Cingjing Farm 清境農場, Taiwan Trip ( Day 9)

25th November 2014, Tuesday

Tickets Package

Today, we would be going to Cingjing Farm to see baa baa sheeps...running around in their green green grassland. I woke up at around 6 plus at first, was still dead tired...slept again until it was almost 8 am...and the first bus out to the farm was 8.20 am. So we rushed out and my friend went to the hotel canteen to grab 2 breads, then we rushed out to the same tour bus office to buy our tickets packages to the farm. It costs NT$600, which included a return bus tickets and the entrance tickets into the green green grassland (青青草原). While the staff was calling for passengers going to the farm to queue, i ran to find my friend who was in a cafe and i told her faster faster, bus coming soon. Then i went out first to queue in the line....she came back 1 or 2 mins before the bus came. Then she was saying the cafe guy was sooooo slow until she wanted to tell him can he speed up abit....hohoho...and she only bought 1 cup of hot choco, just for me...hehehee....

View from Bus

Then the bus went off, but first the bus would need to go to Puli Bus Terminal again to pick up passengers. On the way there, saw a super big Ji Gong Statue along the freeway and the whole freeway was just mountains and mountains....We reached Puli Bus Terminal at around 9.30 am, then from there was another 2 hours up to the farm. It was all mountain roads (round and round), when it reached cingjing area. When it first entered the cingjing area, i was greeted by The Old England (老英格蘭), a traditional English mansion which was standing on the road (my friend was sleeping due to the zigzag roads). And after that, you will see nice nice scenery from the top. Saw a half-dried up Emerald Lake). We got off at the wrong bust stop again, we should be going to green green grassland first, but we alighted at cingjing farm visitors information centre. I only realized it when there was a lady asking the driver after we alighted...hehheee....But anyway, due to the wrong stop, we smelled something very very fragrant. It was egg rolls made with goat's milk, the lady let us try and it was really nice. We were thinking whether to buy first or buy later, as we always end up at weird places, we were also thinking we may not even be coming down here to buy it as the last bus stop was at the top, which was the green green grassland.

Swiss Garden

While i was worrying we were not able to get on the last bus (which was around 4 plus) back to Taichung, my friend was worrying she was not able to get a seat to sit down on the bus (she got motion-sickness on mountain roads)...but anyway, we also cannot do much now. So we walked to Swiss Garden, which was down the mountain. It costs NT$120 each to enter the garden, it was a small garden for flowers. But i think our timing was not correct cos most of the flowers had already withered away. Only a few kinds were left standing, we took our time to walk slowly and enjoy the place as much as we could. There were ducks there too, managed to see water fountain performance too (just water 'dancing'). After the garden, we took a cab up to green green grassland. As much as i wanted to go visit the old England which was at the bottom, i had to skip it cos it was too far to walk. It cost NT$200 from swiss garden to green green grassland, and as we already had our entrance tickets, we went in (there wasn't anyone there to check the tickets too anyway). There, we need to chop a stamp on our hands for re-entry.

View From Green Green Grassland

The place really have a super nice view from the top, blue blue sky and mountains around. And the sheeps were all roaming freely around the big grassland. You can just walk up to any sheep and touch them and feed them with their feeds, which cost NT$10. Their fur feels like carpet....hehee...hard hard one, not soft soft. Then we walked round the place, there was a mini shop and a food stall. So we bought a goat's milk ice cream, a sausage and a bamboo rice. There was kittens and cat around the place too and there was warning board to indicate the cats bite, don't feed them. There was one cat which it just sat beside me and waited for me to feed it. The sausage and the bamboo rice wasn't nice, the ice cream was hard as stone....hahaha.....so we put out under the sun to melt it. Then we walked down to the center stage, where there were more people trying to feed the sheeps, as to get their attention and take photos with them. There were 2 horses and 2 ponies there too, for customers to take a ride around the stage area and take photos. It costs NT$150 per pax and NT$200 (special offer) to get a horse ride. By the way, the stage area was full of sheeps' poos because the sheeps were eating and pooing there too. So there was a stretch of smelly smell there too...And when there was a black color sheep walked in to the stage, everyone rushed to take photos with it...like a star had entered...lol..

Black Baa Baa Sheep

Sleepy Horse

Then we walked walked again while waiting for 2.30 pm which was supposed to be a show. We also just sat around the stage and just looked at the other people, feeding the sheeps, taking photos with the horses and sheeps. I was telling my friend, luckily she brought me to Philippines to ride horses first. It was really not worth to ride the horses here for NT$150, the riding area was small and it was only 1 round. But of course, there were still people paying for it, those with children. Then we saw 1 kid, quite big age, got on the ponies, without the staff's supervision. The dad was also just trying to get a shot of his son on the ponies. And the kid was still shaking on the pony. And later we also saw a family trying to put their children up on the horses so to get photos, while the staff was not around. And they all looked like Singaporeans.....haiz....-_-"....Luckily the staff quickly ran back and asked them to stop and pay for the ride if they really want to take photos with the horses. Pity the horses and ponies, they really looked very sad and sleepy there....But imagine if the horses or ponies run off with the kids on the back and without the staff's supervision, who would be blamed?

Goat's Milk Egg Rolls (Must Try!)

