<<回台湾走走2011>> - Misty Villa, Cing Jing

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Monday, 16th May 2001

So there we were, after 2 nights at the comfort of HQ's house in Taichung, we were ready to embark on the next chapter of our > trip. The next 5 nights would see us off to southern Taiwan where Kaohsiung, Tainan and Kenting are located. En-route, we would be stopping by at the historical town of Heng Chun where the popular movie, Cape No. 7 was filmed. Since none of us had travelled this far out, we were certainly looking forward to the new travel experiences.

Our driver picked us up from Taichung at 8.30am today. From there, it was a rough 2-hour drive up the winding road towards Mount He Huan. Located at more than 3,000m above sea level, it was bitterly cold and windy by the time we reached at around 10.30am. The misty skies affected our visibility so much so that we decided to abandon our initial plans to the summit. From the onset, the skies and weather were clearly not in our favour. Regrettably, we had no idea how majestic Mount He Huan looked like even after this trip.

Continuing our journey towards Cing Jing Farm, we were greeted by the intermittent rains that turned into occasional downpours. With sheep grazing over the vast, crisp grasslands, I’m sure this would present a different sight if only the skies were clearer. We managed to comb nearly one-third of the farm before deciding to call it a day in the afternoon.

By 2pm, it was time to check into our lovely homestay at Misty Villa. For reviews, you could probably read all the details here.

While the rains made travelling within Cing Jing difficult and dampened our travel plans, we were fortunate to spend more time indoors at the comfort of our lovely bedrooms. A sumptuous 6-course dinner which was included as part of our room package was served at 630 in the evening. Despite the cool weather, we were certainly touched by the warm reception we received at Misty Villa. To round up our evening, we proceeded to the Starbucks Café for some coffee and sweets after dinner.

While many Taiwanese had lamented that Cing Jing was an absolute tourist trap, we certainly had a different set of opinions. Hailing from the tropics with no distinct 4 seasons, we definitely appreciate the cool 18 Degrees Celsius that the mountain retreat had to offer. Breathtaking scenery aside, the 4 of us were able to forge a stronger bond between our friendships even with conflicting personalities and aspirations for this trip.

Our travel plans were dampened but our spirits were certainly not!

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Comments

[Jonathan Kang]

Taiwan Itinerary
Dear Budokan, I am planning a trip to taiwan in jan 2013, and was quite interested in the places you have posted. I will be delighted if you could send your itinerary and costing to my email and share it with me. Sincerely appreciate your help in advance. Thank you! Regards, Jonathan Kang