DAY 4

Starry Minsu -> Evergreen Grassland (Horse + sheep show) -> last steamboat dinner at Starry Minsu


李大哥 told us that sunrise can be seen at 6.25am, but during our stay there, the morning sky was quite foggy. And it persisted since 6am, though it was brighter than in Singapore at the same time.

view from our balcony

Address of Starry Minsu

海芋花

Guestroom @ minsu

We were served breakfast of 2 toast peanut butter + walnut bread, a small bread with ham/cheese stuffing, sunny side up egg, a bowl of fruits (Guava, pineapple, yellow watermelon, banana, papaya) and English Tea with milk.

Of all 9 days of breakfast in Taiwan, this breakfast is arguably the best. Tasty, nutritionous, appetizing!

Breakfast!

We then took some photos with 李大哥 and 'played' with Do Bii!

we left the minsu at 9am onboard 李大哥‘s car for Greengreen grassland. My family was his only passengers for that morning as the other groups of people have their own hired drivers. Its about 5-10 mins ride to Green green grassland! 

* MUST MUST BRING SUNBLOCK! We did apply sunblock halfway through, but it was too late, we suffered sunburnt/Chao ta! However generally the weather was quite cold. Meaning, chilly weather + sun, little perspiration though!

Green green Grassland!

First up, we bought admission tickets @ NT100 and NT200. My sister and I had the youth travel pass, in which we are able to obtain the tickets at half price! But do not, each youth travel pass is entitle to only one discounted ticket.

Admission ticket

We went to watch 绵羊剪毛秀first, then proceeded to watch a horse show at 10.45am.

It was quite a walk, around 5-10minutes to 绵羊剪毛秀 venue.

Do note that only the two shows are only available on weekends and perhaps public holidays. So do enter Cingjing web to check uphand to prevent disappointment! There are two show times for 绵羊剪毛秀: 9.30am and 2.30am. While for the horse show its 10.45am and 3.45pm.

 绵羊剪毛秀 about to start

With a whistle from the Shepherd, the herd of sheep run down from their holding area to a small gate at the front stage. It was a spectacular view. They are supposed to run down to an enclosure at the front stage, but along the way some sheep lost their way and went into the crowd creating interaction between us and the sheep!

RUN RUN!

We were told by the Australian shepherd that we can easily know the age of the sheep by counting its teeth. For example, 2 teeth =1 year old, 4 teeth =2 years old. He then live demo the clipping of sheep fur.

Before

After

Dont be afraid that the sheep might not withstand the cold temperature after losing its fur, as the process will produce oil and it has a layer of fat underneath its skin to insulate itself. The oil act as insulation purpose too.

Spot the horses among the crowds for horse ridding after the show!

They even toss out the sheep furs to the audience who love to keep them. Nearing the beginning of the show, the shepherd cum host of the show called for a helper from the audience. The 'helper' came from Hong Kong and he was quite shocked at a point of time when the sheep took flight and ran about the stage with him on its back!

The whole demonstration cum show lasted around 45 minutes and we moved straight to 观山牧区 for the horse show at 10.45am. There were useful directions along the way to guide us to the place!

The four horses and the jockey

The four young talented performers on the horse back are from kazakhstan (哈萨克). 
They were trained from young at below 10 years old. The guy performer at the extreme left of the photo is only 16 years old!
The exhibit daring, skillful and professional moves on the horse back. Some of their moves might even pose to be a threat to their live if there's any unfortuanate mishap.

It lasted around 30 mins and we are able to feed the horses at a price of NT50 per packet of carrot pieces. There were 4 horses and 2 ponies. Had my first experience at feeding horses and i must say, some of the horses eat quite cleanly while some salivate and spit out carrot residues. But overall it was a memorable experience! Before i know, I have already ran out of carrots to feed them!

Feeding the horse

But never pinch your hand while feeding the horses as they will just treat your fingers as food. But dont worry, I am sure the horses are very friendly, and they dont bite!

One of the female performer with her horse

Horse Stable

There's a water hose behind the stables, available for washing after feeding the horses.

after the horse show

Our stomachs were growling by then and we walked to Cingjing main 市集 for our lunch. We had our taste of Bamboo rice (竹筒饭）there. We bought 3竹筒饭 for NT 60 each and a plate of bee hoon/noodle for NT50. We recommend you to give the bamboo rice a try!