When it was reaching 2.30 pm, i was wondering why there was no announcement on the show. Then i checked the brochure again...alamak, it was 2.30 pm alright, but it was for weekends and holidays. Today wasn't holidays nor weekends....wu long.....hahahaa....Then i told my friend quick quick go already, need to go down buy egg rolls....We exited out from the other entrance, which was at the other side of the grassland. There, were some stalls selling food products, one auntie let us try bamboo shoots soup. And there were the supporters for a political candidate, who had came by and meet the stall owners to get their votes. We walked as we tried to catch a cab down to the visitors information center. Managed to catch one, there was 1 lady passenger on the cab, so the driver told us we pay NT$100 and the other lady pay NT$100. We bought 6 boxes of the egg rolls, it costs NT$130 for 9 pieces per box (quite exp too, although 1 box was free). As there was still 1 hour waiting time for the last bus to reach our bus stop, we went upstairs to check out a restaurant. It looked pricey and there was an additional of 10% service charge too (not many people inside too). So we went down and had our lunch in a French eating place....hmmmm...the food wasn't so bad or wasn't so nice either...slightly better than my last night's dinner. After eating, my friend said she wants to go down the road to buy fruits. We bought 1 snow pear, persimmons and goat's milk candy and asked the auntie to cut the fruits for us.

Sweet, Try Try!!

After that, we went to the bus stop to wait for the bus to come. My friend was really worried she won't be able to get a seat. A cab driver came by and asked us whether want to take his cab back to Taichung. I told him we got return tickets already, and he drove off looking for other passengers. And another van driver came by and also asked us want to take his van back. Same thing, i also told him we got return tickets. Then later, there was a couple came by and waited at the bus stop too. The same cab driver drove up back and asked the couple whether they want to take his cab. He quoted them NT $350 per pax and 1 hour faster back to Taichung. As it was getting near to the bus's arrival time, there were a few more people waiting at the bus stop (1 group was even senior citizens group). Then another cab uncle came by and was asking anyone wants to take his cab. When i told him we got return tickets already, he said he will buy our tickets packages and told me to top up another NT$50 per pax. Then i was thinking, why not? Although i wasn't aware what he will do with the tickets, i was more concerned that my friend will vomit on the bus and plus if we were not able to board the last bus, it will be headache too. So we took the cab back to Taichung (also saved us 1 hour time as we don't have to route to Puli). The cab uncle later told me that they can actually return the bus tickets to the bus company if it wasn't being used. Even we can go return, will get refund back...like around NT$120 plus after minus the used entrance fees for the farm and the trip to the farm and some admin fees too. He had been driving up and down the area for more than 10 years, so he had the experience. He said the previous cab driver don't dare to offer to buy our tickets was because he didn't know this method.

恶魔鸡排

1 box of 冰火波蘿油

Anyway, the ride was quite rough and bumpy. By the time we alighted just opposite our hotel, my friend was already giddy and almost wanted to vomit. The cab uncle charged us NT$100 per pax, i didn't ask him, i just thought maybe it was because i requested him to drive to our hotel instead of the train station. Then we went back to the hotel to rest first, we agreed to go back to Fengjia market again for dinner instead of just buying dinner randomly. When we reached our room, i stepped on a pool of water on the floor. We were wondering why there was water on the floor. It seems like the water came from the fridge. So i had to call the hotel staff to help mop the floor. Luckily, our fruits inside the fridge didn't get bad. After the staff mopped the floor, we rested for a while first before making our way down to the night market. This time, we were able to walk more there and i bought the same baked potato with cheese (nice nice) and we bought 7 of  冰火波蘿油 breads (equal to 1 box) and we tried some other food there...got a stall selling chicken cutlet called Devil Chicken Cutlet (恶魔鸡排), it was having a long queue too. What's special was this chicken cutlet was thicker on the meat, at least that's what it was stated....hahahaa...We bought 1 to try anyway....nice too....After that, we just went back to the hotel with our snacks, and then rest time!!!

Hotel Stayed: VIP Hotel

Places Visited:
Cingjing Farm
Swiss Garden
Fengjia Night Market

Qigu 七股, Taiwan Trip (Day 5)

21st November 2014, Friday

Sad Breakfast

Today, we managed to wake up slightly early to go down to the hotel's canteen for breakfast. My friend was not feeling well last night and had told me to go out myself today. But in the end, she wanted to come along too. There was just plain porridge and rice and some small side dishes for breakfast, but at least got breads...But it wasn't so nice to eat...Then we went back upstairs for my friend to shower.....After that, we went down to the lobby and asked the staff the direction to Qigu.

Salt Fields

The staff told us the bus number to take and where to take, then he told us the next bus will be arriving at the bus stop at 10.06 am and the time was already 10.04 am. So we quickly made our way to the bus stop, which we did managed to catch the bus. The bus fares was divided into 2 parts, NT$18 for the 1st part which was until Anping distinct and another NT$18 for the 2nd part which was until Qigu distinct. As we need to travel until Qigu, so it was NT$36 per pax for the ride. There was even usb charging for devices on the bus. My friend used it to charge her iphone while we were on the bus....hohoho.....It was quite long on the journey, we stopped at the terminal for the 1st part of the whole route. There was salt fields around the area and small 'hill' of salt. You can even pay a small price for an experience to scoop the salt on the field (don't know how to call it...heheee)....

