Monday, November 21, 2016

Yilan, Nature House B&B 自然捲北歐風格旅店




our bathroom



common room for families with kids


Location: google map location269, Yilan County, Dongshan Township, 宜蘭縣冬山鄉水井一路250巷12號
Parking: 6 parking spots outside of the B&B, I'm not sure where you can park if it's full.
Website: Nature house B&B
Check-in time: 3 pm
Check-out time: 11am
Pros: clean, fun for kids, family common room with kitchen
Cons: nothing really!

We stayed at the "Family Room for 4 - little athletes" (親子四人房:小小運動家) and requested an additional bed. (see the mattress on the floor on pic above). They have I think 5 different family rooms with different themes (lego, little prince, one with a ball pit...etc) that all look super fun. We chose this one because of the bigger slide and the basketball hoop, the slides in other rooms seem a little small in the pictures. 

Room: There's a TV, a mini frig stocked with a big container of water, a hot water dispenser, mugs and instant coffee mixes and tea bags.

Bathroom - it's clean and comes with toiletries (body wash, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bubble bath, towels). There is a shower and a bathtub. 

Family common room - It's a nice little area with some books and few simple toys. There is also a kitchen equipped with a hot water dispenser, a frig and a rice cooker (and maybe a microwave? I can't remember). I think having access to a kitchen is super helpful if you are traveling with a baby and you need to wash your bottles, or warm up baby food.

There is not much to do outside of your room. I suppose you can casually stroll along the little pond by the buildings, but with children...yeah that will last for 2 minutes.

Breakfast - upon checking in, you will select a time slot for breakfast. The earliest is 8:30am. Usually for adults they provide a traditional Chinese-style breakfast with 9 little dishes in squares (you eat them with porridge). But if you prefer a western style breakfast, let them know and they can accommodate you. Kids by default get the western style breakfast with bread, scrambled eggs, pasta salad, and fruit. For drinks they have water, organic juice, and soy milk (fresh brewed coffee upon request).


We thought one night was just prefect for us, since both my husband's and my heads were about to explode after being in the same room with our boys for an extended period of time - they were having so much fun just hanging out in the room with ball fights, running up and down the "castle", and running up and down the slide. We would definitely recommend this B&B if you're visiting Yilan!


Sunday, November 20, 2016

Yilan, Yi-Nong Petting zoo 宜蘭宜農牧場

some free roaming birds

playground

feeding the little pigs

 

Location: google map locationNo. 17, Lane 239, Changchun Rd, Dongshan Township, Milan County
Price: NT$30/person, $20/milk bottle for pig feeding and lamb feeding, $10/grass bunch for goat feeding
Parking: free
Pros: inexpensive, lots to do, restrooms/hand-washing station on site
Cons: it smells. just like any other petting zoo.

It's a great little place to see all kinds of cute animals: pigs, birds, ducks, chickens, rabbits, goats, lambs, and turkey! Everything is relatively cheap and there are lots of seating areas for adults to take a break while the kids run around. There are a few swings next to the metal playground set. Of course, petting zoos are not the cleanest place on earth, but this one is not bad at all. They also sell goat milk ice cream -  which if you've never tried, you should definitely give it a try! Parking is right out side of the farm itself, but if it's full you can also park next door - which is also catered to kids with a few arcade games and a mini driving course. We spent about 1.5 hr at both places together, but the kids would definitely love to stay longer if we let them.


Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Taoyuan, Helloland 樂農莊

Playground

Splash pad

Ball bouncing area (my boys loved)

mini golf

food

Location: google map location, Taoyuan City, Xinwu District
Website: HELLOLAND
Hours and Pricing: CLOSED on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10:00-17:00 Weekends, 11:30-17:00 Weekdays
$150/person can be used towards activities.
Pros: mini golf, fun playground, food on site
Cons: doing multiple activities will def cost you!

Activities:

1. Mechanical pony rides $99 per ride

Sounds fun? Yea I didn't think so. not for $99...

2. Cactus plant decoration DIY $59~$250 depending on the size of the plant

$59 option might be worth trying if your child insists.

