Taiwan Taoyuan Day 03

got up early to standby for our tour guide cum driver, sky, to pick us up at the hotel. dear was happy to finally meet up with his "girlfriend". *bleah* he claimed our holiday finally started with joshua and serena joining us.

石門水庫

there is no convenience store near our home stay area, hence the stocking up at 7-eleven for the 2 nights became priority.

simply love visiting zoos and animal farms. 花開了休閒農場 is a good place for those who like to be up-close and personal with pigs and ducks.

小烏來天空步道 admission is NT$50 per pax, included in our package. the waterfall was a disappointment though the see-through walkway was an experience. due to the structure of the walkway, i was not able to capture the full waterfall.

the journey time would have been two and half hours from zhongli if not for the stopovers at the attractions. it took us an hour and half to finally get to our home stay， 福緣山莊. awesome place!

address of the home stay

building where our rooms are located

the original allocated room which is on ground level

joshua and serena room

our room

莱茵

our favourite kilo

agogo & armani

unique decorations

our mode of transport during home stay period - courtesy of sky

dining room

dining area

delicious dinner prepared by 钟妈

recreation room

the interior

coffee & tea lounge

the interior

countdown to wedding day : 240

Taiwan Taoyuan Day 02

our preparation for pre-wedding shoot =)

our day started early at 7am. lily came by for our makeover, more of mine than dear's definitely. *bleah* my sweet dear got up early too and got me 爱心早餐 - the set (NT$105) includes fresh salad (with thousand island sauce at the side),  fried egg, 2 slices of ham, 2 sausages, 2 pieces of toasted bread with butter, 1 葱饼 with egg and 1 cup of coffee. dear had the last 2 items for breakfast and i stole a mouth of the green onion pancake with egg as i needed to look slim for the photo shoot. stomach was calling out to me after the 2nd location shoot and i had to devour my breakfast while on our way to the 3rd location. 
behind the scene shots by dear using samsung galaxy note 2

Daxi Flower Ocean Farm Ranch
Address : 27, Lane 1093, Section 1, Fuxing Road, 4 Neighbourhood, Fuanli, Daxi Township, Taoyuan County
Admission Fee : NT$100 per pax 

Pier
Address : Unknown
Admission Fee : Free

愛神。維納斯 
Address : Taoyuan City 335
Admission Fee : NT$500 per pax

our bridal package includes 5 hours of transportation, overrun is charged at NT$500 per hour.

special thanks to lily, rex and uncle driver for making all these possible. thank you lily for making my dear and me look so handsome and pretty. thank you rex for posing us and taking awesome pictures (have yet to view the shots but confidence came from the shoot itself). thank you uncle driver for ferrying us from point to point and for waiting. 

we can finally eat to our hearts content - zhongli night market re-visited!

all geared up for the night (dear was wearing 2 jackets =P)

our appetizer for the night - 原味 - NT$35 per piece

definitely need to have this craving satisfied - NT$40 per piece

we had 3 sticks - 咖哩, 番茄酱, 麻辣 - 3 for NT$50

dear finally had his 大肠包小肠 - 酸菜口味 - NT$60 per piece

fried century egg - 原味 - NT$50 for a set of 2 eggs

absolutely hard to resist - cakes at NT$10 per piece, breads at NT$20-25 per piece

milk with grass jelly and pearl - NT$30

dessert time - 招牌奶油 - NT$20 per piece

gummies for me! - NT$50

lost in a sea of cup noodles - my supper - NT$64

countdown to wedding day : 243

Taiwan Taoyuan Day 01

waiting to board at changi airport

touched down at taoyuan international airport near noon and clearing the immigration was a breeze. was expecting a crowd similar to hong kong international airport, but it turned out otherwise. due to the fast clearance, we waited at the belt for our luggage for a good 10 minutes. 

our 1st task at the arrival hall was to purchase the prepaid data sim. there are various tourist service counters on our right after we passed through the glass doors of the restricted area. there are 2 operators for telecommunication services and we chose taiwan mobile 台灣大哥大 as it will be good to have some additional value in the card for calling/sms purpose (more for communicating with parents back home). we purchased 10 day pass at NT$800. package includes unlimited data usage available for 10 days plus airtime NT$550. staff at counter was friendly and helpful - highlighted to us on how to make international calls and activating the data for us. 

after settling the data sim, we explored the bus station for buses to get to zhongli city. we found a service to zhongli rail station where we had to transit for another 30 minutes (walk plus public bus) to get to hotel kuva chateau. dear decided to be nice to me and we took a cab straight to our destination.  *beams*

the journey was less than 20 minutes and the fare was NT$550. we would have saved more than half the amount if we had taken the bus, but traveling time would have been more than double as well. nevertheless, thank you dear. *muacks*

hotel and room were very much within my expectations - old but well maintained as per mentioned in online reviews.

hotel kuva chateau

our room for the next 2 days

bathroom

decided to do away with our jackets

level 7 corridor

lift lobby

nice sculpture beside ground level lobby

according to my short research done the night before, there were limited things to do in this city. our 1st stop was to SOGO where we spent less than half an hour to explore all 8 floors. reasons being shopping was not part of my agenda for this trip and the toys department was a disappointment. 

proceeded for lunch at sushi express as per dear's recommendation. did not expect our 1st meal to be japanese but it was definitely value for money. 

free hot green tea and all plates were a flat NT$30 each

chanced upon a procession

it started to get a little chilly as opposed to the sun that greeted us when we landed. paid a visit to the park opposite the hotel whilst on our way back to grab our jackets. i was surprised by the number of locals who brought their kids and pets to the park within the 2 hours (the park was deserted looking when we passed by on our way out). 

guang ming park

asked for directions at the conceirge to the nearby night market only to realise it was so near the hotel and we missed it on the map. *sheepish look* took a short rest before our food hunt at 6pm. it was absolutely hard to resist all the yummy food but i had to do so in order to fit into the gowns tomorrow. guess i sort of succumbed to 50% of the temptations. *bleah* 

zhongli night market

dear ordered the normal taiwan sausage by mistake

a must try! simply love the peppery green onion filling *yums*

i finished it all despite having to watch my diet - need to say more?!

much as dear was stuffed, we shared a mini pearl milk tea =)

weather got a little too cold for us (light drizzle plus temperature drop) and we ended the night before 8. i already had my food list mapped out for tomorrow night as we left the night market.

contacted lily, our make-up artist cum coordinator for the shoot. the photographer and herself dropped by our room to discuss on the plans for tomorrow. dear found the photographer familiar and vice versa. he told us his chinese name and it did not ring a bell. was telling dear that he resembles rex from luv addict whom we were considering as our actual day photographer and he said he is rex! what a coincidence and i must say it was a pleasant one for me (at least for now). we are sort of expecting certain standards judging from his works which i have been following. *keeping fingers crossed*

countdown to wedding day : 244