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Keelung-Taipei-Taichung-Puli-Cingjing , Little Swiss Garden, Green Grassland (Cingjing Farm)

Keelung-Taipei-Taichung-Puli-Cingjing , Little Swiss Garden, Green Grassland (Cingjing Farm)

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We woke up very early in the morning because we wanted to catch the 2nd train from Keelung at 5.33am, so that we could catch the first HSR in Taipei. We got up at 4.40am, washed our face and packed our luggage in rush, called the receptionist to help us book cab and eventually checked out from our hotel E-Coast Star Hotel at 5.00am.

We took the cab to Keelung train station, which is probably about 5-7 mins cab drive. We rushed to the ticket machine and bought our tickets for normal train. Surprisingly, we could make it for the 1st train, at 5.15am. I was so relieved!

We arrived in Taipei station at 6.00am. We then walked to HSR station. We witnessed the opening of HSR ticket counter. People were already queuing even before ticket counter was opened!

We then bought our HSR ticket to Taichung, leaving Taipei at 6.36am. We bought reserved seat tickets. Since we have spare time, we went to toilet as well as bought breakfast from convenient store inside HSR station. We then departed from Taipei to Taichung. We had our breakfast in the train.

Local train in Taiwan

I guess he is a fish seller, bringing his fish to market (on local train in Taiwan)

Taiwan HSR (Taipei to Taichung)

Interior of HSR train. We took HSR from Taipei to Taichung

Upon arrival in Taichung at 07.28, we ran in madness to find Nantou bus station because we wanted to catch 7.35am bus to Puli. We followed the signange pointing to bus, and walked down to the basement and went to gate 5.

There was already a long queue for Nantou bus but we are confused what is the destination for this long line. We asked nantou bus counter, the lady told us the direct bus to Cingjing is at 8.45, we didn’t want to wait for 1 hour, so we decided to buy ticket to Puli.

After that, we queued at Puli destination but it was a long queue; a few buses came but we didn’t get to the front of the queue, until 8.10am. We took 8.10am bus and arrived at Puli around 9.10am.

At Puli station, we bought ticket to Cingjing, leaving at 9.35am. This bus is the same bus that leaves Taichung HSR at 8.45am. The bus was already full when it arrived at Puli, I was so scared that we couldn’t get on this bus and had to wait another hour.

It was very stressful situation because we thought we have made a mistake by not taking direct bus from Taichung HSR at 8.45am. Fortunately we were allowed to get on the bus, but we had to stand for whole journey. I told myself: it’s better than waiting for another hour. So I sucked it in for an hour journey to Cingjing. The view along the way was magnificent though. (see tips at the end of the post regarding taking Nantou Bus to Cingjing)

When the bus arrived at Wushe, before Cingjing, we told the bus driver to drop us at our hotel location. The driver then dropped us at the middle of nowhere around 10.30am.

We were lost and couldn’t figure out where our hotel is. We stood at the road side and tried to search in Google maps.

Fortunately a taxi driver stopped by and asked where we wanted to go, we told him our hotel name and he pointed us to a signboard. We followed the direction on the signboard and eventually arrived at our hotel, Shan Shui-Yuan Vege Guest House, around 10.40am.

Yay we made it to Cingjing before noon! So glad that we made it in the morning.

Hotel signboard in Cingjing, Taiwan

The signboard full of Chinese characters, leading to our hotel (Shan Shui) at Cingjing. Foreigners who don’t read Chinese, definitely need local’s help!

We checked in hotel but were told that the room is not ready yet until afternoon. So we settled the paperwork, stored our luggage with the hotel, and asked receptionist about how to get around and where to go.

She explained that we could call a transport company and they would pick us at any location within about 5-15 mins. and they can bring us to anywhere in Cingjing, for a fee of TWD 50/person. We thought it was great price.

We then decided to call the pick-up service to go to Little Swiss Garden (see tips at the end of post regarding pick-up service). At the entrance of Little Swiss Garden, there is a restaurant (Carton King) and a 7-11 store. Constrained by budget, we chose to buy “bento” from 7-11. The cashier heated it up and we could eat at one of the tables outside 7-11.

And, there was a live performance going on. It was such a great lunch, with such a nice weather (cool weather) and such a nice atmosphere. I didn’t want to leave!

City Cafe in front of Little Swiss Garden where we had our bento lunch, accompanied by live performance

City Cafe in front of Little Swiss Garden where we had our bento lunch, accompanied by live performance. Such a great atmosphere.

Eventually we had to lift our lazy asses and buy tickets from Little Swiss Garden counter.

Tips: You want to get a chop on your hand, to allow you for re-entry.

The garden has well-manicured lawns and flowers. It was so neat, it was hard to find dead flowers. There is a pond in the middle that has water performance, watch out for performance timing in the brochure.

We saw the performance, it was simple, there was nothing much. I was awe-struck by the beautiful flowers. The cool weather made it nice to hang around.

I’ve been to 2 Disneylands before, and I’m definitely dreaming of a huge flower garden in a Disney-like park. Little Swiss Garden is a small garden, yet it’s such a perfectly-maintained garden. It is worth to visit this little garden.

Entrance fees and information for Little Swiss Garden, Cingjing, Taiwan

Entrance fees and information for Little Swiss Garden

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Water Performance

Water Performance at Little Swiss Garden, Cingjing, Taiwan

Water Performance

Duck at Little Swiss Garden, Cingjing, Taiwan

Duck Dance?