Salt Mountain

After 10 mins at the terminal, the bus set off again on the 2nd part of the route. There was one part which was very long until it reached a small village. It was another half an hour or so ride until it reached the salt mountain. When we reached there, it was kind of empty...not many people around (which was good) but the mountain....only 1 side was having salt, the other side was just dirty sand...The area was big though, with a small amusement park at the back and you can play water golf too (which was just hitting the balls into the water) for a price of around NT$300.....hahahaa....So we just walked up the salt mountain, the salt were crystal-like grains...The production for salt pans was stopped in 2002, so this salt mountain was what it was left for tourists to come see and climb. But it was not what i expected it to be....hohohoo....but anyway the admission was free...so not so bad. There was a salt house which was really built using salt, the bricks were salt-built, which they had made a glass to cover it. Now they had made it into a love house, where tourists can go in and hang their love wishes on the wall.  While i was in the house looking, my friend was outside and she took a little bit of the salt on the ground and tasted it. Then she told me it was very salty... -_-"...hahahaa....Then we walked to the other area of the place, where there was a bridge linking to the bbq area, we walked towards the golf place where a family of 3 were playing.

Jade-like Bai Cai

Then we walked back and made a color layers bottle using colored salts...for NT$30 for a small bottle and it was DIY (you choose the colored salt you want and then fill in your bottle).  After that we went to the salt display there, there were some sculptures created by using salt and another exhibit which was showcasing displays of jade-like salt sculpture...very expensive sculpture, put up for sales. There was even a complete set of the zodiac animals and a very big bai cai.....After that, we went to a small canteen there and had our lunch. Just nice, after the lunch, the bus came. So we went to board the bus and we decided to alight at a Mazu Temple down a few stops down. We reached the temple at around 1.00 plus, and so we walked around the place for about 15 mins. Then we went back to the same place where we alighted for the next bus. By right, there should be a bus coming at around 2.45 pm but no bus came. We waited until 3.45 pm, still no bus came. There was not a single bus coming to that place, not even a cab!! We even walked outside to the streets to see whether there is any bus coming. There was 1 mini bus came in, different bus number...the driver asked us where we are going..so i asked him whether the bus we wanted to take was still in operation for the day. He said should be..so i told him we had been waiting for almost 2 hrs and all he can answered me was 'cannot be'..... -_-"...Then we saw the bus number we wanted for the opposite passed by but we didn't board and ask whether we can take up and then take back down again. So the bus left. And the mini bus also left out and we 2 were left stranded there again.

I was bored and hungry and it was getting colder as it was reaching 5 pm. My friend just stayed there and played her game. We even thought of going back Anping to get the Jiu Cai He again. But not fated to...haiz....So i just walked around to pass time, went to the small stalls to find food but nothing looked interesting. Then when i walked back to find my friend, i saw a card lying beside a tree. It looked like a Citibank SMRT card from afar, so out of curiosity, i walked over to pick up and take a look. It was really a Citibank SMRT cart and when i saw the name, i stunned for awhile. The name was my friend's...hohohoo..so i went and asked when did she drop her card. She didn't even realized it...hahaa...I told her luckily we didn't board the mini bus, if not, her card won't be found by me. Then another hour passed, still no bus came...it was already past 5 pm..We started to wonder why the people taking the bus up to Qigu and all never take bus to go back. Anyway, another mini bus came and this time we just boarded it so to leave that place. If not, we won't be able to go back to our hotel.

Meng Dong Cake (Original)

We paid the full fare to go to Tainan Train station, but about half way, we alighted as we saw an area which was familiar to us (when we were going to Anping). Then it was a straight road back to our hotel but got some distance away.  We slowly walked back along the road until we came to Meng Dong Cake Shop. There was a queue line, same as we saw yesterday when we passed by by bus. The people was waiting for the cakes to be taken out from the oven. The cake was huge and you have to buy in either small box or big box. And when the cakes were sold out, it will be gone. They were selling only 3 flavors cakes everyday. When we queued, there was 2 pumpkin and 1 original flavor cakes left. Once these were sold out, they will close the shop. Luckily, we managed to buy 1 big box of pumpkin cake and 1 small box of original cake. Then we happily continued to walk back while trying to eat on the cake....hehehee...It was very fluffy and nice, especially the pumpkin cake.

Xiao Long Bao

Then we continued to walk to find Chikan Peddlar's Noodle, a restaurant place which my friend saw on the net with good comments on the food. But we kept getting lost on the streets, until we were both tired and just settled a Shanghainese shop for dinner.....Gave up looking for it...so hungry and tired....hahaha....we ordered a few dishes, it was quite nice except for the kang kong which kind of tasted just normal (nothing special). Then after dinner, we continued to walk back to the hotel...finally!!


Hotel Stayed: Famous Hotel

Places Visited:
Qigu Salt Mountains
Qigu Salt Fields
Mazu Temple

Kaohsiung 高雄, Taiwan Trip (Day 1)

17th November 2014, Monday

Christmas Season in Changi Airport

Yeah..going Taiwan for the 2nd time and this time going to be a long 16 days journey. And this time round, had booked the air tickets after quitting my new job at a super crappy company (don't even know why they can survive for so long). Had decided to go along with Jetstar airline as they were having sales on the air tickets, $361 for a round trip to Taiwan. The departure time was 1.15 am but had received a SMS from the airline company, saying the flight had been delayed until 4.15 am due to operational requirements (i think this is pretty common for Jetstar airline). But i still went to the airport at around 9 plus as it will be too late for my dad to drive me there anyway.

