8 days in Taiwan... :-D

[postal]

Hi guys... need your help for some recommendation... At the moment my plan is as below... BTW, our group is a total of 7 people...

1st Day - Land in Taipei, see see look look at Xi Men Ding, Shi Lin, etc
2nd Day - Proceed to Alishan, walk through the jungle trail
3rd Day - See sunrise at Alishan, Proceed to Cing Jing
4th Day - At Cing Jing, see see look look
5th Day - Proceed to Jiu Fen, going to Jing Gua Shi and staying at Jiu Fen
6th Day - Proceed to hostel at Taipei, go to Ye Liu. Evening go to Dan Shui
7th Day - Flora Exhibition, if time permits go to Beitou for hot spring
8th Day - Last minute shopping etc

Currently I got issues with the transportation to go from Alishan to Cing Jing. Going by public transport (bus then train then bus then bus) will take about 5 hours plus. Is there any recommendation of any transport available to bring us from Alishan to Cing Jing? Would prefer a small van to bring us there... and hopefully can stop by sun moon lake to see see look look...

Regarding Cing Jing... is there any accommodation which consists of hot spring within their facilities? I manage to find hot spring but all are without accommodation...

Any advices for food, location for my planned area is highly appreciated! :-D Especially Jiu Fen and Alishan... I only found out that Jiu Fen got this jin gua shi and their old streets... as for alishan, I only managed to find out about the forest trail and the sunrise spot... Is there any important spots that I missed out? Thanks a lot!

 

[Lenscapes]

trying asking there HWZ TRAVEL: TAiwan
you will get more responses.

 

[oceantoofar]

Hi there! I went taiwan last year and more or less went to the same places as you. I went from Taipei to Cing Jing to Alishan ... and indeed, its quite difficult to get to Cing Jing by public transport. I suggest you hire a tour guide ... whilst we were at Cing Jing, the minsu owner recommended us this tour guide who was pretty good. He drove us around Cing Jing because getting around in Cing Jing by your own is very difficult.. there arent many public transport or cabs around. In fact I didnt see any.

The tour guide drove us directly to Alishan ... at a pretty reasonable cost ... i think i was around TWD3000 - 4000 (but i cannot remember exactly how much was it, sorry). There were 2 of us, so each paid less than $100 for the trip there. He will also bring you to nice places to eat ... along the way, he will also stop at scenic spots for us to walk around. You might wanna contact him if he can do from Alishan to Cing Jing .... he probably can ....

This is his email and fb link: (in his fb, he also introduces some of his tour services and pictures)

leo6991@yahoo.com.tw
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000143268263&sk=info#!/pages/清境長興旅遊小站/121903981153084
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000143268263&sk=info

I really dont suggest going to Cing Jing via bus, train and then bus .. coz we took that route and really regretted! Coz Cing Jing is on a mountain, and the bus does not bring you to the doorstep of the hotel. So we alighted in the middle of a slope and had to lug our lugguages uphill and downhill to find our minsu .... and there were no cabs ard...

Out of all the places we went in Taiwan (Taipei, Alishan, Cing Jing, Hualien, Jiufen etc), Cing Jing was the best. We stayed 2 nights there and still find it too short. The place is beautiful and has lots of flowers and breathtaking sceneries.... we joined a day tour that took us right up the mountain to see stars and sunrise. During the day, there is this Swiss Garden with lots of beautiful flowers. The tour guide also took us to Sun Moon Lake, which I think is overhyped. We were quite disappointed with it. Not really very scenic ... and too touristy. Would give it a miss if I were you. There's also Cing Jing Nong Chang which is pretty nice to take pictures as well. In Cing Jing, we stayed at Bai Xiong Wu minsu. The owner has 5 huge white doggies and that was the reason we went there. If you like dogs, you have to go there. But sorry, I do not know if there's any minsu with hotspring...... but if you can email to the tour guide to ask him for more info ... he lives there.

The food in Jiufen is very interesting .... must try this lady who shaves off a huge block of peanut sweet (gong teng) and then put the shavings onto a popiah skin, then put 2 scoops of icecream on it and wrap it up like popiah ... very nice!

