Day 6 - Road Trip from Sun Moon Lake - Qinjing Farm, Nantou County - Taichung - Taipei

Travelling date: 14th December 2018. This would be our last day of the road trip in Taiwan. It’s a day where we were to return to Taipei from Sun Moon Lake and the rest of the tour places in our touring list. That morning, we were ready to leave and checked out from the hotel by 9am. On the way ot, we saw another stunning view of the lakes from the Petrol kiosk and had to stop for some exploration. Lucky we did, as our mood, the weather and the places intermingle in the photos that I’m sharing in this entry.

Sun Moon Lake is located 748 meters above sea level. It is 27 meter deep and has a surface area of approximately 7.93 km2. The area surrounding the lake has many trails for hiking. The lake and its surrounding countryside have been designated one of thirteen national scenic areas in Taiwan. For those in construction industry would relate the lake at this large scale would come with the Dam Construction, meant to generate electricity. There are several hydroelectric power plants been built in the Sun Moon Lake since 1919, including Mingtan Pumped Storage Hydro Power Plant and Minhu Pumped Storage Hydro Power Station. When the first hydroelectric plant was finished in 1934, it was considered to be one of the most important infrastructure constructions of the time. Wujie Dam, also completed in 1934, diverts water from the Zhuoshui River to increase hydroelectric generation at the lake. The Jiji Line railroad was built to facilitate the construction. This are the info that I gathered from the Wikipedia.

Our next destination was to be in Qingjing Farm where we saw a lot in Visit Taiwan flyers, the white Taiwan sheep’s on a high mountain range. The Qingjing Farm, also known as Cingjing Farm, is a tourist attraction farm in Ren'ai Township, Nantou County. It took us only an hour to arrive in this beautiful farm, mostly crowded place in the weekend. Apparently, the farm was established on 20 February 1961 as the settling place for the demobilized soldiers and their dependents who were listed in the armed forces. It is located in an altitude of 1,750 meters above sea level, therefore the road to this place are quite interesting but the weather is generally mild all year. In the months from May to September, the average temperature is between 15℃ and 23℃.

Qingjing Farm offers exquisite scenes all four seasons of the year, each with its own unique interest, which would be toured on your own pace and at your own steps. You must pay an entrance fee to enter but once inside you can enjoy what they offered; Mountain Reflection in Green Lake, 487-Steps Trail, Clouds Covering the Mountain, Green Green Grasslands, Fragrance of Fruit Orchards, Sincere Heart Makes Wishes Come True. You basically can fully savour the sweet serenity of the high mountain countryside.

Qingjing, in its broad sense covers Qingjing Farm and its neighbourhoods, from Wushe to Meifeng. It is intersected by Provincial Highway 14A but Waze and Google Map apps will direct you easily to this place. I would advise you to come during weekdays, try avoiding weekend as the place might be flooded with local tourist as well as foreign tourist. We met a Chinese Malaysian family while having lunch at the 7-Eleven. They were there for almost a week already but didn’t covered the whole island like we did. According to them, they are regularly visiting Taiwan as its nearer and cheaper for holiday.

Our next and last destination was to visit Zhongshe Flower Market, also known as Houli Flower Farm or Chungshe Flower Garden in different publications. There’s an entrance fee to this place as the place has been well advertised by the tourist agency, so only Nasrul and I were exploring partially of its flower garden over the 6 hectares of flowers. Hubby and Syahirah chose to wait outside, within the compound at the food outlet and enjoying the flower gardens at a free zone area.

There were several types of flowers are in bloom throughout the year. One of the biggest highlights of the flower farm is during tulip season. Every year from January to March, up to 300,000 tulip bulbs are in full bloom, similar to what you will find in the Netherlands. Zhongshe Flower Market is the only flower farm that succeeded in growing tulips in all of Taiwan. The flower farm also sells products as they are commercial parties. They sell seasonal flowers and potted plants, while other gardening materials, flower vases and even fertilizer are also available. You may find many photo backdrops around the 6 hectares of flower fields. One of the main features of Zhongshe Flower Market is the photography backdrop zones, where different props are used to set the stage for gorgeous photographs. The flower farm is a popular spot for wedding photography. Many couples bring a professional photographer to take wedding photos. Some of the backdrops include a wedding gown arch, scenes that resemble European fairy tale and many musical instruments, including a white piano placed in the middle of a lavender field.

We headed back to Taipei to rest at our final Air BNB accommodation in Shongshan district. It was good to end the trip but our last accommodation was on the highest floor without a lift. We had to drag all or belonging as we need to return the car the next day.