Once i reached the airport, i went up to KFC on the 2nd level in T1 and waited for my friend. She came around 10 plus and we just sat there and waited for the check-in time. I even got a call from Jetstar staff, telling me there is a delay on the flight and asked me whether wants to change my flight to a later flight which is at around 7 plus in the morning. We waited from KFC until another restaurant called Ruyi downstairs, in the end, my friend just lied on the chairs and tried to take a nap....hahhaa...i was just loitering around to pass time. Waited until 2.30am, which was 2 hours before the fight, there is still no check-in counter number displayed on the board. Told my friend to wake up and go see the counters row just in case as there should be display on the counter number by now. Noticed there were already people queuing when we reached the counter and i also overheard the counters were already opened earlier and a lot of people had already checked in. There were a group of gals in front of us, saying that they tried checking in using the self check-in machines, the system had prompted them that the flight had already left....gave them a fright...LOL.....

HSR Train Tickets to Zuoying

And so, we checked in our luggage and went ahead to the gate. It was a long walk to the gate, as usual, so we just took our time to walk to the gate...heheehe...Finally, we were able to fly off to Taiwan!! The flight journey took us around 4 hours plus and we just tried to sleep on the plane (behind us were 2 younger kids, 1 of them keep crying once she was awake and the other 1 was just making whining sounds), we reached Taoyuan International Airport at around 8 am plus or later. Once landed, we found our way to take the bus to the high speed rail station. It was at the lower level and there were different counters to buy bus tickets to different location. Need to see the schedule and buy the tickets from the correct counter, we went to the wrong counter at first..hehehe....So we bought our bus tickets to the HSR station, which costs NT$30 each and the ride was around 15 mins or so. It was raining too in Taoyuan and feeling cold. We went in to buy our train tickets to Kaohsiung (Zuoying) first, NT$1335 each as it was the last station. After getting the tickets, we went to get mcd for breakfast as there is still some time (hungry from the flight too).

Zuoying Metro Station

We waited for around 15 mins and had our hashbrowns while waiting, the train came and we boarded. The seats space was spacious, we even can squeeze our luggage in with no problem. We had our breakfast once the train moved out, the pancakes i bought was cold cold and hard...not nice to eat...sadz...My friend slept on the train when i just looked at the window...It was about noon time when we reach Zuoying and once we came out from the gate, there were many cab drivers asking whether we are going to Kending. I told them no, we are going to Kaohsiung city. Funny, 1 cab driver even told us to go Kending and stay there and not to go Kaohsiung city as there is nothing to do there and was trying to get us to change to go Kending instead. Anyway i just brushed them away and went to the visitors information counter to ask on how we can get to our hotel. So we made our way down to the metro station and bought our single journey coins (still the same as the first time i went taipei)...

Glass Art on the ceiling of Dome

We took the metro until Formosa Boulevard Station and alighted, the Dome of Light is in this station. This station is the interchange station between the 2 metro lines (red and orange lines) and in the center of the station, there are colorful glasses built with art designs. It was pretty but the station is very hot and we are already sweating..hehee...so we just went up to the streets after asking the security guard on the hotel direction. And then, we just pulled our luggage and tried to find our hotel on the street, luckily is just a straight road before i saw the hotel signboard ahead. The hotel is quite small, and our room wasn't ready when we arrived. The lady was telling us maybe need another 15 or 20 mins to get it ready. So we rested in the lobby for awhile and when we had decided to leave our luggage and go out first, the staff told us our room is ready. So we went up to our room instead. The room was not very big but somehow the toilet looked bigger than the room itself., even have a bathroom. i even found a condom pack provided on the table...kekeke....Then we just rested in the room, until we feel like going out again..We went down and had turned into a small road near the hotel, noticed there were 2 stalls, 1 selling rice and 1 selling red tea milk.

Red Tea Milk Shop

We bought food at the rice stall, had braised pork rice, mee suan and kang kong dish. It was nice but i think the stall is famous for their herbal soups. Later the stall owner came and saw us, she chatted with us, asking where we are from and was talking to me in Mandarian initially, then later she tried to speak with us in English. She told us Singapore is a nice country and she had actually stayed 2 years there. And she also recommended us places to go in Kaohsiung, weird, she also recommended us to go Kending...kekekee....We also saw people keep coming to the other stall to buy red tea milk and is in big bottles. So we decided to buy a cup and tried it, we thanked the lady boss for the food and went to buy the tea. So funny, my friend tried to buy the drink, the stall staff don't understand her, so she called me for help....heheee...The staff was asking me what language was my friend talking, i told her English lor...hahaa. So i got her a cup of red tea milk (red tea with fresh milk) and a piah. I don't normally drink tea, but this tea was nice to drink (not bitter too). We both like it. The staff tried to ask my friend whether was the tea nice when we were about to leave but she asked in Mandarin...hahaha...

