Because we have a 4 month old baby at home, I felt that I needed to spend some uninterrupted, quality time with my 4 year old little man. So I booked us both a 4-day trip to Taiwan, while Mor held down the fort back home (he’s the best!)
Sounds crazy? It was! Thankfully my brother Neil and my good friend, Kim, joined us. I wouldn’t have survived otherwise! Haha.
Let me share with you our 4-day itinerary and some of the highlights of our trip!
Day 1: Flying and Checking In
Would you believe that this was only Luke’s 2nd time to take an international flight? We meant to bring him out last year but I had a delicate pregnancy so we had to put it off. You can only imagine how excited he was to fly again!
Upon arriving at Taipei, we checked in at The Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel. We all wanted to stay in the same room together so the Grand Deluxe Room was perfect for us. Check out the sofa bed that they already prepared for us upon arrival!
After dropping off our things, we visited an Ikea store to buy some things I needed, had dinner at the club lounge and retired early for the night. Had to prepare for the long day ahead the next day!
(Related Post: Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Taipei with Kids)
Day 2: Flying Cow Ranch
Today’s agenda: farm tour! Woke up early to catch the 9am train ride to Miaoli where The Flying Cow Ranch was.
Visiting the Flying Cow Ranch at Miaoli was the major highlight of the trip. Here, we got to milk a cow and feed a lot of baby animals such as ducklings, calves, goats and rabbits!
There was a lot of walking involved so expect to sweat a lot if you visit during the hotter months. But this little boy enjoyed so we took our time.
Read more about our experience at The Flying Cow Ranch here.
The open space was beautiful and the farm was well-kept. However, there was one thing that ruined everything for me and that was…
GETTING A TON OF INSECT BITES!!! I had like 10 or more bites PER limb! As in on both arms and on both legs. Ugh.
I researched about it and apparently it’s very common in Taiwan. It’s called tiny biting midge (Forcipomyia taiwana) and although not deadly and doesn’t carry diseases (praise the Lord,) the bites are extremely itchy! They also swell and they look much worse after a few days.
Me and Kim got bitten all over. Thankfully, Luke and my brother did not! I have no idea why because we all use the same anti-mosquito lotion. Anyway, happy Luke didn’t get it because I don’t know what I’d do if he did and was scratching the entire trip!
Dinner at the Horizon Club Lounge
We meant to go out and have dinner but we were just so tired by the time we arrived back. So we decided to have an early dinner at the club lounge instead. Having lounge access has been such a big thing during this trip and I’m sooo thankful for it.
Read more about our experience at the Horizon Club Lounge at Shangri-La Taipei here.
But our adventures for the night didn’t end there. Right after we took this particular shot, the lights went out and everything went dark! Both inside the hotel and outside (we could see it from the windows.) It seems that the power went out for the entire district! Outside, we could only see car lights.
“Emergency, emergency!”
If you ask Luke for his favorite parts of our trip, he will tell you 3 things: farm, club lounge and “emergency!”
During the power outage, Shangri-La had back up power and minimal lights were on. This allowed us to finish our dinner and forget for a few minutes that there was a power outage! So after eating, all of us mindlessly stepped into an elevator to go back to our room. But because the hotel was on backup power, the elevator’s doors closed halfway and made a small jump!
We were stuck for a while and THIS TERRIFIED ME! But we were able to go out after a few seconds and decided to walk down the emergency exit instead. Luke wasn’t the least bit scared and considered this an exciting event. Haha. Of course, it was only an adventure because we all came out safe, by God’s grace!
Back in the room, some of the lights were working but some weren’t. There was also no wi-fi but thankfully we had our pocket wifi from Big Sky Nation! Not only was it a big help while we were on the go, it also proved to be useful during the power interruption! Whew!
Good thing it really lasts a long time; we weren’t able to charge it before the power interruption but thankfully it still had juice that night! Highly recommend it. (And if you’re thinking of getting the same, use my code SHEENATRAVELS to get 10% off your bill!)
Day 3: Shiding Thousand Island Lake, Ba Gua Tea Garden and Shiding Old Street Tour
On our 3rd day, we joined a tour with KKday called the Shiding Thousand Island Lake, Ba Gua Tea Garden and Shiding Old Street 1-Day Tour. It’s not far from Taipei but it sure looks like a world away.
It was a sightseeing tour where we got to see a beautiful lake and check out actual tea plantations. It was a wonderful break from the busy city scene in Taipei.
Some people consider sightseeing trips boring for kids but I beg to disagree. I believe that showing them how beautiful nature is heightens their appreciation for God’s creations.
We also got to visit Shiding Old Street where we spent an hour and a half leisurely exploring the area.
The place is famous for their Tofu Ice Cream so we didn’t pass up the opportunity to try it! Luke is averse to anything that looks milky so he vehemently declined my proddings to try it. Haha! It was really good though; like frozen soy milk!
I wrote a separate article about our experience there. Read more about our experience at this tour, here.
Book Shopping and Grocery
We finished the tour early and was back in Taipei around 3pm. We decided to drop by Eslite (my favorite huhu) to get some Chinese books for the kids. I always buy children’s books as souvenirs whenever I travel.
After that, we took a quick trip to a local grocery to buy some food items to bring home. By this time, Luke was already absolutely pooped and politely begged to be brought back to the hotel. Poor baby, huhu. So Luke and I took a cab with him and went back to the hotel, as Neil and Kim continued to explore the city.
Luke Chillin’ at the Hotel
Luke has been such a trooper throughout the trip and has been game for everything. But I guess his tiny little body was just so tired already. I changed him to his pajamas and he happily spent an hour lounging in our room, just writing away (his new favorite hobby)
By 5:30pm, we decided to go to the Horizon Club Lounge again (favorite spot haha!) and have an early dinner. He said he was too tired to go out already.
Can I just say that booking with Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel and getting the room with the lounge access has been one of the best decisions ever with regards to this trip? We really maximized our stay here and it was super worth it!
Anyway, Luke was knocked out at 7:30pm and that concludes Day 3. Haha!
Day 4: Shangri-La Hotel Tour
We were scheduled to leave the hotel at 12 noon to make it in time for our flight. So we decided to take it easy and left the morning free. We had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Having laksa for breakfast was THE BEST ENDING to cap off our trip!
Afterwards, we were treated to a hotel tour. We went around to see the different beautiful restaurants and facilities. As a fan of all things travel, this was very enjoyable for me!
My personal favorite spot was the rooftop where we were able to take in the beautiful view of the city. We weren’t able to visit the iconic Taipei 101 during this trip but the view from up here was more than enough!
It was a quick but memorable trip; exhausting (with Luke) but fun. I can’t wait to share more details about the different places we visited. Keep an eye out!
Bye, Taiwan! And if God wills it, we’ll see you again soon! Hopefully, with Mor and Dylan this time!
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