Taiwan Round Island Trip Dec 2009 (3)

From Hualien, we traveled along the east coast which is facing the Pacific Ocean. If I am right, the name is 苏花高速公路 and it's one of the most scenic road in Taiwan. At one turning point, I looked down and saw the front tyre rolling extremely close to the edge of the cliff. The road was quite treacherous but the view was really fantastic and I was comparing it to the Great Ocean Road in Australia in my mind. 

Picture contersy of 苏花公路,it says 台湾最美“死亡公路”.

Then we stopped at the 妈祖庙 before we reached the 香格里拉农场in Yilan. The driver was having difficulty in locating the place. When we finally arrived, it was late. Straight away we had our dinner at the restaurant. We were then being entertained by a series of programs arranged by the farm . 

We were dead tired after all the programs. We only had a chance to look at the farm when we woke up the next morning but sadly it was time for us to leave. No chance to enjoy the farm.

 

It was quite a nice place .

We had made a big round around Taiwan island and were now heading to Taipei again. We had Mongolia Grill for lunch before we reached 九份, an old mining town with very unusual narrow street that is built on the mountain side. We had to walk up and down in the pavement steps with tiny shops on both sides in the rain. It was here we tasted the wild boar sausage of Taiwan.  

It was drizzling and colddddd.....

Poor Bao,cold and wet.

 

It was quite a nice place if it was not for the weather.

When we were back to Taipei again. It was the time for National Palace Museum with tons of previous treasures from china.

Bao at  the concourse of the muzuem.

This  place is so big that we were to follow the guide to a few outstanding items on display only. It's just not possible to tour the museum on our own.

 

Audio devise are provided with the infos of the incredible muzuem.

First, we were introduced to the most precious of them all. 


This is called 毛公鼎and it is the 镇馆之宝. The guide pointed out that the legs resemble those of n animal but I don't remember the reason behind the 镇馆之宝.

 

This is another prominent one. A piece of rock that resemble a piece of pork. It is actually very small in size but the look of it is amazing!

The craftsmanship of this piece is super exquisite with tiny crickets on the leave.

There are many porcelain with beautiful pastel color on display and even more bronze and copper artifacts. This place is meant for those who really know how to appreciate these world class treasures! They are priceless!!
 

To my delights, our dinner was to be spent at the 五角板桥which I read about before we went. It looks more like an art gallery than a restaurant.

 

Not only the ambience of the restaurant is so unique and interesting, the food served was very delicious. We had a very nice time there enjoying the food with the mother-and-daughter team.

 Taipei 101 Tower is the last in our itinerary. Unfortunately there wasn't time for us to go up to the observation deck. We could only walked around the shopping area which happen to look like our KLCC.

For only RM2,700/pax, I think there is nothing much to complain about. It covered all the accommodations and most of the meals. The rushing for destination is just something you have to accept when you opt for a tour though given a choice, I will not consider joining a tour again.