Love River

After the lunch, i wanted to go to Lotus Pond but ended up in Love River, which is the main river of Kaohsiung. We had to walk a distance from the metro before we can see the river. There was a group of students doing sailing in the river too, we didn't take the cruise there. We just walked along the river and enjoyed the breeze, looking at people around. It was very peaceful and calm...but still can hear the little vans going around broadcasting for voting supports for their politics candidates as it was Taiwan's election period now (Voting day was on 29/11/2014). There were big groups of supporters for each individual candidate and they are recognized by the area and their number. Anyway, this was what we been seeing for the rest of the days until 29/11. Passed by District Court, Kaohsiung Film Archive (which was closed on Monday), a church and a kindergarten. Walked over to Kaohsiung bridge too. Bought a bamboo rice to try too. So this is how we spent our afternoon, as the day ended quite early, the sun knocked off at around 4 plus and by 5 plus,  the sky was already dark (like our 7 pm). We went Carrerfour to shop for awhile too, can even try on the food before buying. Bought a packet of quail eggs for my friend to try, she doesn't like it....kekeke...Then later we made our way to the hotel (where we got lost on the streets on the way back to the metro station too....kekeke), where i checked with the staff on whether Liu He Night Market was opened today. Then we went up to use the toilet first and rested our feet (sore already from walking), then we walked to Lu He Night Market, which was just at the street behind the hotel.

Famous Papaya Milk Stall

First stall we saw was the fried giant sotong, which was a recommended food and as we walked, there was stalls for smelly tofu and i asked my friend whether she smelled it, as she was not aware of this snack when she was in HK previously. But she said she got nose block, so cannot smell anything (she did managed to smell it on the 3rd day when we went back to the market)....hahaha....Then as we walked further in, there were multiple stalls selling seafood...oysters, lobsters, crabs, clams, etc...and you get to pick the seafood and they will be cooked by using stirred-fried or bbq....they all smell nice and the seafood are big too!! The oysters were really big, even the octopus legs, i don't see that big in SG.We had a whole lobster and a skewer of scallops (6) for NT$1300. Really fresh...nice to eat...Then we walked further down the street, my friend bought a white corn from a stall (only 1 stall selling corns, both yellow and white and alot of people buying too). The cost of the corn was by the weight of the corn, so if you choose a heavy corn, it will cost a bit more. The minimum price was around NT$30. My friend got hers for NT$40, but at least she said it wasn't bad (she still preferred her own PH corn)...hohooho....Then we bought fried chicken (which i don't find it really nice) and fried mushroom (which is really nice). We came across a stall selling papaya milk and there were alot of people queuing for it. And i noticed there were also alot of autographs on the stall signboard. I remembered reading papaya milk was one of the must try food online, so i told my friend to buy it too. I wanted to get mango milk but it wasn't available, so i got 2 papaya milk instead. It was very milky at first, but later it was nice to drink. 1 cup is only NT$50, still cheaper than our fruit juice here. The market was like only 2 streets long as this is one of the small night markets around Kaohsiung.

Doggie doing Yoga

After all the food, we made our way back to the hotel. Saw a pet shop with some funny on the display, so stayed to look at them for a while. The puppies were very cute, one of the doggies even did yoga for us to see..had a good laugh on it. It was bending its head upwards and trying to bite his tail....super funny..it did touched his tail in the end. After the good laugh, we went back to the hotel to rest (had a super long and tired day). And noticed why the toilet looked bigger cos there wasn't a curtain or glass door for the shower/bathtub. So the toilet ended up flooded after our showers...hahhaa...


Hotel Stayed: Holiday Hotel

Places Visited:
Dome of Light
Love River
Lu He Night Market

Baguio, Philippines Trip (Day 6)

29th July 2014, Tuesday

Dragon splitting water

The beds were so nice to sleep until we were so lazy to get off the beds...hahahaa...So we lazed on the beds until 7 plus, and my friend was feeling feverish again...And i told her we just skip the 100 islands next and just proceeded to her hometown instead, so that she can rest there. But she doesn't want to, so we just woke up to go to the bell church again. Then we went out and took a cab back to the bell church, along the way, my friend was saying there got people carrying ta ho (like our tou hua) going to house to house to sell. But we were in the cab, cannot buy...and she kept telling me is very nice... -_-" (make me wanting to eat it). Then we arrived at the bell church, and went in. There were alot of bells and dragons statues in the temple. But i don't recognize the gods inside, doesn't look like buddhist too. And we were also wondering why it is being called Bell Church when it is not even a church...hahaha....Since there were nothing much to see, then we left and went to find breakfast.

Pandesal Breads

We came to a small shop, which is selling breads. And my friend bought some small breads and a milo. The breads were very nice to eat and soft soft, and i dipped inside my milo to eat too...heheee....And it was a super cheap breakfast, we kept ordering the breads to eat...After the breakfast, we went and took a cab to go to Wright Park for our horse ride. There were a lot of horses there, waiting for people to ride them. The rate is $300 peso/1 hr and $200 peso/half an hour, so we took the half an hour ride, just go round the park. Then we got on our horses, but my horse don't want to work today. It wasn't willing to move, so the owner was trying to get it move...hahaha...Luckily it started to walk. The 2 horses owners were 2 young boys, still schooling. Then the horse owners just pulled the horses to walk around the park, it was also muddy on the ground too. My friend started to chat with the boy who was pulling her horse, then we rode the horses out to The Mansion. The boy pulling my horse was wondering why they walked out to the road...kekeke...But we had to breathe in the smoke along the way.

