Skip to main content

Kaohsiung Kids Friendly Itinerary Day 3 - Nantou > Xin Yue Tian Kong 星月天空 > Sleep Season House 山季节花园

Day 3: Check out Hoya Resort > Nantou > Xin Yue Tian Kong 星月天空 > Sleep Season House 山季节花园
Accommodation: 2 nights at Season Garden House 山季节花园

Time to set off to Nantou today, the temperature here is so much colder than Kaohsiung （10 degree difference) so do take note especially when you're travelling in winter.

- Hearty breakfast @ Hoya Resort, Sticky bean get to enjoy the kids' activities and playground at Hoya Resort hotel before we check out at 12 noon
- Called for a taxi to send us to Zuoying HSR Station, lunch and shop around the HSR station
- 3:30pm took HSR to Chang Hwa (1 hr)
- Xin Yue Tian Kong 星月天空 via taxi (30 mins, SGD22) - a place where you get up close with farm animals as they roam freely in the area, get to feed them, enjoy plenty of fresh air and a breathtaking view. They serve yummy steamboat as well, which is perfect for the cool weather higher up in the altitude.
- Check-in Season Garden House 山季节花园 read about our review here

After a hearty breakfast @ Hoya Resort, we let Sticky Bean enjoy the remote-controlled car racing game and played at the playground at Hoya Resort for a while till we officially checked out at 12 noon.

How to get Nantou via Zuoying HSR
Even though we could have taken the LRT / MRT to Zuoying HSR, taking a taxi is so much more convenient and the taxi charges in Kaohsiung were really reasonable so there's no reason to waste our energy travelling on public transport with our luggage.
Zuoying HSR was huge and look really new with proper directional signs, it's pretty easy to navigate and get to where you want.
There are also an abundance of lockers for you to deposit your luggage which we made good use of.
We purchased our HSR tickets only on the spot as we didn't want to commit to a specific timing prior hence we did not purchase the early bird tickets online. If you're very sure of your schedule, you may want to do an online purchase for the HSR tickets. Enjoy the early bird discount and skip the queue at the counter.

HSR ticket prices from Zuoying to Chang Hwa ( 1 hr journey)
  • Adults: NT$670 (SGD29.48)
  • Child: NT$335 (SGD14.74)
P/S: We took HSR to Chang Hwa instead of Nantou directly as it is nearer to our next destination, Xin Yue Tian Kong 星月天空

Very nice traffic light sculpture right outside Zuoying HSR station

We shopped around and had lunch at the mall attached to Zuoying HSR and were still a tad early for the train. 

 And so we waited and chillax while waiting for our high speed train.


Tip #6: Even though you can easily take an mrt to Zuoying HSR station but it's highly recommended to just take a taxi there especially when you're travelling with young ones, save your energy to have more fun later right?

Tip #7: If you're sure of your itinerary, then trying booking HSR tickets online, you can then skip the Q and enjoy an early bird discount if you book at least 1 week before. The HSR ticketing Q can get pretty long if you're travelling on a weekend.

Tip #8: Once you're at the boarding platform, take note of your train number and timing, they have trains stopping at the same platform at a 15 to 30 minutes interval and those are going to different places.  Being used to our MRT in Singapore, we simply boarded the next train that arrived at 3:15 pm and did not realise that this was not the train we're supposed to take which is scheduled at 3:30pm, it was only when the train was about to depart did I notice from the announcement that Chang Hua wasn't mentioned as one of the stops!!!


 Finally sitting comfortably in the HSR en route to Chang Hua.
Again, do pay attention to the station and get ready before the train stops at the station you want to alight. You'll need time to collect your luggage from the deposit area. The train very much operates like our MRT.
We made the mistake of waiting till the train pulls to a stop at Chang Hua station and was shocked to discover that other luggage was stacked on top of ours hence it took us a while to frantically get our luggage out and alight before the train moves off.

Phew, we managed to get off the train with our luggage in time

Xin Yue Tian Kong 星月天空
  • 540, Taiwan, Nantou County, Nantou City, 猴探井街146巷200號
Our destination here will be Xin Yue Tian Kong 星月天空, an amazing place up on a hill with fresh cool air and a unique concept where you can get up close with animals as well as have your meal there.

We took a taxi from Chang Hua station. It is a 30 minutes ride and the taxi fare costs around SGD20. They do charge an entry fee of NT$100 which can be used as a credit when you have your meals there.

Xin Yue Tian Kong 星月天空 only opens from 5:30 pm and the sun sets really early around 5:30 pm. So I was in a hurry to rush in and take as many photos as I could before the sunset.  This pisses Mr. Keir off a little. 

 A nice shot with popo at the entrance.
It gets really cold and windy here, we went back to the ticket counter where we deposit our luggage to get our windbreaker.

 Such a natural environment, so rustic.

Not forgetting your nature swing


Spot the real dog!




Too bad it's way too foggy up here so the photos ain't doing the place any justice at all. But the view from anywhere here is just so breathtaking. And oh my, all the way up in the hills, the air quality here is superb.


 Better take a couple more shots before the sun sets..


 There you go, the sun is almost done setting

 That's it. Night falls.