As for food in Alishan... dun expect too much .. there isnt much of a choice .... there's only a small stretch of hawker food that sells lu rou fan and other xiao chi ... not especially delicious ... there are only ard less than 5 restuarants there .. we tried 2 and were not impressed either ..... you can catch sea of clouds during sunset at the top levels of the train station .... that is pretty nice ... but Cing Jing's one is even better!

For Taipei, we went to two restuarants that were highly recommended by our friends .... we find it very nice .... maybe you can try them ...

Yuan Chuang Hua Diao Ji at 台北市市民大道4段10號 Tel:02-27786338

jap restaurant Orange Shabu is at No. 135, Da An Road, Sec 1, B1. Tel: (02) 2776-1658

As for Jiufen, its a very nice and interesting place, but dont think u need to spend one night there .... we finish walking around the the streets in 2-3 hours .... its a pretty touristy area ..... all the interesting stalls are gathered together in this small street ... so after you have walk around and eat the stuff, there isnt much else to see outside this street ....

Hope this helps!

Hi guys... need your help for some recommendation... At the moment my plan is as below... BTW, our group is a total of 7 people...

1st Day - Land in Taipei, see see look look at Xi Men Ding, Shi Lin, etc
2nd Day - Proceed to Alishan, walk through the jungle trail
3rd Day - See sunrise at Alishan, Proceed to Cing Jing
4th Day - At Cing Jing, see see look look
5th Day - Proceed to Jiu Fen, going to Jing Gua Shi and staying at Jiu Fen
6th Day - Proceed to hostel at Taipei, go to Ye Liu. Evening go to Dan Shui
7th Day - Flora Exhibition, if time permits go to Beitou for hot spring
8th Day - Last minute shopping etc

Currently I got issues with the transportation to go from Alishan to Cing Jing. Going by public transport (bus then train then bus then bus) will take about 5 hours plus. Is there any recommendation of any transport available to bring us from Alishan to Cing Jing? Would prefer a small van to bring us there... and hopefully can stop by sun moon lake to see see look look...

Regarding Cing Jing... is there any accommodation which consists of hot spring within their facilities? I manage to find hot spring but all are without accommodation...

Any advices for food, location for my planned area is highly appreciated! :-D Especially Jiu Fen and Alishan... I only found out that Jiu Fen got this jin gua shi and their old streets... as for alishan, I only managed to find out about the forest trail and the sunrise spot... Is there any important spots that I missed out? Thanks a lot!

 

[postal]

Thanks lenscapes... Have already done so... now waiting for reply...

oceantoofar... thanks a million!! Your lengthy reply is really helpful... was pondering whether I should stay Cing Jing for 2 nights... your reply make me confirm my decision! Wahaha! :-D

As for jiu fen... I am planning to go to Jing Gua Shi... anyone here went there b4? Need some advises whether is it worthwhile to make a trip there...

BTW... another reason for staying at Jiu Fen is because of this...

http://windsor.idv.tw/WindsorE.asp

The rooms are like wow! Hence... need u guys advises as where to go during my stay at Jiu fen...

 

[oceantoofar]

No probs!

That's a nice minsu u have there ..... the view is really cool! esp where the bed is facing the large window with the sea view!

Hope you enjoy ur trip!

Thanks lenscapes... Have already done so... now waiting for reply...

oceantoofar... thanks a million!! Your lengthy reply is really helpful... was pondering whether I should stay Cing Jing for 2 nights... your reply make me confirm my decision! Wahaha! :-D

As for jiu fen... I am planning to go to Jing Gua Shi... anyone here went there b4? Need some advises whether is it worthwhile to make a trip there...

BTW... another reason for staying at Jiu Fen is because of this...

http://windsor.idv.tw/WindsorE.asp

The rooms are like wow! Hence... need u guys advises as where to go during my stay at Jiu fen...

 

[weird]

if you going Beitou for hot spring, pls dont go for the cheaper rate.
I heard from the local over there, they tends to so call "mix/ recycle" the spring water.
I only know about it after I went for mine, but it's too late liao lar.

Try the open space one, I think quite fun than the room.

 

[postal]

Thanks for the info! BTW, do ya know of any beitou hot spring whereby can wear swimsuit in? :-D