Horses to ride

Then we got off the horses and got to know the names of the 2 horses, Tori and Black Hawk. Then we walked to the mansion but it wasn't open to public. Then we looked at our map and see where to go next. So i chose to go to the botanical gardens to see, then we made our way there by walking. Along the way, there was a guy selling poh pians and we bought 2 to eat. It was nice, different from ours. Then we continued to walk to the garden, and we reached the garden. When we walked, i see the garden like not very nice and no flowers to see. So we didn't walk much in there and it was also about time to go back to our hotel for check-out. Then we took a cab back to the hotel. During the ride, the cab was behind a jeepney and the driver can't overtake it. And we were like breathing all the smoke coming out from the jeepney. >_<....After we reached the hotel, we went around to explore the hotel and the garden until is about time to check-out. They even have a corner for fortune-telling. After packing our bags, we checked out from the hotel. The hotel staff still gave a green colour tea to drink, it was refreshing. Then we took cab to go the bus terminal to take our bus to another town (don't know what name.... :P), so that we can change bus to Alaminos city. We had our lunch at the nearby stall too, dishes simple but it was still nice to eat. Think it was about 3 hours plus journey...Then we reached the bus terminal, and when waiting in the another bus, my friend went down to buy snacks again. Got a fried chicken skins and ice candy, then she went to the opposite streets to get some rice cakes. But the bus driver wanted to go off, i shouted on the bus driver to wait for my friend. Then he pressed on his honk to get my friend's attention, hehee....but she didn't know. Then later she hurried back to the bus. And off we go......Along the way, my friend chatted with a lady from Phuket, who just went to hundred islands earlier. She was telling my friend that we can go buy food and stuffs to bbq there.

Hotdogs and Sasuages

We reached Alaminos city after 1 hour plus ride. Once reached, we got a motor tricycle, to go to the wet market. We bought 3 big sotongs, pork belly and other stuffs (water, charcoals, a big bottle of water,etc) and we went to the tourist center first. Then at there, my friend went and discuss with the people there and got the package. We are going to pitch tent and stay overnight in the island...heheee...Then later she went with them to settle some documents, which took quite a long time. I was already very hungry and after she came back, we took the tricycle to the port for our boat. It wasn't really a port, instead we need to climb down the rocks and onto the boat. By then, it was already 6 plus, going to 7 pm. Then we went off and it was getting very very dark. And there was lightning too, then it started to rain abit too. Along the way, my handphone battery got too hot and my friend asked me to off the phone first. And when we reached the island, it was super super dark, there was a building there with light though. As the wind was very strong and it looks like going to have thunderstorm, the boatmen told us that they will pitch the tent under the roof first, then move out to the sands when it is not so strong. But later they told us they were not going to stay with us over the night. So we will be there on our own....hahaa...It was really pitch dark, even the bbq area don't even have light. Was just depending on the torchlight by the boatman. Then they helped us to pitch the tent and bbq our food and while we waited to eat. The tent was kind of hot, the wind is not blowing into the tent. Then my friend told me that we going to go out with her sister when we reach her hometown. I got kind of moody and told her don't want. She felt upset about it. Then we saw 3 people walking around the beach with a pail and scooping. My friend asked the boatman what are they doing. Then my friend very exciting pulled me along out to go see...ohh...the people were catching crabs in the sand. They looked at the holes in the sand and started to dig and try to catch the crabs out. And they did it very fast, like just seconds they caught the crabs already. My friend dragged me to try hold the crabs. But i don't feel like holding, and was pulling her away... :P...

Then later we went back to eat the food, it was ok though but just the sotongs were too chewy, cannot bite or chew off. We even had a beer, and then the boatmen went off with some of our food, leaving us there. There was really nothing to do there, except there was cats meowing away and like looking for food in the dustbins (My friend hates cats and worried the cats will come and dig our leftover food...heheee). And it was really dark, and my lightsticks were not bright enough too. Then we went into our tent to get ready to sleep. It was kind of hot inside the tent, and we don't have pillow, except my travel pillow and we were sleeping on the floor (which was hard)...Then my friend took out some paper and started to fan me so that i can sleep...hehehee....I was super tired anyway and i just fell asleep quite fast. But still woke up in the middle of the night due to the heat, we we were like sweating while we sleep and my phone went dead too....hahahaa...And so this day ended.

Baguio, Philippines Trip (Day 5)

28th July 2014, Monday

Early Morning

Woke up super early again to catch the sunrise again (went for shower, but someone was bathing in the male toilet next door, so the water become super small and i was shivering..so i gave up), this time my friend booked a van with the hostel owner but she said this is more expensive. But we still went with it, so we packed our stuffs and went down to have our instant cup noodles and paid for our stay there. Everything costs around $1500 peso. Then we said goodbye to the owner, she was a nice lady and she thought i was a Filipino...heheeee....and all the suntanning from the previous 2 days (although it was raining in the afternoon), i think i got darker...hahahaa.....Anyway, we left with the van and the driver took us to inside the forest up on the mountain. There were already some people sitting there, waiting to see the sunrise. It was super cold, as it was like 4 plus in the morning. But i don't see stars up there this time, we just sat there and waited for the time to pass.

Floating Clouds

Around 5 plus, the sun started to come out...on our right, we can see the clouds floating...very beautiful...like you can stand on them too....hahahaa....Then i went down to the path, and my shoes were sticking with the twigs and the mud. Cannot get them off my shoes soles...grrr.....Anyway i finally got to see the sunrise, as my friend was telling me the clouds was like floating at the same level as you and then you can see the town behind when they clear away. (We been trying to go see for the past 2 days...but seems no luck with it...hahaaa). After that, we went back to the town as we need to catch our bus back to Baguio....Argh!! Have to leave Sagada already.....It was really a fun experience in Sagada, and it was a small town that everyone can just talk to anyone and they like know each other around the town. We alighted in front of the church, and waited for the bus to come. The bus came around 6 plus, my friend bought 2 rice cakes from there and we boarded. Later there was one lady who came up with the white corns. My friend asked her where she bought them and she went down to go buy them back.