Sticky Bean love the swings all over this place. There were plenty of lighting structure as well since Xin Yue Tian Kong 星月天空 is meant to be operating after dark.

 Oh my gosh, my favourite Alpaca! You can purchase animal feed to feed these animals too. Sticky Bean had so much fun in this place, we spent 5 hours here!

 Apologies for the lack of quality night shots

 Animals up close, super close. The only trick to get the animals to come close to you is to have food in your hands. This little girl enjoyed feeding them and stroking them.


 Super duper up close right? Even Mummy tried to take a couple of selfie with the Alpaca. This Alpaca is always on the look out for food and it will stalk you around the place.

 Pretty lights with lots of greenery

 An abundance of koi's in the pond as well. You can also purchase fish feed from the vending machine there to feed the kois. They come so close to you, you can stroke the kois too.




 Lots of outdoor tables if you prefer to dine outdoors.


Couple shot time!

 Not sure what this animal is, but it is super friendly and allows you to go really close to it. At some point, it attempted to crawl on my hand as well.

 There's a live parrot show at 6:30 pm daily as well.


Crowd start to gather for the parrot show.

 Ok it's time to change my phone to one which takes better night shots.

 Sticky Bean fed most of the vegetables to these 2 little lambs. They'd stalk you around the grasslands and everywhere you go.




 It's milk feeding time for these little pups and it's free of charge. The staff encourages kids to come upfront to get a bottle and do the feeding.

 There's a roaming mini horse as well. Some other alpacas and horses were being caged up.












 Oh yea, you can climb up and cross these bridges.

 Finally, it's chow time! Their speciality here will be hotpot of course.

I would love to have my hotpot outdoors in the breeze. But it's way too cold hence we had ours indoor instead. The food is ok, I won't say it's super good but the ingredients were fresh and the experience here made up more than anything else. I will highly recommend this place to anyone with kids especially.

Quick Review Kaohsiung Child-Friendly Itinerary Day 3: This seemingly relaxing itinerary wasn't as relaxing as I thought it to be. Must be the travelling that sucks out most of my energy. Nonetheless, the revitalising fresh air and ultimate experience at Xin Yue Tian Kong 星月天空is really one of its kind and make up for the tiredness. We had so much fun we spent 5 hours here alone, taking our time and soaking in the freshness of the air.

You may also be interested in the following reads:
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Taiwan Kids friendly Accommodation with slides - not your usual list!

And so from a mere idea of bringing Sticky Bean with us to Taiwan, this idea was put into action with Singapore Airlines 70th Anniversary promotion where you get to pay only $70 for a child's ticket! Though it's not exactly the cheapest option for flying to Taiwan, we thought to pay a little more for better service and not to mention safety since it will be Sticky Bean's first time traveling on a relatively longer flight. Her first plane ride was a really short one to KL, a mere 1 hour away. If she's manageable on the flight, we can then consider budget airlines such as Scoot or even Jetstar for our subsequent travels. So why Taiwan? There are plenty of reasons for our choice other than both Mr. Keir and myself love Taiwan for the food and hospitality. I'm sure you may have come across Awesome kids friendly accommodation with slides and other themed rooms in Taiwan that are trending in facebook. That was one of the many reasons why we want to go Taiwan too!
9 comments
Read more

BTO Keys Collection and BTO Door Opening Ceremony

And so after a long 4 years wait, our BTO is finally ready for keys collection. To be honest we totally forgot about out BTO and was pleasantly surprised to receive an SMS from HDB to inform us of our BTO keys collection date. That was when we frantically tried to hunt for an ID. Ok to cut the story short, here's what happened on the BTO keys collection day as well as what we did for our "BTO Door Opening Ceremony". There really wasn't an official BTO door opening ritual or ceremony in fengshui. I guess this is just a Singapore custom. Though we do not have a religion, in particular, we just did it for an ease of mind. Love the  living room view from our 30th storey BTO view from our Service Yard BTO Key Collection Process at HDB Time took: less than an hour It was a very straightforward and easy process. Here's what you need to prepare, assuming that you are taking the loan from HDB. Identity cards Marriage certificate if you are buying
5 comments
Read more

8 Day 7 Night Kaohsiung Kids Friendly Iitnerary (Taiwan)

Finally, we embarked on an exploration trip to the Southern part of Taiwan. Having heard so much about E-Da World in Kaohsiung, we decided to take a direct flight just to explore Kaohsiung. Initially, we'd wanted to do a Kaohsiung-Tainan trip but decided to skip Tainan this time around and did a Kaohsiung-Nantou trip instead. We had so much fun and would highly recommend a visit to Kaohsiung to any families travelling with kids. In fact, we find Kaohsiung a lot more child-friendly than Taipei. It is also less crowded so it makes it less claustrophobic taking public transport in Kaohsiung as opposed to Taipei. The people there are also a lot friendlier and helpful. This time around, my mum joined us as well and Sticky Bean was ecstatic as she gets to spend quality time with her Popo. Here's a preview of our 8 Days 7 Night Kaohsiung Kids Friendly Itinerary (Taiwan) . You can click on the respective days for a detailed post. The link will be up once it's ready
Post a Comment
Read more