Rainbow Village , Taichung - Taiwan Travel blog 2019

Rainbow Village is one of top of the list of Instagrammable places in Taichung. 
The place looks so cute and so vibrant in colours. I felt when I first saw it there should be a story behind this. And yes indeed, There was it started from a Grandpa who wanted to save his village from demolition. 
It was formerly known as Caihongjuan Village, it was built for veteran soldiers in the city. Around 1,200 houses were built in the village. As time passed the place become desirable and developers got interested to buy it. However, Grandpa Huang, one of the resident didn't want to leave his home and begun painting his house colourfully and with comic characters and animals for protest. He told his neighbours to do the same. His story attracted attention to many and was able to save part of the village. There were only 11 remainder houses in the village and it was called Rainbow Village.

Mr. Huang fought in the Republic of China army and fled to Taiwan in the 1940s. It is said that he still resides in the village and sometimes makes an appearance and presents his artwork to the visitors. He actually has a small corner with a table and some ink on the village. There was a coin souvenirs machine which we saw. We didn't get to see Grandpa Huang.

This Grandpa Huang little Corner with his photo behind us (oops, you can barely see him).

Click below for my Raw Vlog on this place.

The Rainbow Village is actually in Taichung and part of the Day tour we took. However, if you want to go and see this place you can take the Taipei High-Speed Rail the journey will take around 40 minutes from the Major Main Taipei Stations.

Be reminded to always check the timings of the Trains. Click HERE

You can book in advance the train ticket through kkday here  or Klook App.
Tours are offered through kkday and Klook App. 
However, our day tour was book through FB page MGA PASYALAN SA TAIWAN by Joven CLICK HERE

Entrance is free you can support by giving donations or buying souvenirs from here.

This our photos and story from the Rainbow village.
Budget Reality checked we didn't spend any money here as already part our tour of the day.
Will see you on the next and last destination of our Taichung Day tour package in awhile.
Have a colourful day!

Miyahara, Taichung Day Tour- Taiwan Travel blog 2019

After a sumptuous lunch from a live cooking Taiwan style restaurant (the name we don't know, hahaha!!). Kuya driver told us we will go to Famous Ice Cream Shop. And you know what, we all replied to him we don't want dessert. And then we told Ms. Itinerary aka Cielo to clarify the destination. Kuya Driver was not actually fluent in English however he was pleasant so in the end, we just follow him.

When we stopped, he said to cross the street  (pointing to an old building) and then he said "good for photos and buy ice cream", at the end of the hall, we just follow him. No harm and we saw from afar that people are lining up and there was a queue.

Even though we have no idea what this place was, as soon as we enter we were awed and amazed. It's kinda ice cream shop, chocolate shop, pastries shop, library, hospital all in one theme.

It is actually an old brick house and during the Japanese occupation, it is an ophthalmology clinic owned by the man named Miyahara. So I guess that's were the named of the shop derived from. The chocolates, pastries, mochi or whatever on display has a good presentation and packaging are so rich of the culture of Taiwan (that's what I felt when looking at them). We didn't try to buy as it looks expensive and we are on a challenge budget trip. As we are challenging ourselves for how much we can stretch our money (for a change this time).

This place sells pastries like pineapple cake and sun cake. They have chocolates, cookies and more. The second floor there was a restaurant, Moon Pavilion served Taiwanese food.

The interior looks like from the Harry Potter Movie "Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry" In the movie, it is a British School of Magic. So this whole shop looks magical too for me.

And the last part of the building was the Ice Cream Parlour, which is outside the building and the end of the hallway. Where we saw the long queue.

The theme is classy and so appealing to the sight, whatever generation you belong to. For more information on this Ice Cream Shop, click HERE.

Joanna with one of their staff as he looks like that he  just
steps out from an old Japanese movie.

Actually, this uniform is just one of the many uniforms their staff wear.

Staircase

Selfie

Look at the packaging behind me so beautiful

And here, off we go to the buy Miyahara Ice Cream there are so many flavours to choose from and you can taste a sample until you finally decide what to buy. They will give a paper with all the flavours of tea, fruits, yoghurt, and chocolates. For us, we just return and continue tasting which we found appealing to our sight.  For one scoop  NT$ 90, 2 scoops for 150 plus free toppings.

