to be honest, im pretty excited as this is the first time im venturing outside of taipei!
i've been to taiwan 3 times before this trip and i was always in taipei.
we bought tickets for the 9am local train to luodong.
luodong is a stop away from yilan and 1hr 45mins train ride from taipei.
typically, people travel to jiaoxi (2 stop from luodong) more often for the hotsprings.
but i was drawn to the minsu 民宿 in luodong and also there is not much interest in hotspring, so there we go!
top: hubbi tried a 铁路便当 which consists mainly of rice, pork chop, braised egg and some veg.
pretty yummy and the boys and him finished it up in no time.
bottom: YR squeezing in with YZ & me since children under 5yo need not purchase ticket so he has no seat. ha!
we reached luodong train station around 11am and quickly boarded a cab to our minsu.
realised minsu are normally kinda out of the way and most places outside of taipei do not have metro...
so its really cab most of the time. its a good thing, taxi is comparable if not cheaper than SG in taiwan.
as our room is not ready, we left our luggage with the minsu and made our way to meihua lake, which is an attraction here in luodong.
first hiccup for the trip:
from the map, i saw that the lake is around 1.5km away from our minsu so i though a walk in the cool weather will be a good choice.
so we asked the minsu owners for the general direction to the lake.
they exhibited surprise and advised us to take cab instead but i was pretty adamant.
only after did i regretted. :(
the road to the lake is really the road like 马路！
so we were risking our lives walking alongside with cars zooming past us in lanes that are not very wide given we are in a small town rather than a city.
and it was like dirt paths in some parts of the road. @_@
and the sun decided to come out and made us all feel "chao tar"! "晕"!
after a good 20+mins walk, we reached and felt happier instantly.
there is a stretch of street stalls next to the lake where we got to try yummy 葱油饼 and peanut ice-cream spring roll etc.
being lazy us, we rented a cool automobile akin to a carriage that can seat 4 of us and is powered by batteries!
so with a flick of button and easy navigating, we were able to zoom around the lake!
the lake is pretty big and with (slow) cruising speed, we circled around the lake twice in an hour.
the weather was really good and cool.
with the rented carriage, we can cruise around leisurely and park & alight at any points round the lake that we fancy :)
there is an island in the middle of the lake
by the time we were done with the lake and returned the rented carriage, we were ready for our late lunch!
lunch was at this themed restaurant - 小熊书房- at meihua lake.
no phone reservations accepted so we left our name the first time we went past it so that 30mins later, we have a table available when we returned the rented carriage! *yeah*
to be honest, the food is pretty decent though nothing to shout about.
but the place was done up very nicely - there are a lot of bear themed decor and stuff in the cafe. :)
this cafe was opened by some taiwanese writer
they even have their own minsu near meihua lake which is bear themed as well.
cute but i think our minsu is nicer. hehe.
after meihua lake, we took a cab (haha) back to our minsu to freshen up and to laze abit before dinner in the evening.
you will see why its so good to laze in our room as it is so pretty and comfy!
more in next post.
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