Taiwan #3 - The Heart of Asia: Cingjing, Nantou

Day 4

Continuing the blog posts (1 & 2) of previous trip to Taiwan last March. On Day 4, we went up to Cingjing. Cingjing is located at the Renai township of Nantou county in central Taiwan. With altitude of 1750m above the sea, the average temperature in Cingjing ranges from 5 degrees - 20 degrees, depending on which month you are visiting. Opened since 1961, the whole area consists of multiple tourist attractions. Our first stop is Small Swiss Garden. It's called "Taiwan's Little Switzerland" and "Paradise in the Mist" due to its Northern European influenced landscapes & ambience.

With Mum at the entrance of the garden

One of many flowers planted

Dad & Aunty Susie dancing to the Hokkien folk song

After lunch, we went up to the most popular attraction of the place, called "Green Green Grassland". This wide grassy plain spreads over hills with herds of sheep grazing on the land. The view was simply breathtaking, overlooking mountains with distinct cooling air. One look, you will be mistakenly thinking you're in New Zealand. There's sheep shearing show, with sheep shearers hired from New Zealand hairdressing those furry animals. With a Mandarin speaking Kiwi as host of the show, you will be amused with his funny antics with the sheeps. By this time, cool mists came out of nowhere & covered the whole place & it was rather cold by then.



Nope. This is not the land of Lord of the Rings but this is the land of Acer & Jay Chou

Good weather allowing us to have beautiful view of the mountains beneath the clouds

How not to love these cute animals

Our next stop was for an afternoon tea session in Old England Manor hotel. This English themed mansion is definitely majestic sight to behold & a must-visit place if you're in Cingjing. It's hard not to be impressed with the detailed architecture & interiors in the hotel. I felt as though I was transported back in time to the days of old England. The Victorian style afternoon tea was served with a 3 tier tower, consists of scones, sandwiches, deserts & a pot of Earl Grey tea. Me being a pastries lover, this is simply heaven & you just want the time to stop right there. Most of pastries are great, being freshly made from the kitchen.

To be or not to be, that is the question. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?

English mansion

Afternoon tea. This is heavenly sent for a pastry lover

We checked into this Shangri-La Hanging Garden rest house (no relations to the Shangri-La hotel chain). The warn hue, decoration of the bouquets & romantic music from the lobby creates an elegant & comfortable ambiance.

The exterior of the hotel

Temperature outside hotel but my record showed its 9 degrees out there !!!

Stayed overnight in extremely cold weather before checking out & departing to Kaohsiung (our last stop) the next day


TO BE CONTINUED....