Sunday, April 13, 2014

Green Green Grasslands 青青草原, Cingjing 清境農場

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.

On the day we planned to visit Green Green Grasslands, we woke up to the bright morning sun. Thank God for clear weather!!!

Side note: I cannot stress enough the importance of checking the weather on your travel plans. It is pointless, really pointless to plan for all those wonderful places to visit (ESPECIALLY outdoor) if it's raining, or worse, typhoon season. So, do your research!

Since there's a free shuttle service from Misty Villa to Green Green Grasslands, we went down to the reception and informed the owner about our plans.

We settled down to a wholesome Taiwanese-style breakfast, a la buffet. By the way. the white cabbage in Cingjing is to die for. I have never tasted such sweetness and crunchiness before. I just love Taiwanese vegetables and fruits!

Our shuttle arrived punctually at 9:30. After a short drive uphill, we reached our destination.



What about the shuttle back? Err, there's none. We're encouraged to walk for 30 minutes back to our minsu. (It's not as hard as it sounded, believe me.)

Entrance fees on a weekday are slightly cheaper. How convenient, our trip coincides on a weekday.


The place was really huge and it feels like we're standing on top of the world.


Because we arrived early, we managed to avoid tourists for the most part.


There weren't as much sheep as I expected though, if the beautiful photographs from the official Cingjing site were supposed to represent the real deal.

I guess it's just as well that way - having too many sheep around would probably lead to me stepping on sheep shit each other step :-)

We walked.

And walked.

And walked all the day downhill.


The view is breathtaking, and the air is crisp and clear. It's really a great place to relax. I could feel all my stress melt away.


There are some shops and stalls midway selling souvenirs and snacks.

There's also a horse show daily (sheep shearing shows are on weekends). We weren't interested in either one, otherwise I would have chosen a weekend trip. But Internet reactions range from skeptical to awed. You can be the judge.


A sign tells us we reached the end of the trail. This is where the farmland ends, and the forest trail starts.

As we started our trek down 499 steps, I said silent thanks for the blessed weather - still no rain.


The French village was found near the end of the trail. It looked a bit desolate to me. Not too many visitors on a Tuesday morning.



We walked slowly back to our guesthouse to check out and continue on the rest of our trip - Taipei, here we come!

Entrance Fee: TWD 160 (weekdays), TWD 200 (weekends and public holidays)
Address:
No.170, Renhe Rd., Ren’ai Township, Nantou County 546, Taiwan
Opens from 8.00 - 17:00 (17:30 on weekends)
Sheep Shearing Show - 9:30 & 14:30 on weekends and public holidays
Equestrians show - 10:45 & 15:45 everyday

Contact: +886492802748

Click here to view more photos 

Previous: Small Swiss Garden | Next: Puli Brewery

This is part of the fun Taiwan travel series. View the full itinerary here.



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