Click HERE  for my raw Video at Miyahara Ice Cream Shop.

YUMMY

I will leave you with this yummy photo. In this place, you will get to see this old building with its magical architecture and taste a different kind of Ice Cream. It is one of the Icon of the city. It is their famous Ice Cream after all. And yet again, we loved it.

Budget time checked we spent Lunch worth NT$715 and Dessert at NT$150 divided 5, each person spends NT$173 only.

For full Vlog on this Day please click  HERE.

Still more on my Taiwan Budget Vlog Series. Stay tuned for it. 

Taiwan Blog 2019/ Day Tour Guide :Houli Flower Farm, Taichung Taiwan

Houli Flower Farm

This photo looks like Holland however this is in Asia.

This is one of the reasons why we wanted to visit Taipei, Taiwan.

We wanted to go here first on our itinerary to see this scene because it's famous on Instagram. And yes, it didn't disappoint us. This flower farm is called Houli Flower Farm also known as Chung - She is in North Taichung District, Taiwan. 

It has different flower beds and colours. it really depends on what season your visit.

We went there last October 24, 2019, these are the flowers we saw. The entrance fee is NTD 120 it may vary again on the season. 
For details of the flowers that bloom here as per month.
You can check it out  HERE.

This place is gaining popularity because of the photos of the tourist who posted on their social media who has been here. So now it becomes a tourist attraction in Taiwan. I say a must to see whenever your shoes will take you to this side of the world.

The lovely colours of the flowers are so alive that you will feel great and happy inside.

Smiling Sunflower brightens up your day

Beautiful Flowers among the Flower beds

Queen on the Carousel this is just one example for a couple perfect photo background. The flower farm was good for photoshoots like a pre-nuptial, debut, birthday or simply just artistic photography. 

Some more flowers on the pots here.

Lavender flower bed is one of the instagrammable scenery here.

They have musical instruments too.

Pretending to play the Cello here

Meet my travel Buddies all full bloom just like the beautiful flowers here.

We came and we achieved the right pose (hopefully!!!)

Trying for a sun-kissed pose ended up wacky.

Newly planted flower beds

Thanks, to Mhaivel for the following Photos. You are the best. Next travel will try to learn how to take a photo from DSLR Camera too. So you will have a picture-perfect shot as well. Yes, Houli flower is for those people who love picture-perfect scene.

Photo Credit to Mhaivel

Photo Credit to Mhaivel

Photo by Mhaivel

Credit to Mhaivel

Credit to Mhaivel

Oops! Myra, I had to include this because it's so beautiful.

Photo by Mhaivel

Photo by Mhaivel

To see this beautiful Flower Farm we have booked through the FB Page Mga Pasyalan sa Taiwan click HERE 

There are different tour packages to choose from and different coordinators. For us we coordinated with Joven, just click  FB link up. We are a group of 5 ladies with limited time to explore Taiwan that's the reason we chose a hassle-free tour, pick and drop off from the doorstep of our hotel. We were treated like VIP's (hahaha) it's a private car  (mini-van type) with a capacity of 7 persons. So aside from us, there are two other couple which is fine. Shout out to Kuya Driver for a wonderful start. This tour package includes stopping over at Famous Ice Cream shop Miyahara (also beautiful place to take a photo), National Theater, and Rainbow Village. Of course, lunch or meals and entrance are excluded.

Travel time is about one hour and forty minutes enough to have a nap and to energise. This is just the first stop of our Taichung Tour and for us achieved travel itinerary already. Total money we spent here is only the entrance fee. 

This is our Flower Farm experience, indeed we felt great. A good way to start our day. While we are going out a person was singing live, sounded good and especially when he sang the Meteor Garden Theme song " Qing Fei De Yi" or "Can't Help Falling for You" by Harlem Yu, actually I go crazy as I am a fan of the drama series. That's it guys and see you all on my next blog post. Remember to always be a blessing to others.

If you want to see the video of this travel Vlog Series click HERE