3. Ball bouncing area FREE

I got lucky, my boys loved this and the playground (free) the best. They can probably play this all day.

4. Mini golf $250/person or $300 for two

suitable for age 4 and up. But this experience will really depend on who else is playing on the course with you. Since mini-golf is not a popular thing in Taiwan (that I know of), some might be unaware of the etiquette of playing mini golf...such as wait for the previous group to finish the course before you begin, or not lay your golf club down in the middle of the course and say "we are still playing"  when you walk off the course (yea that happened to us)...but strange things can happen here in Taiwan.

5. Playground FREE
6. Splash Pad FREE (no towels provided)
7. Train ride (didn't check the cost)

Verdict:
Maybe give it a try? We will probably not go back again, but we had fun when we were there.





Thursday, November 10, 2016

Miaoli, Shangrila Paradise 香格里拉樂園

(I apologize for the weird picture layout. I'm not sure how to fix it ;(...)

I'm not sure what happened to the "M"in Miaoli...and FN??
Entrance


Price: $500/adult, $280/children between 3-12, FREE for children under 3 (might be able to find cheaper tickets on external sites)
Pros: big open spaces, clean, inexpensive
Cons: rides and attractions are pretty old.

We got tickets from Gomaji for $249/person, so for our family of 5 it was $1245. For this price, I'd definitely recommend coming here to try it out! We followed the google map direction and got here no problem, it was easy to find. I love that it's sort of in the mountains, so you definitely get that out-of-the-city feel. (Make sure to bring mosquito repellent!!) 

Restrooms- they are located everywhere - they are clean, and with toilet paper!! That's sort of rare here in Taiwan, so bonus points there. 

Food - No restriction on bring outside food, and it's actually a great place for a picnic. There is a restaurant right when you walk through the entrance hall, but we didn't eat there so I'm not sure about the quality. There is also three snack bars located in the park: one by the basketball court, one by the net playground, and one in the Hakka building. By the look of them, I would recommend going to the one by the playground since it looked the cleanest. I ordered a coffee from there and it was pretty good.

Rides: 1.Spinning around thing (looks extremely old and we didn't want to risk our lives)
           2. Merry-go-around (creaky, slow, and old...but my 4 yr old rode on it 3 times)
           3. Bumper cars (old, foam was exposed on the seats. miraculously it works)
           4. Clowns on clouds (medium paced & relaxing....other than the fact that it's clowns on clouds)
           5. Bumper boats (BEST attraction in this park, we can do this all day)
           6. Blizzard (looks questionable...but hubby took the older two to try it before I could object)
           7. Train (slow, but my 4&6 yr olds liked it)


"net playground"
some kind of rocket ship looking thing that you can climb in




I was totally pleasantly surprised by this snack bar.

Price is decent and they have a legit coffee machine!

clowns on clouds....straight out of a horror movie
creepy snow white and dwarfs


ride at your own risk
Hakka structure, you can feed the fish nearby


first ride

playground


Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Taoyuan, Gloria Outlets 華泰名店城





Location: google map location HSR Taoyuan station exit 7. Playground is located on the 2nd floor by the food court.
Pros: cool park, clean restrooms, lockers, food court
Cons: don't come here to shop

The outlet is super easy to get to by HSR. Once you exit, you will just have to cross a street to get to the outlet. Taoyuan HSR also has 爭鮮迴轉壽司 (Sushi Express) and 一風堂拉麵 (Ippudo Ramen) if you plan on eating at the HSR station.

The shopping is not much, prices weren't exactly "outlet-like." But on a Thursday it was pretty empty and would make a great place for toddlers and preschoolers to run around without bothering anybody. The playground is on the 2nd floor by the food court. It has a lot of climbing area, suitable for age 3 and up. Toddlers will need some assistance playing on this structure. There is a restroom right by the playground.

The food court has many options - we had the ramen and Subway!!! (Yes we get excited easily these days. Seeing a Subway is quite exciting.) There are high chairs available, and everything was super clean.