Taiwan Days 7 and 8 - Flying Cow Ranch in Miaoli
Day 1 - Jingtong and Yilan
Days 2, 3 - Yilan and Hualien
Day 4 - Taroko Gorge
Days 4, 5 - Cingjing
Days 6, 7 - Sun Moon Lake and Taichung
From Taichung, we drove for about 2 hours to Flying Cow Ranch, a small working farm tucked in the picturesque Miaoli countryside.
I was surprised how windy and cold it was (about 10 to 15 deg C) when we arrived. Brrr! We had to scramble to throw jackets on the sleeping kids.
We spent two very relaxing days on the farm. The weather was cool and lovely and our room very comfortable and spacious. The farm is situated on sprawling grounds and is very peaceful and well-maintained with lots of open spaces for the children to run around.
The highlight was the small working farm where the kids got to feed rabbits, goats, sheep, cows and ducks.
Sean derived great joy in buying food for the animals, checking out where the animals lived and being mobbed by the rabid, greedy animals ;)
Sean and I also tried our hand at milking a cow for the first time. We were quite hopeless at it, haha.
There was a calf feeding session (with a milk bottle) on one of the mornings which I really regretted missing because we got there too late :\
We also visited the big, sandy playground with the kids a few times. Sean had fun making music on the chimes and playing with the sand-scooping contraption and little daredevil Ry couldn't get enough of the tractor slide :)
The ranch is pretty much self-contained with its own shops and restaurants. We enjoyed a hot piping steamboat dinner (great for the cold weather) and a delicious lunch of crispy pork knuckle and squid ink spaghetti. Our meals were always served with fresh yogurt milk and milk pudding. Best part was, they were very reasonably priced and satisfying.
The ranch also conducts a number of child-friendly activities (usually for a small fee) round the clock.
On our first night, Sean and Foops baked milk cookies. They had lots of fun beating the eggs, mixing ingredients, doling them onto the tray and finally putting them in the oven.
Later, we enjoyed an indulgent supper of milk cookies with butter cream :)
Before we left on our last day, Sean painted his own psychedelic cow coin bank to bring home as a keepsake :)
Two days was just the right amount of time to spend on the ranch but we were still quite sorry to leave. This was our favourite stop of the entire trip. The place is perfect for families with young children and we would love to return one day :)
We made one last impromptu stop in Miaoli at a small roadside plantation to pick strawberries.
We have never done it before and it was such a treat to see precious bunches of small pink and red strawberries everywhere. While Sean went round with a small basket amassing a tidy bounty of strawberries, Ry happily munched on the juicy berries fresh off their stalks :)
Last stop: Taipei!
PS. Click on the Taiwan tag below to read more about our trip.
Days 2, 3 - Yilan and Hualien
Day 4 - Taroko Gorge
Days 4, 5 - Cingjing
Days 6, 7 - Sun Moon Lake and Taichung
From Taichung, we drove for about 2 hours to Flying Cow Ranch, a small working farm tucked in the picturesque Miaoli countryside.
I was surprised how windy and cold it was (about 10 to 15 deg C) when we arrived. Brrr! We had to scramble to throw jackets on the sleeping kids.
We spent two very relaxing days on the farm. The weather was cool and lovely and our room very comfortable and spacious. The farm is situated on sprawling grounds and is very peaceful and well-maintained with lots of open spaces for the children to run around.
The highlight was the small working farm where the kids got to feed rabbits, goats, sheep, cows and ducks.
Sean derived great joy in buying food for the animals, checking out where the animals lived and being mobbed by the rabid, greedy animals ;)
Sean and I also tried our hand at milking a cow for the first time. We were quite hopeless at it, haha.
There was a calf feeding session (with a milk bottle) on one of the mornings which I really regretted missing because we got there too late :\
We also visited the big, sandy playground with the kids a few times. Sean had fun making music on the chimes and playing with the sand-scooping contraption and little daredevil Ry couldn't get enough of the tractor slide :)
The ranch is pretty much self-contained with its own shops and restaurants. We enjoyed a hot piping steamboat dinner (great for the cold weather) and a delicious lunch of crispy pork knuckle and squid ink spaghetti. Our meals were always served with fresh yogurt milk and milk pudding. Best part was, they were very reasonably priced and satisfying.
The ranch also conducts a number of child-friendly activities (usually for a small fee) round the clock.
On our first night, Sean and Foops baked milk cookies. They had lots of fun beating the eggs, mixing ingredients, doling them onto the tray and finally putting them in the oven.
Later, we enjoyed an indulgent supper of milk cookies with butter cream :)
Before we left on our last day, Sean painted his own psychedelic cow coin bank to bring home as a keepsake :)
Two days was just the right amount of time to spend on the ranch but we were still quite sorry to leave. This was our favourite stop of the entire trip. The place is perfect for families with young children and we would love to return one day :)
We made one last impromptu stop in Miaoli at a small roadside plantation to pick strawberries.
We have never done it before and it was such a treat to see precious bunches of small pink and red strawberries everywhere. While Sean went round with a small basket amassing a tidy bounty of strawberries, Ry happily munched on the juicy berries fresh off their stalks :)
Last stop: Taipei!
PS. Click on the Taiwan tag below to read more about our trip.