Taiwan With Kids: Taichung 臺中

Zong She Flower Market @ Taichung

Ok, to be fair, this trip was a really leisurely trip because I only brought along one kid, Khye.
Initially, this trip was supposed to be just mum, sis & I, but we decided to bring Khye along at the last minute so that hubby doesn't need to take care of all 3, and also Khye has school holidays but Shern still has school.

And so this is the first blog of our Taiwan trip Nov last year.
Let's start of with Taichung as this was our first destination upon reaching Taoyuan International Airport.

Actually Khye was very happy to be travelling with me as he said "Finally, I get to sit with mummy!"
Hearing that really made my heart ached. Because usually baby Vern would be the one sitting with me while hubs will manage the older kids when we travel.
Only then I realized that my older kids also needed babying sometimes.

So I was pretty happy to be able to bond with Khye for this Taiwan trip!
Look how happy was Khye while we waited to board at Penang International Airport.

The four of us...ready for our flight to Taipei via Cathay Pacific Airline!

And this fella is a champion. He didn't nap at all in the plane. He was doing Movie Marathon and once out of the plane for transit, he napped in the stroller. #thankgoodnesswebroughtstrolleralong
This happened both times even on the flight home.
Need to jot it down so would remember this. :)

TAOYUAN AIRPORT TO TAICHUNG


Upon reaching Taoyuan International Airport, we went to collect our Pocket Wifi and then went straight to buy bus tickets to catch the Ubus #1623 to Taichung.
It was NTD$170 for child and NTD$280 for adults.

 

Khye happy to be sitting next to me again!
It took us slightly more than 2 hours to reach Taichung. Khye did not nap at all and was singing softly and entertaining himself throughout the bus ride. He was a good boy.

We stopped at Zhaoma station and then took a cab to our hotel - Fengjia Green Hotel which was just about 5 mins ride away.

I forgot to take a pic of our room but it was really clean. We stayed in the Standard Quadruple Room and although small but it was enough for our 1 night stay. We even enjoyed 20% for Early Birds. 

Yes, the struggle is real for breastfeeding mum.
It was a long time since I last pumped my milk but since Vern was not with me, I had to pump to release engorgement.
And I was also surprised that I can still get 4+ oz.
Anyway, my hope to wean him off while I was gone failed. Vern was smart and could still remember and asked for "nen-nen" once he saw me again! :)

FENGJIA NIGHT MARKET

After shower, we marched on and walked about 5 minutes to the Fengjia Night Market.
That was the reason we stayed in this hotel as that was our only itinerary for the night!

RAINBOW VILLAGE 彩虹眷村

The next morning, our driver greeted us in front of our hotel. 

His name is Albert, and he was the driver for our day in Taichung.

First stop was Rainbow Village. 

4 very energetic tourists on the entrance of the Rainbow Village. ;)

 

Khye saw the playground and he couldn't resist taking a slide down and I, of course couldn't say No to him. Look at how happy he was!

And so this is Rainbow Village.
I would say it is nothing much, just painted houses of a tiny village. What is worth noting though is that this is a one-man show.

Mr. Huang, an old veteran soldier started painting his old and dying "veterans village" with vibrant colours and then it got caught on.
So what you see here is actually done by this one man, which they called him Rainbow Grandpa. We saw him sitting down as the many tourists visit his house and his village.

If you want, you can finish this in less than 1/2 hour but we lingered on as we had fun looking at the paintings and taking many photos as usual.

 

 

One thing to note. It was fun having Albert with us because he helped us take many photos of the 4 of us.

 

There was a place for stamping and Khye gleefully stamped all in his "sketch book".

Khye holding his stamped Sketch book and smiling gleefully.

I think we left the place maybe 1 hour later.

Then Albert brought us to have some local brunch - nice and cheap. 

 

MIYAHARA 宮原眼科

Next up was Miyahara.

This was a short stop as we wanted to just browsed through the place and to get a feel of the place. 

Miyahara was originally an ophthalmic hospital founded by Dr. Miyahara Takekuma during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan.

Due to the earthquake and strong typhoon, the building structure was partially damaged, but it was then restored and it now sells boutique chocolates and pineapple cakes etc.

This is the entrance of the Miyahara. 

Upon entering, I was really amazed by the grand decoration of the whole place.

As it was near Christmas, the whole place was done up in Christmas theme.

This reindeer could move, I kid you not!

Everything they sell there, be it cookies, or tarts or chocolates, they are beautifully and uniquely package.
Let's see some of the packaging!

See, some are packaged like a novel collection. Or some are like books.

 

 

The place is full of deco and yet you won't find it too messy. It's really beautiful and has got a vintage grandness feel to it.

 

Khye standing in front of the cabinet full of drawers which shows you the sign of how it used to be an ophthalmic hospital.

Now, let me reveal the reason why we came all the way to this Miyahara - it was because of this. 

Yes, there were 18 types of Chocolate Ice-Creams using chocolates from various origins. 

My sis & I being chocolate lovers couldn't resist this and that was the main reason we could not miss Miyahara. ;)

There are also an equal number of tea ice cream flavours, mostly Chinese teas and tea blends and also other fruit flavours.
We were spoilt for choices really.

 

We got ourselves this in the end. 1 tea flavour and 2 chocolate flavours. 

To tell the truth, it tasted ok. haha. 

CARTON KING CREATIVE PARK 紙箱王創意主題園區 

Next stop was to the Carton King Creative Park.

This was actually not in our plan. We initially wanted to visit Xinshe Castle but then this was not along the way and Albert told us this Carton King is bigger than the one in Cingjing and that it is nice for kids, so we decided to visit. And we had no regrets.

