beautiful places in japan

was just randomly surfing on facebook & came across this link on "30 resaons to go japan before you die", there are numerous of these kind of links but so far this is the first link that i saw which focus solely on japan.... japan is 1 of the top visited places in the world by tourists & is definitely my favourite travel place.... the place is so clean & people are generally polite & nice.... i know there is alot of political issues going on between japan & china but personally i dont care about the politics part since no government is perfect... for me, i only care about the shopping & sightseeing.... so back to this post... if you click on the links, there are many beautiful pictures about different places in japan.... below are my personal favourites... (all photos were taken from www.tsunagujapan.com/c/view/en/2213)

Icicles of Misotsuchi / Saitama

 my god... the different shades of blue is so nice!!!! is like an ice castle!!!

Firefly Squid Spawn / Toyama

 beautiful sight... i think mauritius also has this kind of beach

Shirakawa-gō / Gifu

my lab mate went to this place before & he said it was absolutely stunning place... really want to go there this year.... imagine staying in those little huts... so lovely!!!

Blue Pond / Hokkaido

 so clear blue that it looks fake

Kawachi Fuji Garden/ Fukuoka

this is definitely my FAVOURITE!!!! imagine you have the wedding photoshoot there... omg!!! how romantic can it get!!! but nah... no $ to do that.. haiz...

Mifuneyama rakuen / Saga

 i absolutely love the colours on this landscape.... is like something out of a picture!!!

Bicchū Matsuyama Castle / Okayama

 this is like super dreamy ok....

Kurobe Gorge Railway / Toyama

again... lovely colours.... i think autumn has really nice colours, everything look so nice with the maple leaves....

this is what i mean.... so many pretty sites.... how can you not go & see them!!!! after looking at the pretty pictures, i think it kind of help with the monday blues... give you motivation to work harder & save $ to travel =)

Day 4 - 清境

*back dated entry*

woke up pretty early today since we need to take the van up to 清境.... was really excited as from the picture i saw online & my friend description, the place really seem very nice... & what make me even more excited is that these few days the temperature will dropped & it snowed at 合欢山!!! I am like OMG!!! i can see snow!!!!....

so anyway... we booked a van up to 清境 which cost 450NT per pax... actually there are quite a number of companies that provide transport up the hill so can always take a look online... the reason why we chose this company was just that it was recommended by one of the 民宿site that i saw.... so we waited outside 達欣商旅 (the hotel next to 台中火车站） at 9am but the driver was late... like wth.... but fine, at least he called to inform us that he will be late...

waiting for the bus, in front of you will be the bus interchange

the ride was approximately 90min, not really bumpy so dont need to eat any motion sickness pill unless really necessary.... we then checked into 摘星花園山莊...

hotel interior... quite cozy

just outside the hotel

outside area

apparently there are 2 starvilla but the chinese names are different for the 2 hotels... 摘星is somewhere in the middle of the hill, i would say is at the lower end of the hotels but is still very cold!!!! if i didnt remember wrongly, the temperature was only like 4degree.... although i always go inside cold room, which is also 4degree, it is nothing like 4degree in winter somemore up the mountain.... since we arrived early, we just deposited our luggage then the owner drove us to the tourist attractions...

the main tourist area

some cute sign

one of the important 7-11 cause no other convenient stores in the area

so for our lunch, we went to try 纸箱王... the place is really unique... everything is made of carton....

carton post office

train made of carton

even effiel towel

of cause not forgetting tables and chair... so cute....

the menu... kind of limited but hey... you are going for the environment, not the food

carton deco

even baby chair also made of carton... really cool

my bf lunch... utensil also paper

my lunch... steamboat set... the hokkaido milk broth was really nice and sweet

i would say the food there was slightly pricey... average about 400NT per pax + 10% service charge for a set meal but i think is ok to try once... the food was also not bad either so why not.... then if each person spent more than 300NT then you will have a complementary entrance ticket to little swiss garden....

neko...

the swiss garden

some deco at the green house

we saw rainbow!!! yeah!!!

