Spring Festival Travel Notes Fun

        This year's Spring Festival has up to ten days of vacation, so it's natural to make good arrangements so as not to disappoint the beauty of the Human Resources Administration Bureau. The whole family has decided to visit several counties and cities in the south for an in-depth tour.

        On the third day of the Chinese New Year, we set off for the "Hui Yi Sen Huo Village" located in Chiayi. This is a forest cultural and creative park, exuding a strong Japanese style atmosphere, commonly known as the "Taiwan version of Little Kyoto". In fact, Taiwan retains many Japanese style buildings. Previously, I visited places such as the Beitou Cultural Relics Museum, Yunlin Yunzhong Street, and Tamsui Yidushui Memorial Hall. However, the "Hui Yi Sen Huo Village" covers a vast area of 3.4 hectares and retains 28 Japanese style houses, selling various hand gifts and snacks. It is currently the most complete and popular Japanese style cultural and creative park visited by the most merchants. Due to a traffic jam starting from the north, it was almost dinner time when we arrived, and the village only sold snacks. We were planning to turn to the Wenhua Road night market to search for food. We accidentally saw a "waste greenhouse" restaurant next to the parking lot, which had various dishes such as fried food, Italian noodles, rice, and other unique decorations such as white spiral stairs, green balconies, and shaped lamp holders. No wonder it has become a hot spot for IG photo check-in.

                Going further south, the "Guoshenggang Lighthouse" is a must-see tourist attraction to Tainan Qigu. It was built in 1957 and has a long history. The tower body is black and white, and it is a square cone-shaped steel hollow lighthouse. There is a red "Taiwan Extreme West Point" artistic design on the embankment, and when entering the scenery, the "National Holy Harbor Lighthouse" can also be seen together, making it the best photo spot.

        The most satisfying trip this time was to visit the Qigu Lagoon and bake oysters. On the fourth day of the lunar new year, with a sea of people, we purchased a package itinerary of the "Longheng Sightseeing Boat", priced at NTD250, which includes lake tours, ecological tours, and a full meal of grilled oysters. We also solved the problem of parking spaces, making it a great value for money. Boss Cai, dressed in a whale costume, is witty and humorous, and has also taught a lot of seafood knowledge, such as how to distinguish between local crabs and foreign crabs? Are oysters wild or farmed? How to distinguish between the live shrimp we choose and the cooked shrimp in the same batch? I have learned a lot of new knowledge. Along the way, cormorants and seabirds can be seen wintering from north to south, perching in groups on wooden stakes. The boss also took us to the Wangzailiaoshan Pier to introduce the crab shaped installation art on the island, as well as common seaside plants such as sea cucumbers and casuarina. He also reminded us that when encountering high tide, we should not face the waves head-on or back-off, and choose to face the waves sideways to protect ourselves.

        Another noteworthy event is the night exploration of sika deer at the "Kenting Leisure Resort" in Pingtung. This is a collaboration plan between the resort and Axin Chocolate Farm. As soon as you enter the park, you will see the prop boat from the movie "The Fantasy Drifting of Youth PI". It is said that when Director Ang Lee was filming, he stayed at the Leisure Resort in Kenting. Later, in order to thank the hotel for its service and assistance, he specially gifted the boat to the Leisure Resort and placed it on the chocolate farm. There is also a statue of a tiger by the boat, recreating the plot from the movie. The tour guides along the way meticulously introduced that in addition to planting fruit trees, tea trees, etc., the park also raised 29 sika deer. Usually, they would gather together, but on the same day, they saw a lone female deer, which is said to have been excluded. Afterwards, I saw the Deer King one after another, as well as other female deer carrying their young deer. It is said that deer are naturally timid, but they love to bully the weak. Therefore, the tour guides specially remind them to pay attention to the children around them to avoid being bullied. Another highlight in the park is the stars in the sky, which makes people unable to resist taking photos with their phones.

        On the sixth day of the lunar new year, I arrived at the "Clean Garden Farm" in Kaohsiung, known as the "Taiwan version of Little Thailand". The "Night Thai Meitai Cuisine" restaurant's Coconut Forest Avenue and the Dazzling Pavilion for dining all remind people of the Nanyang style. The Swan Lake, Lover Bridge, and landscape garden in the park also give it the reputation of the "Kaohsiung Back Garden". In the pool on the farm, there are two oversized hippopotamuses - Meimei and Doudou. When we entered, they were showing their faces and playing tricks on everyone. On the other side of the bridge, there are also green headed ducks, black and white swans, and koi, allowing tourists to enjoy the fun of feeding. Children can take a small train for free with tickets. Children usually have a lot of fun playing in facilities such as giraffe slides, bunkers, and children's play areas. Young people prefer to feed water pufferfish, goats, sika deer, grass mud horses in the cute animal area. Other small animals to enjoy include red cranes, blue macaws, lemons, ringtail lemurs, turtles, etc. Another selling point of this farm is that we can see the planes taking off at Xiaogang Airport. We waited and dined at the Starlight Airport Restaurant around 11 o'clock, and indeed saw 7 or 8 planes taking off and landing, which was really worth the fare.

        On the way back home on the seventh day of the ninth lunar month, I stopped by the "Yawenbali Coastal Sightseeing Factory" in Yunlin and the recently opened "Ningji Yuting Landscape Cultural Park". The latter not only worships the White Jade Kuanyin and White Jade Mazu, but also includes the God of Wealth Temple, King Ningji, Dragon King of the Four Seas, Moon Elder, etc. There are also scenic spots such as the Golden Pool where Laozi rode oxen, the Golden Rooster reported good fortune, the Blue Jade Ancient Warship, and the Ruyi Bridge. Chinese New Year! It is always customary to pay more visits and pray for favorable weather, family safety, and abundant financial resources in the Year of the Rabbit.

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