竹筒饭

Mix beehoon/noodle

菜单

There are quite a few fruit stores and many stores selling 臭豆腐/some '酸菜豆腐'. 

人参果

水梨

菜

The right side of the photo above, leads to this souvenir shop. We bought ice cream of pint size for NT50. What makes it special is it is made from sheep milk. We personally do not quite like it due to its strong 羊臊味。 

Ice cream @ NT50

I personally kept the cover as i have a liking for its cute design!

We continued and roam around the rest of the green pastures.

Nice mountainous view

Animal feed for Sheep can be bought at vending machine for NT20 per packet. There's one at NT10 per packet, but we feel that the more expensive choice appeared to be a better feed for the sheep. The machine will pour out green 'pills' and you have to use the paper bag provided to collect the pills. 

Feeding method is the same as feeding a horse.

Meh-meh feeding time!

Herd of sheep looking for food about the green pasture

The grass look quite dry though, doesn't look appetising for the sheep!

Halfway through, around 2pm-nearing the final sheep show time, a shepherd came with the whip. I guess the whip produces some resonance when hit on the ground which serve as a signal for the sheep to retreat to their original base in preparation for upcoming show performance.

Shepherd with the whip

still chasing the sheep

 However some sheep still 'crept' back to the feeding area for food. The shepherd was strict and strike his whip on the ground again. Notice that the path in which the sheep run coincide with our walking pathway. One has to be very careful while walking on the pathway, as there's a plentiful amount of fresh stools(Yuck!).

As we close our last feeding of animals experience at Taiwan, we hiked the 'Great wall Walkway'. Yes, Not 'China' but walkway. It certainly train your leg muscles, be prepared to walk for quite a long stretch of paths in the form of uphill/downhill slope and stairs. However, its very rewarding as you experience a mini 'forest' walk and it puts you a closer step to nature. Photos along the walkway will not be shared here for an even rewarding experience for potential travellers visiting the walkway.

The Great Wall Walkway

We exited green green grassland and headed towards the tourism centre and 民生果園山莊. We thought that 民生果園山莊 is a fruit farm, however it turns out to be an accomodation place. Still, we managed to buy some fruits - 水蜜桃(peach) there. The shop owner planted it herself and the fruit just melt in our mouth. It's that sweet and ripe!

From there, we walked back to 国民宾馆basement to shop as recommended by our minsu owner. We regretted not buying its cuttlefish as it smelled really nice. Will try it on our next visit (if any). Instead, we bought a box of muachee in which we can mix and match the flavours. 

Muachee for NT 180

There's around 15 flavours to choose from, oh and it needs to be consumed within 15 days. We ate some on the spot and as compared to mua chee which we bought during the later days, this fared the worst despite its colourful appearance. Perhaps due to its absence of fillings, we do not have a liking for the muachee.

This time 李大嫂 drove us back to our minsu. 

We had our dinner after washing up, this time our soup base is 养生药膳补汤。Tastier than previous day's soup. There's the homely feel that we cannot ignore and there's a lot of herbs used in brewing the soup.李大嫂辛苦你啦! Ingredients wise it remains the same.

Lets tuck in!

It was an extremely foggy night...

Just before having our dinner

We couldn't even see the surrounding mountains/buildings. Like mentioned before, there wasn't much night activity especially with this cold weather of 15 degree celsius, we retreated back to our room after dinner and on the heater connected to our beds. 

Lights out at 9 + after we snuggle into our thick warm sheets...

Side-note:

Taiwanese tend to have very good environmental education, largely attributed to the support by the government. Bin with dividers (paper, plastic, non recyclable materials) is a common sight in Taiwan. Do bring a bag with you when shopping around the malls in Taiwan in general, as some shops will impose a cost of NT1 or 2 for each plastic bags given out. At the night markets, there's hardly any rubbish bin seen however, their roads in the night market is ridiculously clean. Or rather, free of significant piles of rubbish. They seem to have the habit of bringing a plastic bag around to contain their rubbish in which they will tie up and bring home to throw. We applaud their effort in the successful environmental education!