the lake

i would say there was not much for the swiss garden but i think is nice to have a walk just after a meal... due to time constrain, we had to go for high tea despite just finished lunch about 2hr ago.... so we walked down the very steep hill cause the next bus would be like 40min later... like so wth... so we walked and also exercise some of the food away...so we arrived at the 老英格蘭莊園 for their famous high tea

really have the english manor feel

the carpark outside the manor

scenery outside

inside the restaurant

the display fireplace

the food!!!

not really a high tea person but the ambience there was really nice.... can act high class... haha... food wise was not bad either but on the pricey side... 450NT per pax + 10% service charge... but again... for the ambience... as we were still pretty full... we actually tabao most of the food back for dinner/supper... due to the cold weather, we were lazy to explore the place any further so we bought cup noodles + some snacks from 7-11 back to the hotel for our dinner & also get more rest to prepare ourselves for the sunrise....

our room

spacious toilet

view outside the room

another view

the room was pretty neat... very spacious.... but the bad thing was that, there was no heater service so the room was very cold.... so most of the time, we were hiding beneath the blanket... but still very cold... so we put in heat pad to heat up the blanket.... 

loot for the day

tabao high tea

 so after dinner, we went to sleep about 10pm cause we had to wake up about 3am to catch sunrise!!! which will be in the next post =)

Day 3 taichung - shopping

*back dated entry*

today we went to try something new = DIY 太阳饼!!! i am quite interested in baking so i really look forward to do some DIY stuff in taiwan... my friend made a booking with 九个太阳 as i think they are one of the store, if not the only store that allow customers to DIY their own 太阳饼....

the famous 九个太阳 store

the store is actually next to some bank.. i think 1-2 stops after the 火车站, is a walkable distance

 for the DIY 太阳饼 class, each person need to pay 150NT but you will get back 8 太阳饼, so indirectly you are buying them.... the good thing about this class is that, is free & easy meaning they will open a class even with just one person but i believed there will be a quota for a specific timing too.... the classroom is situated at basement, just beside the store... i was really excited when i stepped into the kitchen but the actual thing was slightly disappointing... i was expecting to start making from scratch but actually all we did was to roll the dough, put the filling inside & flatten the dough.... that's it... the whole process probably took about 5-10min.... but oh well... at least tried something new

my master piece

after flattening the dough, you will just leave it there and come back about 1-2hr later to collect it...

final product... 2 more 太阳饼 from the chef demonstration so 150NT for 8 太阳饼

while waiting for 太阳饼, we went to tried the 日出ice cream... the last time my bf went to taiwan, i ordered their cakes & some pineapple tart, i think the taste was ok but packaging is amazing!!! super nice!!!

one of their popular outlet

the store interior

nice packaging

different types of chocolate

more chocolates!!!

looks like book shelves right??? NO!!! they are not... those "books" are the different packaging...

really love their packaging... wanted to buy some stuff but as all the food are perishable, we cant buy any since still have another 10days before we fly back to SG.... but... we went to try their ice cream

another outlet, just down the road

all the different ice cream!!!

the different types of toppings

all the flavours

really spoil for choices.... but in the end we chose chocolate & mulberry with cheesecake, pineapple tart & shortbread topping

tada, my ice cream

i think the ice cream tasted just average but i do like the large variety of flavours to choose from...

after we went to the city hall area to see some bear display that my friend wanted to see... again.. we took bus  #88 to mitsukoshi....but first... fill our stomach

lunch

is some dumpling with glass noodle thing we found at mitsukoshi basement... one of the cheapest food there, about 150NT/pot... 2 pots is enough for 3 pax but may not be the super filling kind... after that was the search for the bears...

some of the bears photos that i took... after awhile i lost interest... according to my friend, there are supposed to be 121 bears in 4 locations... my friend really took picture of all the bears she can find... super hardcore ar....

after digging for the bears, we were tired & went to a nearby shopping center for dinner... it was 新时代广场 or something, just behind the train station.... inside there have carrefour & quite a large variety of stores which we were too lazy to explore...

dinner... 99NT

loot for the day

mayuyu coffee!!! yeah!!!

so that ends our day.... more of just roaming around... we went back to hotel early to pack up & rest as tmr we have to wake up early to go 清境！！！