Tuesday 21 November 2017

Taichung - Flower Market, Carton King and Earthquake Museum

Day 5 at Taichung was really exciting for us! We covered 4 attractions within a day. It was quite well paced though.

We hired a driver for a full day tour to 中杜花市,纸皮王, 921 Earthquake venue and 官原眼科。

1.  中杜花市 (ZhongShe Flower Market)
If you love flowers and photography, this is a must go! It is a very colourful place for sightseeing. A place where we get to appreciate beautiful structures and figurines blended with nature and flowers. However, if it rains, this may be one you want to scrape off your itinerary. It will get you all wet and muddy while navigating this place on a rainy day. Slippers is then a good attire. It was slight rain on us, which we decided to proceed.

Not only does rainy days wreck good photos, it makes photography inconvenient. Spot the extremely muddy ground. I had to disregard it to take my desired pictures.


 




You can tell, I was the only model available for photography. The kids were too fussy about getting soiled. The only family picture was taken because there were raised steps, and there was an agreed deal to carry them without touching mud. Pampered kids, I know! But I will do anything to get good family pictures.

So yes, there were beautiful sunflower blooms in the month we visited, June. It didn't take us long in there, and while making our way out, we bought honey. It tasted really good, which we had to lug 2 bottles home. Samples will be given for tasting.




中杜花市
Address:
421, Taichung City, Houli District, 三豐路五段333號
Tel︰ 04-2557-6926
Operating hours:
9:00am to 6:00pm


2. 紙箱王 (Carton King Creativity Park)
This is one place that will be fun for kids. As the name spells, everything in there is made of cardboard! It really is like a cardboard museum. Upon entry, we were given play cards to collect stamps at various stations within. Upon completion, a little gift will be given.

 

And then there's a slide within for play. It was wet, but the boy brilliantly got on to play because he knew he was on a raincoat. In this outdoor garden is also where you can spot some extremely well fed squirrels. Caged up.
 
 

If it isn't raining, you have to get on their train for a ride. Additional fee applies. It really is a surprise to find that the train is made of cardboard too! Train service was not operating on us. Big miss for the kids!

A tour within their restaurant impressed us much. You will spot tables and chairs made of cardboard, even baby high chairs too! They do look as sturdy as wood. And this Darth Vader did bring some delight to the boy.




Waiting bench in cardboard too! Only thing, their toilet can't get into that of a cardboard form.



Their gift shop is a different kind of place to shop too. Mostly and impressively cardboard related. It is a great place to find novelty gifts. This whole place is full of fun and surprises, it is one that will be enjoyed much by both kids and adults. There is also a restaurant and snack area within, where we tried fried mushrooms at the mushroom hut. It was great tasting.

It may be a good place to lunch within with their interesting range of cutlery and utensils, but we researched that their food was rather average. We moved out for lunch instead. We had lunch at Bamboo-Country Restaurant, which was some good rice serve in a bamboo bowl with very affordably priced dishes.

It was a very sumptuous spread without damaging the pockets. And that bamboo bowl that they served our rice in can be brought home as souvenir! It is serving as a good pencil holder for us.


I find that their seafood isn't as good as our local restaurants, the non-seafood dishes will be a safer choice.




紙箱王 (Carton King Creativity Park)
Address: 台中市北屯區東山路二段2巷2號
No. 1, Lane 281, Section 3, Xitun Rd, Xitun District, Taichung City, Taiwan 407
Tel: 04-22398868
Operating hours: 9:00am to 21:00pm (Throughout the year)


Bamboo-Country Restaurant
Address: 台中市北屯區東山路二段1號
No.1, Sec2, Tung-Shan Rd.,
Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C
Tel: 04-22394321
Operating hours: 11:00am - 2:00pm  5:00pm to 8:00pm



3.  921 Earthquake Museum
Our original plan of doing Cingjing farm didn't workout. No thanks to the rain. If weather has been unkind, it will be good to check if it's open on the day you visit. We think it will be one interesting place to go if you have kids along. Great place to view farm animals and agricultural farming.

We then adjusted our itinerary to visit the 921 Earthquake Museum instead. It was with consideration to get the kids know more about Geography. Learning gets better with sights and evidence right. So yeap, the museum was an eye opener for us. 921 came about when a massive earthquake struck the central part of Taiwan on 21 September 1999. Many lives were lost, with properties and schools badly destructed in this worst natural disaster recorded. Their government preserved the aftermath and turned it into an educational museum to inform on disaster readiness.

The place is mostly sheltered with some parts outdoor. A perfect fit for any rainy day. Most readings and sharing in the museum were written in Chinese and English, but some were barely good enough for kids to read, even after translation.

On site was a school, Guangfu Junior High that was severely damaged by the quake, and here's an aftermath of their field track that raised up to 1.2 meters high. If I recalled correctly.



We had many opportunities to talk to the kids about fault lines, raised river beds, construction foundation and ethics. Yes, we witnessed some buildings built with oil tins as foundation. So unethical! It all helps much when you have a civil engineering trained husband to do the talking.





We love it that there were some hands on experiments within for kids to explore. They learnt and experimented on building the most stable building, experimented on the impact of mud slide as well as a few other fun stations.



It was also interesting that they have a Quake Experience Theatre. There are limited seatings to it, so be early! The theatre allows us to know what it feels like in a strong earthquake. It was not extremely intense and I had Juboy with me, so it was actually mild and manageable. Audiences will all be seated. And it was a good, like real experience for us to go through.

There was also a 3D theater show which was rather slow moving for us. I took opportunity to nap. Heh. The kids enjoyed it though.
After the end of the tour, we felt extremely blessed and thankful to be living at where we are! Disaster free.


921 Earthquake Museum
Addrress: 1 Guancian Rd., Taichung, TW
Tel: +886-4-23226940
Operating hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm (Tuesday to Sunday)


By the time we covered 3 locations, it was already near evening. We made use of some before dinner time to visit 宮原眼科 Miyahara. Nope, it's not an eye clinic, but a beautiful embellished place (Harry Potter feel) where you can find Taiwanese gourmet snacks and food, a place for souvenir, scoop of ice cream, high tea or even dinner. Reservation may be required if you visit on a weekend.

 

A good place to taste their snacks will be at the restaurant on the upper level. As a patron of course. While we intended to have only snacks and ice cream, we ended up with a slightly heavier meal because there was a minimum spending per person.

Good food nonetheless. Their pineapples cakes and butter bear cookies are really good! A place where I would go back just to get cookies, if I ever come by again.




Their gift snacks are beautifully packed with novelty and some, with a nostalgic feel. It is a great place to get souvenirs for families and friends.


After moving from place to place, it was nice to finally sit and rest our bodies with some good food. Which also naturally became an early dinner for us. 


宮原眼科 (Miyahara) 
Address: 
No. 20, Zhongshan Rd, Central District, Taichung City, Taiwan 400
Opening hours: 10:00am to 10:00pm


That ended our day and we made our way back to the hotel. The man and I sneaked out for more food at the night market. Thankful for my Mum who stayed with the kids.

After 2 nights in Tai chung, we moved on to Leofoo resort and 三峡。Next and final post!

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