This will be another day with guided tour. We will be going to a Persimmon Farm, ShengXing Railway Station and Flying Cow Ranch..
Woke up at 6.30am, and yes, it was raining. By this 3rd day, we have gotten use to the wet weather and everyone of us will automatically check and make sure we have our umbrellas, raincoat, scarfs etc in our bags.
Mr Lai was already waiting for us when we went down from the minsu. Ever cheerful with a ready sunny smile, he greeted us, sheltered us to the car and we set off for another wonderful day of fun! Heck the rain !
As the journey to the Persimmon Farm will take almost 2 hours, we chat, joke and take little naps in the car. Mr Lai has never been to this farm that I have chosen, but he has done his homework by calling them and asking them about opening hours, entrance fees etc. This farm has done advert on a few Taiwan tourist websites and I thought it will be a good experience to harvest permissons and other fruits as well.
Well, when we reached there,
we feel that this farm ought to be shot and blacklisted. It is not a persimmon farm! They grow starfruits and SELL persimmons that they get from duno where ! GRRRRR! Wasted 2 hours of traveling time. Darn ! Since we were already there, so no persimmon, never mind, see starfruits also good lor. The charges are @#%$^! TWD200 per pax, non-refundable but we can use the entrance fees to exchange for fruits. So, it means we are "forced" to buy fruits ! Anyway, no point yaaaaking, went into the starfruit farm, pluck one huge big one, and we decided not to stay on coz the farm is relatively small. Lots of China tour group though. They really plucked a lot starfruits and use boxes to pack. That nice meh? hmmmm..
Got misled when I visited this website in particular : http://www.dahu.com.tw/huifeng/
This is the name of the Persimmon Farm...go at your own dissapointment.. see what a vast difference it is from the website photos!
Basically they "sell" persimmons just before you enter the starfruit farm. Look at the photo below..under the yellow shelter is the start of the farm and you can basically see the end of it from the photo too..
In the end, we hardly stay for more than an hour and scoot off. The above are what we got for TWD1000/-. Total rip off. But since we paid the entrance fee, either waste it or bring something home lor. So carry 3 boxes and run fast fast...
Mr Lai said when he called and the farm owner confirmed that they have a persimmon farm. But when we were there, Mr Lai was also unhappy that the owner has not been honest. Trying to make up for our disappointment, Mr Lai brought us to nearby grape farms and see if can have a go at it. But by that time, the rain was quite heavy and it was virtually impossible to get out into the vineyard. Gave up and we proceed to ShengXing Railway station, which proves to be a nice and nostalgia place. Had our lunch there.
Sadly when we were half way through lunch, Mr Lai suddenly teared after a phone call. His Grandma of 96 years old passed away. We ate our lunch in silence. Even my usually noisy son who never seem to stop talking....stopped chattering for at least 15 mins ! But because we have traveled so far out from Taipei and Mr Lai insisted that we finished our tour at ShengXing Station, then he will bring us to Flying Cow Ranch before calling it a day. He reassured us that it is ok as he is the youngest grandchild and his elder brothers will be attending to things. Despite our protests and insistence to call it a day, Mr Lai reassured us that it is fine to continue. I salute him for his professionalism. He tidied up his emotions, checked it in place and were the usual self again in less than an hour. Occasional gllimpse of pained expression, but we choose not to focus our attention on it and move on, giving Mr Lai some privacy to his own thoughts.
The meal at a eatery was good. The Hakka Ban Mian is fantastic ! This is the place we had our simple lunch..We ordered from the stall (just behind the lady in pink sweater).
This is the stall......
When you visit ShengXing Railway Station, it is just to get a feel of walking on the railway tracks, and walk the old street (literally just one street and you can cover from start - which is where we have our lunch; that is the first shop) all the way till the end in about half an hour if you do not stop and buy stuff, chat, or bargain. Below are some of the street scenes :
We adults washed down our lunch with a cup of thick, hot, aromtic coffee, brewed on the spot in the most complicated process I've ever seen. My kids called it the Kung Fu Coffee :) Kids had an lavender ice cream each from a cute and colorful little Lavender shop located towards the end of the street.
Thank god for small mercy, the rain has come to a complete stop. There was even a small hint of sunlight. Yay!
The ticket entrance fees to the Ranch is pretty decent.
Bought some food pallets / grass or whatever you call it to feed the goats...baaaahhhhh!
Although they have activities on the farms like feeding milk to goats, milking the cows etc, there are fixed timing and make sure you queue up in advance. They can only take XX number of visitors per show thus even if you are in the queue but if there are a lot of people in front of you, the farm assistants may tell you politely ---FULL HOUSE. :( We missed the milking of the cows session.
This is a real naughty and greedy goat. Apparently the feeding pace was not to his majesty's liking. Silly goat decided to snatch the whole cup of feed, trot off and munch at the same time. Not sure to laugh or to cry ! We just watched in amusement. After that, he littered! Just dumped the empty cup on the field and walked off. Tsk !
After the field trip, we went into this little "supermarket" to buy food and drink.........not forgetting their famous milk pudding!
To eat these pudding, collect a cup, toothpick and a spoon from the counter. ( these items are placed on a latch and self service) Put one "ball" into each cup, hold on to the pink little clip and poke the toothpick directly into the pudding ball. It will break and that is it. Lift the little pink clip up ( the remnants of the packing will be lifted as well). Dig in ! The texture is super thick and creamy, I equate it to drier cream cheese kind of texture. Milky to the tastebud.
If you can take a clear look at the menu, we ordered the pork chop burger ( in the dark green section, item No 3). The is absolutely heavenly! For drinks, we ordered Hot Pomelo drink. (Light Blue menu - 2nd section, Items 2 or 3, depending on the size of drinks you want to order). Many people ordered the French Fries, so we tried too. Thick, chunky and crispy. Worth a try. ( under light green section 1st item).
By the time e finished our afternoon tea at the farm, it was almost 5.30pm and remembering that Mr Lai has to be back at Taipei by 8pm before his family "close cover" for his grandma, we rushed back to the car and was on our way back to Taipei. When we arrived at our minsu, it was a hasty goodbye and Mr Lai should be able to just make it on time to see his beloved grandma for the last time. Mr Lai shared with us that he spent most of his childhood days with his grandma, who taught him many facts of life...
Well, we went back to our cozy home-away-from home, put down our stuff, bath and decided to take a 10 mins walk to Carrefour. Wow! Taipei's Carrefour is nothing like Singapore's! It is big and packed with people. First we went to the 5th floor and scout around for food. Realizing that there is no food court, we settle for Teppanyaki. I must salute the Taiwanese, at anytime of the day, they are ever so polite and helpful. We got some help with the ordering of our food and in no time, was filling our famished stomach. After a superlicious dinner, we shopped around till 10pm plus before taking another 10mins walk back to the minsu. We bought quite a few things from Carrefour and luckily brought our own shopping bags along. Otherwise got to pay for plastic carriers.
Back at the minsu, kids aimed straight for cable TV. For me, literally just dropped on the sofa and pretended to be a log. Haahaaaahaaa! Tiring....but overall everyone is happy and in high spirits!
Tomorrow will be roaming on our own without a guide...
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