Day 4-taichung,Cing jing farm

Day 4

After we dao bao our complimentary breakfast provided by the tomato room, we went to catch the early shuttle bus. There was a shuttle bus from feng chia university to taichung HSR station. The bus stop was at the opposite side of the big mac. I took the bus at 0745 and reached the HSR at 0810. The bus was the same size as the alishan bus. This shuttle bus is free of charge!!

At the taichung HSR station, there was one corner for nan tou bus(南投）. We bought the ticket package for the sun moon lake which includes boat ride(one way from Ita shao to shui she or vice versa),cable car ride (return),lake surrounding bus and discount coupon for bicycle. This only cost 299nt which was a great deal, so we bought it first. The validity is until end of the year so we do not have to worry that we need to use it on the day we bought it.

Then we bought the bus tickets from taichung HSR station to Cing Jing farm. There were 2 different ways to get from taichung to cing jing farm. One of the option is a direct bus from taichung HSR via puli to cing jing farm, the other is to go to puli and transfer to cing jing farm. We took the first option as it was more direct and save some time to transfer to different bus. The ticket cost 242nt for single trip and the journey takes around 2.5hrs.

We reached song gang(松岗） bus stop at around 11 plus and went to search for a public phone to call the minsu boss. (FYI, it was quite hard to find a public phone at the farm) Luckily, there was  a kind uncle coming out from his restaurant to help us to call. But when he took out his phone, he saw the minsu's boss's wife driving out to drop her customers. So we called her to wait for us and quickly board her car. The minsu was quite far from the bus stop. The minsu boss was very kind to offer free shuttle from the bus stop to minsu and minsu to other attraction places.

                                                                    At the minsu

                                                         Nice view outside the minsu

We went to qing qing cao yuan(青青草原）and we entered from the east entrance. We used the youth card to purchase the tickets at discounted price 80nt instead of 100nt.

                                              Music castle-no music inside,only souvenir shop

                                           But, there are cute sheep outside the castle!!

One of the fun activities to do in the farm was to feed the sheep. So I bought a box of grass pellet at 10nt and start feeeeeding!!!

Then lunch was settled at a hawker area beside the green green grassland. The fruits were really sweet and we tried the pears. It was really big!!

Then we entered the goat,cow,horse section and then went down the stairs(步步高升）which has 499 steps. We went down to the visitor centre, lavender cottage then to the carton king and swiss garden.

                                                     Lavender cottage(products made from lavender)

                                                      Carton king(things made from paper)

                                              Small swiss garden(90nt for entrance tix)

                                           Some cute ornaments sold in carton king
Small incident happened at the farm: We thought that there were more varieties of the souvenir at the visitor centre but we were wrong. The sheep magnets are only sold in the farm, so we wanted to take a public bus back to the entrance again. But we were too late for the bus and while we were sitting at the bus stop, we were approached by a kind driver who offered to help us to go up at 200nt. We did not hesitate to take up the offer as we really want to buy the souvenirs.
The driver was 林志强（小黑），no：0921-340000，0983-350000
email add:mrblack2611@yahoo.com.tw
He also covers hua lien, he huan shan, sun moon lake. He was quite nice as he helped us alot so I wanted to 'advertise' for him here. Haha..

So we bought the souvenirs and the minsu boss came to fetch us back. Time for the popular steamboat prepared by the minsu boss and boss's wife.

                                          Best dinner for the whole of taiwan trip
Time to sleep....and snacks time(potato chip bought from 7-11 was really good!!)7-11 was just outside the carton king..