funny.


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Me with the paper cow



Me with the paper man fishing on a boat


Me pretending to be Santa Claus riding on a white reindeer

After that, we went to the Swiss Garden which was next door.  We had bought two adult tickets from the owner of Misty Villa but there was an ongoing promotion which allowed us to get free tickets after spending a minimum amount at Carton King.

We were also told that we could come back to Swiss Garden the next day as we entered the place a night.  Bet our local tourist spots are not like this!


Me doing my star jump



Showtime for their musical fountain



Me in the Cinderella pumpkin and in the story of Cinderella, her fairy godmother changed the pumpkin into a coach and she changed the mice into horses


Me and Charlie in the pumpkin coach.  The pumpkin is like this - so I know that the carriage is turning back into a pumpkin and the horses are going to change back to mice!
After that, we went back to the minsu and zzzzz ......

2 comments:

chingyi said...

Hello!
Chance upon your blog.
Wanted to ask which minsu stay was better?
Misty Villa or Starry?
Like in terms of its view and comfort too.

Thank you!

average Joan said...

Hi sorry, did not see your comment till now (Have been too busy to maintain the blog).

Starry is higher up, but not near to any amenities. So if you prefer to be nearer to amenities, Misty Villa will be better (10min walk to 7-11, the garden etc).

But both are far from the Cingjing farm.