Sunday, May 31, 2009 @ 8:15 PM
Taiwan Day 5 (Monday)
Taiwan Day 5 (Monday)-Tomita Farm 富田花园农场 www.tomita.com.tw
-Zhong Xiao Fu Xing
-Eslite
This post would probably be the most picture choked one.
The day started out with us catching our HSR train at Taipei Main station.
We had purchased our tickets the day before,
NT$400 for 2 persons return tix. 1030AM & 10PM
Apparently, during non-peak periods, there is a discount.
The HSR is LOVELY.
If possible, I would very much love to sit it again to any destination on my next trip to TW.
The boarding platform , the lady in an orange skirt is the train staff.
We were heading to Taoyuan for Tomita farm!
The inside of the train
Your tickets have the seat numbers. Thus you most definitely will have a seat.
They even have a snack trolly! X) HOW COOL IS THAT! Oh and best thing of all? There were TOILETS on the train.
My awesome aviators that my bf kept stealing from me to wear. At the end of the day BF dropped it on the ground and there was a scratch on the reflective surface =(
En route to Taoyuan.
You can see that the area gets less and less congested with buildings and traffic and slowly becomes more and more rural and more towards farm lands.
I do not know why, but Taoyuan seemingly seems to be naturally cold, maybe it's because of the cloudy weather.
My BF wants a "Kiss & ride", thats why he ran over to the sign, you want to give him? HEHEHEHE
Taoyuan HSR station
BF says hi, at the shuttle bus station beside Taoyuan HSR station.
There will be a few shuttle bus routes, I suggest before you go, print a copy of directions or the address and map of Tomita farm in CHINESE , and make sure the font is big like a size 16. Luckily I did that, and managed to point the farm and address out to various people to ask them for directions and they will point you to the bus to take and when you board the bus, remember to ask the uncle as well.
1st bus I took from the Taoyuan HSR station, platform 4, was to be ridden right to the very end where there will be another small bus interchange, that will be Taoyuan terminal.
F-O-C
2nd, take another bus to daxi 大溪 bus terminal. The trip will be about 45mins.
Bus to daxi
Fare approx NT$50 for 2 persons.
3rd, board a bus to tzuhu 竹湖 ( I think its written this way?).
It will bring you to Tomita Farm.
However, Bf & I boarded a cab at Daxi and the fare was about NT$160 which was pretty worth it as we stopped directly outside the gate.
So in total:
- There are 3 bus rides to take if you want to go by bus all the way, or you could be like us, just take a cab for the last leg when you're in daxi.
Daxi was pretty charming in its way, but also pretty scary.
Scary to think that if I grew up in a place like that what would life be like.
It was rather rural, plenty of crop land, and the occasion city bustle but every block we seem to go past seems to be closed.
Finally,
our destination! TOMITA FARM!
Follow the white picket fence!
Main entrance, entry fee NT$100 per person, fully redeemable at the cafe inside.
The farm was breathtaking. A LOT of couples were there taking their wedding shots, and we can see why, it was just so... picturesque!
Aiyah, let the photos do the talking.
The main reason why I insisted on Tomita Farm.
Lavender.
The weather at Tomita farm was quite cooling. Was rather pleasantly surprised! Thought it was going to be a warm day too.
KIDS!
A kid is a young of a goat if you still didn't know.
They were allowed to wander and roam freely throughout the entire farm.
Kid says hi!
Kids' relatives, fenced in.
Duck says, "WUT!"
Quite a few duck in the pond!
We say HI!
Reason I look so weird was because I just knocked my ankle into the damn bench. Thus my pose.
Their pond area.
With a jetty no less!
They even had this really cute tool shed that looks like a gnome's cottage.
and swings on trees! MY FAVE.
Old school water pump.
Some forest. Someone please translate for me HEH! :3
Spot BF & I!
Getting out of the forest again back to Tomita,
Rustic tool shed~
BF trying to lure the kids to take pictures.
BF failing miserably.
Me, trying to lure the kids.
Me, successfully doing it.
Fave picture,
This one too,
coz he looks like a dumb ass kid. HAHAHAHAHA.
Cottage in the distance.
Back near the Tomita House.
Tomita House entrance
Going up the stairs to the cafe.
Greeted by these.
Had their black forest cake and lavender milk tea.
The milk tea is definitely a must try! Rather unique I must say!The entire tea is infused with a hint of the flower, not too overpowering too.
We say hi again!
After our small tea break, we ran for Leofoo Village only to realise it was closed.
I stupidly suggested taking a cab back to Taoyuan HSR and the total bill was NT$1200.
BF was nagging at me all the way like crazy but I was like, we're tourists, we don't know the way back so anything k!
On the way back to Taoyuan HSR,
We saw this really weird house!
Was kinda intrigued by it!
Well, after our failed Leofoo plans were scrapped, we decided to head over to Zhong Xiao fu xing again to walk around.
Decided to give this place a go.
Room 4 dessert
Very small shop,
See?
However their desserts are AWESOME.
This is mine, the pastry was incredible, you can taste the egg glaze, it was puffy and crispy. Not too sweet as well. Lovely.
Fruit parfait except its frozen yoghurt instead.
FRESH FRUIT people, in liberal amounts. FRESH FRUIT!
Total spent for both of us max NT$500.
They will serve ice water with a tang of lemon in it. Just nice to balance out any excessive sweetness.
BF was flipping through mags, and suddenly showed me this page saying that Linda last time was so pretty, now don't know what happen.
While his eye was on the girl, mine was on the excerpt.
Turns out she visited the place before! And she happened to like it very much.
Last stop of the day!
ESLITE.
I'm sorry there aren't anypics for these but let me tell you thise,
the only things you will find worth getting there would be chinese magazines.
I find that their English magazines were almost similar to ours in pricing and their stationary was nothing to scream about unlike the korean ones I always purchase.
Their lomo camera range was SO EXPENSIVE that I reeled my hand back in terror when the person told me the price.
Not worth it, so expensive =\ however, the entire building there are several storeys ,if you are wide awake at night and have nothing to do, this is a pretty good place to go nooky nooky around.
