Sunrise

We woke up early (5 plus to 6 am) to try to see sunrise again from our balcony in Misty Villa but again, we still see nothing despite braving the cold air. The sky had already brightened but we did not see anything akin to a nice egg yolk. Oh well, I think we were  just not fated to see it during this entire trip as we would be heading to Taipei City soon.

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Cingjing Farm 清境農場

1) Green Green Grassland 青青草原

After we had our buffet breakfast, the home stay’s owner got us three seats on a small van and together with two other guests, the driver took us to the Cingjing Farm. He gave us instructions to return back using the 499-steps stairway later and walk along the sidewalk to reach the homestay. After stamping ourselves on the hand with the cute rubber stamp, we went into the Green Green Grassland, the first part of the farm and was greeted with the beautiful scenery. It was around 9.15am and the sun shone very brightly. We didn’t feel the heat yet however so we still kept our coats on.

We soon caught sight of the fake castle at the side while those who entered with us just kept walking ahead. We decided to explore that area first and walked down the slope. A sheep was standing there at the end of the path and we exclaimed in excitement, “A sheeeeep! Look, Dar!” (Can’t blame us for being like a frog in the well as it was the first time we see a sheep so close and freely roaming around by itself)

We wanted to touch it but was worried. A moment of hesitation and it walked away. We then tried to chase after it but gave up when it went too far. Later, we read from a sign that we are not supposed to “chase” the sheep. Oops!

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Buying the Sheep Feed

We moved on to the castle and found many sheep there in a pen. They were all eagerly putting their heads through the fences and trying to get food from us. Dar was a bit awed as they were almost as tall and some even bigger than him. One or two sheep even supported themselves so they were half-out of the pen. We were quite shocked over their aggressiveness, but we knew they were harmless so we decided to purchase the sheep feed to feed them.

Vin was not informed by the staff to catch the large amount of feed with a paper bag and once he deposited the coins, the machine churned out the feeds which just fell all over the ground. I had to help pick them up. The grounds were also littered with a lot of fallen feeds.

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Feeding the Sheep

As we fed the sheep, we also tried touching them. Our first time ever! Their wool was rough but still felt nice to touch. Dar bravely fed them and laughed when he felt their saliva on his hands. We then took turns feeding different sheep, taking care to feed even those who were oppressed by the aggressive ones.

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After that, we climbed up the castle to the top to look at the surrounding scenery and just enjoyed the breeze for a while. We left soon after and walking along the path, it got hotter and hotter so we had to stop and pack away our coats. The scenery was nice and we kept taking nice shots of ourselves. It was really a unique place as the surroundings seemed as if we were in a Western country and not in Taiwan, Asia.

Soon, we reached a place where there was an amphitheater for the sheep-shearing show and washed our hands at the washroom there. The show is only available during weekends and we were not regretful for missing it as coming on a weekday here would mean less people and thus, we could slowly stroll and take pictures without other people in our background. This was why we specially arranged all the visiting of scenic places on weekdays and also why we had been able to take nice photographs with no ‘walking backdrops’. Weekends would certainly be filled with bus-loads of tourists from tour groups.

We saw two horses and a pony being offered for a ride around the amphitheater for a small fee. I was tempted to take them as I had not been on a horse before but was worried that Dar might not like it. Hence, we gave it up and just went back to the grassland up there to look at the sheep.

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Feeding Sheep which were roaming freely

There were a few sheep grazing and moving about freely while a few ladies gathered around them. We joined them and tried to woo a sheep over with the feed so we could take a picture with it. We asked Dar to feed the sheep but this time, he was scared of it because it was not fenced up and at his height, they looked huge to him.

He did try feeding one but quickly ran away when the sheep aggressively tried to get more from him and followed him. This was really a wonderful opportunity to get so close to the sheep which we might not have in the future so I asked him to try touching the sheep while I fed it. We want him to get in touch with nature and animals always so he can see and feel for himself instead of just reading about them from books.

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Heading to watch the horse skill show

The horse skill show was about to start soon on a scheduled timing (10.30 am) at the third part of the Cingjing Farm and it was already 10.10 am. Thus, we exited the Green Green Grassland to the second part of the farm which had shops selling local produce and small stalls selling food. Vin bought a sausage to eat again while walking and shared some bits with us. We saw a bee shop on the way selling honey and had many bees flying over some containers just in front of the entrance. We did not dare go near.

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Horse Skill Show

Soon we settled ourselves near the front and centre of the amphitheater to wait for the show and was rewarded when the host introduced that they had specially invited a team from Russia to perform today. The lead stuntman had performed several dangerous acts in major movies and was rather accomplished. He and his team showed several difficult skills with the horses such as standing on top, turning upside down, getting on and off the horse and even forming a pyramid on the horses while the horses were running fast. Everyone in the audience couldn’t tear their eyes off the amazing feats performed one after another and both Vin and I agreed that the brown and white horse were the best performers.

When the show ended, they allowed us to buy packs of carrot treats for the horses to feed them. We love feeding animals and were the first to go up to the horse to feed it. After that, many people also stepped in to feed the horses.

It was such a wonderful experiences for three of us being so close to the horses and feeding them. Dar loves feeding and touching them and was not afraid at all.

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3) Walking Trail 步步高升 [ This place is not in use anymore from checking online ]

*Note: People use the Qingjing Skywalk now to walk and enjoy the surrounding rolling hills scenery. It was built after our visit so we have not tried that yet.

After the horse skill show, we walked the staircase named “步步高升” which means the higher you go, the better you would be in terms of career or life. There were nice cherry trees along the path and even a butterfly garden along the steps mid-way but we were in a rush or would have enjoyed ourselves more by strolling. However, when we reached the end of the steps after 20-30 min, it was still a long way back to our home stay so we called the driver to fetch our luggage for us and come down to meet us at the mid-point where there was a clinic. We quickly took his taxi to 7-eleven to get some bread and drinks so we could eat on the taxi.

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[ Breakfast ]

Misty Villa, 雲濛仙境

We had our buffet breakfast here which is a restaurant managed by the home stay owner. It faced a nice scenery and the food had several items to choose from. I still love their porridge a lot which even when eaten plain was delicious. Fed Dar and myself as usual with porridge topped with some condiments, scrambled eggs, sausages, hash brown and ham. Chinese veggies were also available probably to serve with the porridge. Drinks were tea, coffee, orange juice, passion fruit juice and soya milk.

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Taiwan 30Oct – 6Nov 2012: Day 4 Nantou / Taipei Itinerary

• Cingjing Farm Green Green Grassland
• Taichung HSR to Taipei HSR
• Shin Shih Hotel
• Miramar Entertainment Park
• Shilin Night Market

Read More on Taiwan Itinerary 2012: 8-day Taiwan Itinerary (Chiayi, Taipei, Hualien, Nantou)

Read our Summary Itinerary Post for Taiwan Nov 2018 Yilan | Taipei : 5-Day Taiwan Trip Itinerary: Nature and Fun