Little Windmill in the middle of the pond at Little Swiss Garden, Cingjing, Taiwan

Little Windmill in the middle of the pond

Manicured Lawn forming the words of Swiss Garden, at Little Swiss Garden, Cingjing, Taiwan

Manicured Lawn forming the words of Swiss Garden

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Mini Greenhouse

At Little Swiss Garden, Cingjing, Taiwan

At Little Swiss Garden

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At Little Swiss Garden

Little Windmill At Little Swiss Garden, Cingjing, Taiwan

Another Little Windmill

At Little Swiss Garden, Cingjing, Taiwan

At Little Swiss Garden

Time was ticking and we had to rush to Green Green Grasslands (some refers it to Cingjing Farm), for sheep performance at 2.30pm. We exited the swiss garden, walked to bus station across the road. There was already a queue for Nantou shuttle bus (only available on weekends and holidays) to go to Green Green Grasslands.

We joined the queue and paid TWD 20/person for the bus. At Green Green Grasslands, we bought ticket at entrance and go in directly to the sheep show area.

Tips: You want to get a chop on your hand, to allow you for re-entry.

Entrance fees and information for Green Green Grassland (Cingjing Farm), Taiwan

Entrance fees and information for Green Green Grassland (Cingjing Farm)

Map of Cingjing Farm / Green Grassland, Taiwan

Map of Cingjing Farm / Green Grassland

It was quite a long walk to the stage. Once at the stage, you want to scatter to find spot that is suitable for your height.

The show was started with introduction of the shepherd. Then the shepherd guided the sheep up the hill and back down to the cage near stage. He then shaved the sheep in front of the audience!

Sheep Show at Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

Leading the sheep to go up the hill – Sheep Show

Sheep Show at Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

Sheep on the hill

Sheep Show at Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

Sheep before shaving

Sheep Show at Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

Sheep during shaving

Sheep Show at Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

Sheep after shaving

After that, there was some other comedy performance and then that’s it. And the end of the show, visitors got to ride the horses for a few minutes by paying certain fees to the counter.

Visitor also got to touch and feed all the sheep. It was my first time touching and feeding them, it was amazing.

Sheep Show at Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

Feeding the goat after Sheep Show

Sheep Show at Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

Feeding the sheep after Sheep show

After that, we walked to Horse Show arena to watch horse show. The show mainly presented a few horsemen and women doing acrobatic moves while riding the horse round the stage.

Horse Show at Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

The Horse Show

After the shows, we explored the farm and took photos before walking back to bus stop to ride the shuttle bus back to Little Swiss Garden.

At Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

Misty Cingjing Farm

Windmill at Cingjing Farm, Taiwan

Windmill at Cingjing Farm

Feeling tired, we had early dinner at 7-11 at little swiss garden, re-enter little swiss garden, watched night water performance (which was exactly the same as the one in the day), called the pick-up transport, and went back hotel to have early rest.

Travel Tips:

I couldn’t find map for Taiwan local trains. The only way for me to plan for local train transportation is to go to their official websites, which are quite informative and interactive. You may visit https://tip.railway.gov.tw/tra-tip-web/tip?lang=EN_US

The official website for Taiwan HSR (High Speed Rail) can be found here: https://en.thsrc.com.tw/

In my opinion, pre-booking is not necessary as there are many trains in a day.

Map of Taiwan HSR (High Speed Rail)

Map of Taiwan HSR (High Speed Rail)

Travel Tips: 

To go to Cingjing from Taichung HSR, I highly recommend you to take Nantou bus from Taichung HSR (avoid transit at Puli), because the seats are on first-come-first-served basis. Hence, when Nantou bus stops at Puli, people who join the bus in Puli will have to stand on the way to Cingjing.

Also, if you transit at Puli, there’s nothing much to be done, except probably visit the nearby KFC. Puli is the middle point between Taichung, Cingjing & Sun Moon Lake.

Nantou bus will stop at many stops on the way to Cingjing. Therefore, you may ask your hotel what the nearest bus stop name is, and then inform your Nantou bus driver where you want to stop or just tell him your hotel name. The driver will announce to you when the bus arrives at your destination.

The bus also stops at Little Swiss Garden and Green Green Grassland. To check the timetable and price, you may visit their website at http://www.ntbus.com.tw/ To get a sense of direction, below is map showing location of Tai Chung, Puli, Cingjing, and Sun Moon Lake.

Location of Taichung, Puli, Cingjing and Sun Moon Lake (Taiwan)

Location of Taichung, Puli, Cingjing and Sun Moon Lake

The map of Cingjing with additional translation that I added:

Cingjing Map

Cingjing Map in Chinese

Cingjing Area Map in English (Taiwan)

Cingjing Area Map in English

Cingjing Farm Map in English (Taiwan)

Cingjing Farm Map in English

The easiest way to get around Cingjing is by calling the pick-up service. They charge a flat price of TWD 50/person, and they will pick you from anywhere in Cingjing and send you to your destination. This is the phone number of the pick-up service.

Pick up service around Cingjing, Taiwan

Pick up service around Cingjing


This is Part 4 of my “Taiwan Trip in 2015” series. Read other posts in this series in chronological order:

To see all articles I’ve written about Taiwan, visit my Taiwan page.

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Please share this article if you think it's awesome!

Sylvia

Tuesday 10th of December 2019

Hi,

Thanks for sharing, can I call the pick up service using whatsapp call? Anywhere as in I call the pick up service to fetch me from cingjing to Swiss garden?

Best Regards Sylvia

Eva

Wednesday 11th of December 2019

Sorry I'm not sure, maybe you can check with your hotel :)

jas fong

Saturday 19th of October 2019

hi Eva jas here, hope you can help me as mention in yr post long q for Cingjing direct bus can you remember which row to q for Cingjing direct bus tq

Eva

Sunday 20th of October 2019

Hi Jas, it was at Gate 5 at the basement. There were a couple of lines at Gate 5, so you need to ask the Nantou bus counter for the correct queue line.