View from Bus

The corns are white in color and shorter than our normal yellow corns. And they tasted nice too. Then the bus went off and is the same up and down roads back to Baguio, which is 6 hours ride too. Past by the mountains and small towns (cannot remember the names and the bus was very shaky too). Along the way, there were people carrying baskets coming up the bus and asked anyone whether want to buy them. But this time round, i was dozing on and off on the bus, don't know why so tired. The wind was also blowing very strongly and it was cold. Then at some point, an auntie sitting in front of mi suddenly vomited outside the window beside her. I was like...@_@....I quickly tried to close the window but i can't pull down. My friend woke up and asked me what i trying to do...hahaa...then she helped me to close the window. Then she went back to sleep... :P....Then we stopped at the pit stop for toilet break and snacks. I went down to the toilet, the floor was wet and further in, there was no door toilets...and the ones in front were with doors but not able to lock. And need to take a small pail of water for pouring in the toilet bowl. My friend went next after i came back to the bus. And she came back with paos and bulats (it was her favorite food...hahaaa). The pau was char siew and is nice....yum yum...Then the bus continued on the way, until we finally reached Baguio Bus Terminal.

Comfortable Beds

We took a cab down to our hotel, Camp John Hay - The Manor. The pollution was very bad in Baguio, all the smoke coming out from the jeepneys and cars. You can feel your throat going dry and the smoke was very bad. Then we arrived at the hotel, the lobby was very nice, looks like a 5-star hotel. And we checked in, my friend said her brother had recommended this hotel and it was expensive too...about $100 sgd plus per night...hehehe...Then the hotel staffs brought us to our room, when we first entered, we were like....Wahhh!!!....the room was very big and got 2 very big beds, got tv and a balcony too. Outside the balcony was a garden. The toilet also very nice and got hot shower!!....Got wifi too....I was so happy but we only stay 1 night there...haiz....Then we rested for awhile. While resting, i told my friend about that auntie vomiting in the bus, she was saying that she was wondering why i was trying to close the window when i told her previously i don't want the window to be closed. We were both laughing so hard at each other...hahahahaa.....My friend also said the cab driver almost don't want to ferry us to the hotel, he thought we don't have money to afford it. The beds were so nice to lie down...shiok...I told my friend there was a weighing machine too...we had to weigh ourselves and see how much we gained from the past 4 days...hahahaa

PMA

We finally dragged ourselves out to find lunch...we walked down the road and went into a bar and grill restaurant. We ordered a chicken sisig and a long beans dishes with soft drinks. The food was yummy, but my friend was saying here costs more expensive than in Sagada. After lunch, we made our way to Philippines Military Academy (PMA). My friend said her brother went to the academy and completed there, so she had many memories there. Before entering the academy, the guard will collect ID card to keep and then he let us in. The academy is very big, is like another town inside. But the museum was abit sad and it costs us $10 peso each to enter. My friend was also giving an introduction at the things do in the military and the buildings. There was this wall, where the badges of all the classes were displayed but there was 2 or 3 badges already faded away (can't even see the words and images). There were tanks, big guns, helicopter, plane to see too (but there were spider webs around them..no cleaning done).Then we walked slowly back out of the military, i was sneezing away but the weather wasn't very cold....Thought i got a cold already...my friend kept saying she will kill me if i get sick...hahhaaaa.....We tried to get a cab to head down to the Buddhist temple once we came out of the military.

Mini Fried Chicken

Once, we reached, we walked up to the entrance but it was closed. It was a Buddhist temple but it is called Bell Church in the city. Anyway, we can't enter, then my friend saw there was a stall selling something interesting. The stall selling fried small small chicken and it was as a whole (the head and intestines were still with it). She went and ordered a cup (consists of 3) and a cup of fishball (i think...hahaa). It was put with vinegar, tastes abit sour sour, quite nice. I see the mini fried chicken with the head, i don't dare to try already....hahaha...but it does smell yummy and i tried the mini drumsticks....and it was really nice (not what i expected)...I was asking my friend how she ate the whole thing even with the bones....hahahaa....Then we went out to take a cab to go to Good Shepherd. But when we arrived, it was also closed but the stall was still opened, which we managed to buy their local product, Ube (Yam) jam and some other snacks. Then we took the cab to Mine's View Park, which was nearby. But we cannot see the view down from the park, cos the clouds were covering the view and it was a patch white. So we just sat down to rest for awhile, then we went to the shops around the park to see whether we can get some souvenirs back. After shopping, we took a jeepney back, this time we sat in front (beside the driver) so no need to squeeze in the back.

Half Chicken (Yum Yum!!)

