Day 5 was a day which I was looking forward to since we had planned to visit a number of attractions which I was very interested in. But this time instead of travelling around on public transport, we booked a cab for a whole day to travel around Taichung! The perks of booking a cab was that it was more time efficient and we were able to visit attractions that were only accessible by private transport. However, the exorbitant cab fee had to be split between the two of us! It's more advisable to travel in groups in Taiwan as you can save a lot on transport.
We compared the rates of a few cab companies and decided on Utaxi. They quoted us NT3000(~SGD124.56) for a 4-seater cab, 4 attractions in 8 hours(toll fee, parking fee, petrol cost and insurance cost covered inside). Our cab driver brought us to a few famous stops along the way as well!
Here is the website: http://www.utaxi.com.tw/
Before starting on our adventure we asked the cab uncle to stop by 7-eleven and we grabbed some oden for brekky to eat along the ride! We can have oden every single day yums! :D
First stop was Xinshe Castle(新社古堡). We bought the tickets for NT250(~SGD10.38) each. It comes with a NT100 voucher which you can use to offset any purchases made.
Castle overlooking a huge lake!
Greeneries.
Near to the entrance there's this machine that sells packs of fish food for NT10 each.
Fishes attracted by our fish pellets.
Mini waterfall.
Sheltered benches on the other side.
Apparently the black swans were also attracted by fish food!
Then the mandarin ducks came along too~
Pretty place with sunlight very suitable for taking photos!
Taichung's little secret garden haha!
Purple flowers in bloom~
Café inside Xinshe Castle.
Next our cab driver drove us to a mushroom farm along the way! Xinshe area is famous for mushrooms and it's common to see mushroom farms here and there along stretches of roads. You can even spot restaurants specialized in mushroom hotpots!
They have so many different types of mushrooms!
We were allowed to go inside and explore the mushroom farm. They even allow mushrooms plucking for a certain fee!
They even have exotic mushroom ice cream at NT35! I wonder how it tastes like, should have bought one. :(
Tickets to Lavender Cottage. Think it cost us NT200 each, with NT100 voucher. Request for a driver who drives safely if you are visiting Lavender Cottage since the road up can be quite windy.
Entrance to the cottage!
With the giant mascot teddy bear outside! <3
Cuteness overload!
The front of the cottage looks like this. It's actually a souvenir place inside!
Pretty (fake) lavender.
You can buy a postcard and send it back home for free! Just drop it inside this miniature cottage-like mailbox!
More souvenirs up the slope. The lavender products had smell that were so addictive we couldn't resist buying some for friends and ourselves! :x
Beautiful postcards.
Handmade soaps.
This lavender dream bottle has a little story behind it. Although I didn't listen attentively to the story but I could feel the warmth and bliss from the place itself. I bought the bottle for one of my friends with the hope that she will be able to fulfill her dreams one day. :)
Flowers were blooming near the summer season.
Yet another souvenir shop. Don't rush to buy at the start since there are about 3 souvenir shops along the way!
They even sell chilli paste.
The handmade soaps smell really good, just a tad expensive.
Descriptions of the uses of different herbs and flowers.
Then there was a cosy room with pretty purple bedsheets!
And a kitchen just opposite.
Dreamlike~
Pictures hanging on the wall.
Tiny pink flowers.
Another gigantic teddy bear!!
While LTT was in the washroom I skipped away to find this.
I can have lavender ice cream too!! It's damn yummy, very milky with a tinge of lavender in it. But LTT didn't like it, she said food with the smell of flowers just taste weird. So buy this only if you don't mind tasting flowers in your food, they have many other flavours as well though!
Fairytale-like carousel! :D
Farmers planting lavenders on the hill slopes. It's a pity we weren't able to see the lavenders in bloom at the time though.
To be continued! Chase the Monday blues away~
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