台湾游 2014 part 1: Tai Chung Sun Moon Lake, Wenwu Temple, Peacock Garden, Hot Spring stay.

Hiya folks! Over the Good Friday long weekend, we headed to Taiwan and had the most incredible time there!

The weather in Taiwan was perfect, and we went to mostly different places than the previous time we were there.

 

The minute we touched down to Tao Yuan International airport at Taiwan, our guide, Aunty Mei Hua, picked us up and headed towards Tai Chung, where we would stay at the hot spring hotel for the next 2 days.

 

DAY 1

Sun Moon Lake.

A lavender carpet. Absolute love.

Wenwu Temple

Peacock Garden

Ma boys dressed in matchy matchy outfits with Mr Peacock!

Reached our hotel, Honey Moon Hotel to retire for the night. 

Boys are thrilled!

 

The premises of the hotel is peaceful and unpopulated. Offers a wonderful respite.

One of the many hot spring pools.

DAY 2

In order to get to the breakfast place which served fresh eggs which you cook in the hot spring, we had to walk 10 minutes on a little path that cuts through a valley.

We're here! A quaint little shop where the owner is friendly and there is nobody else but us.
In fact, the whole area is quite unpopulated due to the previous earthquake which rendered this place not tourist-safe anymore.
I heard from the locals that gradually, this place might become obsolete in future, which is quite sad really! I love this place! It is breath-taking.

Fresh free-range kampong eggs.



My in-laws enjoying their foot soak in the hot spring while waiting for eggs to cook.
The water is super hot! Like "wanna pluck chicken feather" hot.

After breakfast, Aunty Mei Hua fetched us from our hotel lobby and we headed to other parts of Tai Chung, namely Cing Jing and Taichung night market. 

 

 

 

Rooftop water playgound at Tampines One.

Swimming lesson was called off last Sunday because Adam's instructor, Uncle Desmond, was down with chicken pox, so we brought the boys to the Rooftop Water Playground at Tampines One mall instead.

East-dwellers are spoilt for choice when it comes to free fun for the kids, from Canopy indoor playground at Airport Terminal 1 viewing deck (level 3), to Changi City Point rooftop water playground, and this one at Tampines One.

Despite being open for a couple of years now, it's our first time there!

That place was a mini safari with dry and wet areas for the children.

Open daily from 10am to 9:30pm, except for Mondays (4pm - 9:30pm).
Best of all, it's free entry for all. It's clean and very well-kept.

Lots of shade and ample benches for parents and caregivers. Very thoughtful indeed!

March School Holidays: trip to Bollywood Veggies farm.

Wanna know about our first school holidays this year??

Blur Mummy-me totally forgot this week is the March holidays. On Monday, I woke Adam up at his usual school-going time and after getting him dressed, we proceeded downstairs to wait for his school bus. Only that the bus did not come. I called up the bus operator, who then promptly reminded me "Aunty, today is school holiday! 小朋友没上学 (little children have no school)"

Luckily for me, Adam's school has a flexible program that allows drop-off and pick-up during school holidays where they just go to school to play and revise on the term's work so I drove him to school before heading to work and arranged for my MIL go fetch him at noon.

Note to self: mark future calendars on school holidays please!

Since it's the school holidays, we decided to keep Adam home the rest of the week due to logistics problems.

We, however, managed to squeeze in ONE outing with the kiddos this weekend!
So what did we do on the last day of March holidays?
Boring folk like us travelled from Eastern side of Singapore to the West, and considered that a done deal.

We ended up at:
Bollywood Veggies farm, at 100 Neo Tew Road, to be exact. Tel: 68985001.

Opening hours:
Wed to Sunday: 9am - 6:30pm.
Mon & Tue: Closed except for PH.

We shared a hearty meal at Poison Ivy.
First time eating in a local farm so we ordered a little bit of everything!Tried the banana curry which was something new to me.
Their Warrior chicken was also nicely roasted as it was not oily at all.
 

Outfit of the day:
Grey t-shirt: Zara
Distressed denim romper: @shopmehgees from Instagram
Slippers: Tory Burch

If you are bananas about bananas, you can buy home some souvenirs from the Poison Ivy café as well.
Heard they are known for their Pisang Rajah cake.

 

Ironically, despite its name, there were no vegetables on sale, much to my mother-in-law's disappointment. 

The kids and I, however enjoyed the visit because of the lush greenery and the huge land for them to run around in, and also due to my love for growing my own vegetables.

 

These are the eggplant and capsicum Adam harvested from our own mini garden!

An entire week of having the kids cooped up at home has reduced the house to catastrophic proportions. Thankfully for us, it's back to school tomorrow!