The driver told us that the city market sells alot of the tee-shirts, we alighted there. It was opposite the bus terminal we alighted earlier when we came back from Sagada. There really got a lot of shops but nothing interests me, cos the designs looks alot like the ones i saw in Sagada. And i was very hungry... >_<.....After going round the area, we finally going for dinner. We took a cab down to SM Baguio City..It was big shopping mall too with alot of shops in it. We came upon a restaurant called Classic Savory, selling chinese style food. We got a fried rice and a half chicken..the food was good sia...nice...After the dinner, we were looking for desserts. Wanted to go a cafe called Cafe by The Ruins, saw it was with good reviews online but it was near to their closing time, so we gave it a pass.
Went to the cafe next door and bought a lemon tart instead, then my friend dragged mi to Jollibee to buy their peach lemon pies (Singapore Jollibee doesn't have this dessert and it was her favorite too). And you really will see Jollibee around, don't really see much KFC and McDonald's' around. Then we took a cab back to our hotel. Long day today...went back to have our desserts and had a super nice hot shower...ahhh... ^_^...

Hotel Stayed:
Camp John Hay - The Manor

Sagada, Philippines Trip (Day 2)

25th July 2014, Friday

Baguio City Market (Opposite the terminal)

We reached Baguio Bus Terminal @ around 4.10 am, didn't managed to sleep on the bus as usual. There, we had some snacks at the canteen and my friend also checked with bus company staff on how we can travel from Baguio to Alaminos City. Then we waited until its time (6.30 am) to go to another bus terminal to take our bus to Sagada. The cabs here were better than Manila, as the drivers will go by the meter, whereas the drivers in Manila will go by agreed price and sometimes it can go up to twice or thrice the original prices. After getting the bus tickets, we waited there for some time before the bus comes.  The bus came @ around 7 plus and we boarded the bus, the bus doesn't look comfortable to sit long hours and it was non-aircon too. Everyone was carrying big bags and trying to put on the bus. And off we went, this was a 6 hours ride to Sagada. 

View taken from bus

Throughout the whole journey, the bus traveled over 1 mountain to another, round up and round down, passing different small towns. My friend was sleeping on and off on the bus cos she said she vomit everytime she travel this same route....hehee....luckily she didn't vomit along the way...As usual, i was looking at the scenery instead of sleeping. It was beautiful, can see green mountains and mountains. And the clouds were floating in the sky, can also see houses below and the bus was traveling on the mountain road which was the same level as the clouds. Then the bus stopped at a pit stop @ some town, for the passengers to use the toilet and buy some snacks. After 10 mins, the bus continued again. Then it's mountains and clouds again....After many rounds of up and down the mountains, we reached Sadaga finally. It was raining and was cold, and we alighted. Then we walked to look for our resting place, we came to Residential Lodge. The owner got her staff to show us the room, the 1st room we seen is a double bed room and the toilet is common for like 200 plus peso per night. The 2nd room we see are bigger, for 6 persons and the toilet is with it. At the same time, there was another group of people looking at the room next door too. My friend found them too noisy and i was ok with the 1st room, so we went ahead with the 1st room.

Baked Chicken with Potato Rosti

We put all our stuffs in the room and rested for a while. We had planned to go the cave today but since it is raining, we can't do caving. So we went for lunch instead, we went to Yogurt House. We chose a table which was outside the balcony and facing the mountain. We ordered a Sweet Spicy Java Chicken with Rice and Baked Chicken with Potato Rosti, Hot Chocolate and Mountain Tea. The potato rosti was crispy and nice...Mountain Tea is not bad, got mountain smell..But don't like the hot chocolate, not very nice. And beside us, there was a group of Filipino chatting away and laughing very loud. There was also a dog downstairs looking up at us, as though it is waiting for food to be thrown down (It do look hungry too...hahaha). After the lunch, we walked down to the tourist information center (which is a small house along the street). But it was not opened, then my friend asked a lady from the opposite shop who called down the guide from upstairs. Then a guy came down and started talking to my friend in Tagalog. Later my friend explained, we can go to see the sunset tomorrow and after that or we go for the sunset and then either the Big Falls or the cave (have to choose 1 instead). So i chose to go to Big Falls and the sunrise way. Then the guide gave us the driver's number so we can message and arrange with him on the timing for tomorrow.

Lemon Tart

After this, we walked to Log Cabin Bar & Cafe to book our dinner for tomorrow. Along the way, we passed by the bus stop and saw an auntie selling rambutans. So my friend bought a bag of rambutans. It was always a buffet night on Saturday for the cafe, we had to make reservation for the dinner. But when we reached there, the owner was saying that there is no buffet dinner for tomorrow... :(...So we went for ala-carte instead and ordered our main courses too (2 big main courses).  Then we walked back, passing the same bus stop and this time, we saw the same auntie selling mangoes and another big fruit. So we bought them too...hahahaa....Then we walked to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, it is the only church in Sagada and it was just a small simple church. There was no mass when we went there. There was supposed a cemetery behind the church but it was closed off. My friend said she and her friend went there when they were here previously. After that, we walked to Sagada Lemon Pie House to try their lemon tart. We ordered a slice of the lemon tart and mountain tea to relax. Then we walked down the streets to see some of the shops, got selling souvenirs and Sagada weaving products. Then we went back to our hostel as it started to rain again.

There is no tv in our room, the tv is in the living room outside and there is no aircon too. Luckily it was quite cooling from outside. Then i went to take a bath, the water was like....dripping out from the shower head...had to use pail to collect the water and bath with it. And the water was icy cold as the heater was not really strong, after some time, the water will become cold again. Anyway, i did managed to finish my bath. My friend was sleeping and had to wake her up to go bath....hehee....
After shower, we just rested and sleep. Hmmmm....what did we have for dinner?? Should be the mangoes and rambutans....hahahaa....

Hotel Stayed:
Residential Lodge