Everything here is made from corrugated paper - from displays and table and chairs, to the plates and utensils etc.

First stop, a photo with this erm...Santa.

There were landmarks all around the world from the Windmill to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and even the Eiffel Tower. All made from corrugated paper/cardboard!

Khye riding a black stallion. See the pink slide behind.

I think Khye sat like 20 rounds and refused to leave haha. 

Here is a short clip of him coming down the slide.

There were many simple games to play.
This is simple Pinball game made from carton. And this is Rubber Band Pistol Shooting Challenge!

 

The whole place is pretty nice actually.

 

The Bees area. Khye and Albert koko. ;)

 

Mushroom town.

 

Me with Taipei 101. 

Khye found another slide from the souvenir shop to the mushroom world.
It really was an interactive and interesting park.

 

Ringing the bell.

There was also a train made entirely of carton that was moving around the park. Khye was looking for the station the whole time and eventually found it. It was near the entrance actually.

Paris' Arc De Triomphe.

There was this "hidden" path on top of the park (ok, this is not made of carton but steel) and we walked on top of the park for a different kinda view. 

Lastly, we visited the Souvenir shop before we left as our tickets had a side stub there which has value NTD$40 each if not mistaken to be spent inside the shop.

We ended up exchanging this to bring home...Khye chose it!

Albert brought us to this Taiwanese Dessert shop nearby Carton King. 

We ate some deep fried mushrooms with this Taro/Beans/Sweet Potato dessert before we headed to the last destination of the day. 

 

ZHONG SHE FLOWER MARKET 中社花市

Last stop of the day was to this Zhong She Flower Market.
We paid NTD$120 for adults and NTD$60 for child.

Needless to say, flowers were aplenty here. 

Spot us and the dwarfs. 

This was taken when Khye was still in a good mood.
In actual, he fell asleep in the car on the ride here and when we woke him up he was a little grumpy.

 

 

This was his grumpy face and after this he decided that he didn't wanna take photos with anyone except for Mummy "_"

And so there were only photos of the 2 of us or without him but no more 4 of us. Haha.

 

Yellow flowers.

Huge sunflowers as big as my head!
Love the mountain behind us!

This is a sea of pink and reds and purples. Lovely indeed!

Look at the gorgeous mountain behind the beds of flowers.

We tried doing a jump pose!

Khye with mummy :P

 

A rare selfie of just me.

Ooohh and the lovely purple lavenders.....

The pond view here looks so peaceful and serene. 

We rested here awhile and bought some fish food for Khye to feed the fishes.

 

This was taken when the sun was about to set.

After about 1 hour, Khye got happier and decided that he now wanted to take photos with everybody! :) So 4 of us again. 

Erm.....photographer cacat as we were off centre haha.

We left the place as the sun was setting.

Albert drove us in the comfort of his car and we set off to our accommodation of the night at Cingjing.

I would like to add that Albert is a careful driver. He drives steadily and although the roads up the Cinjing mountain were windy, I din't feel anything at all.

We stopped at the mid of the mountain for some local fare and it was tasty and good.
Their famous chicken.
And let me tell you this. This plain looking cabbages were the sweetest and best I've ever tasted. Serious.

 

After our very late dinner, he dropped us off to our accommodation in Cingjing.

Long but happy day.

Our driver in Taichung, Albert is very much recommended.

He communicates well with us and was polite and sensitive to our needs. We would definitely hire him again if we were to go to Taiwan. 

Below are his details.

He speaks and writes decent English which is hard to find in Taiwan. :)

Albert

+886 970 568 797
Toyota Wish

Painting To My Heart’s Content

I enjoyed myself so much at Artsy Sip doing my first painting (since I was in Form 3!) of Van Gogh's Starry Night that I kinda organized a private session with Artsy Sip agaom with a group of my friends and did my 2nd painting - Van Gogh's Olive Trees With Yellow Sky and Sun.

 

Seeing how much I enjoyed painting, hubby got me a set of Acrylic Paints and some blank canvases to paint to my heart's content! #alsobecauseiwontwastemoremoneyatArtsySip

And so I got back and started painting just a week later.

I painted another Van Gogh's painting - Les Alpilles, Mountain Landscape near South-Reme because I am such a fan of his paintings.

Of course my work is nowhere near his.  Although I know nothing about paintings, but his colours and strokes are amazing.
My take is on below left, and Van Gogh's on the right.
 

And just this week, I managed to paint my 4th Van Gogh's paiting - Thatched Cottages at Cordeville.
This was attempted while I was home sick with fever, and my parents so nicely took care of Vern for me.

This is the process of my sketching it and drawing it.

 

And this is the end result after 3 midnight painting sessions.
Left is mine, and right is Van Gogh's.

 

A bigger photo of my latest painting attempt.
Nowhere near the original of course, but I am still mighty pleased with myself.

Ooh, and I got myself a simple table easel too. :)

Here you see all 4 paintings of Van Gogh’s I attempted.

#1. Starry Night, Saint Rémy, 1889 (Bottom Right)
#2. Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun, 1889 (Bottom Left)
#3. Les Alpilles, Mountain Landscape near South-Reme, 1889 (Top Right)
#4. Thatched Cottages at Cordeville, 1890 (Top Left)

The paintings are now on the wall of my living room just on top of my piano. 

Four attempted cheerful versions Van Gogh's paintings. ;)
#vangoghfan 

I would say painting is so therapeutic for me. And I'm so glad to be able to paint whenever I like now. :)

Vern Reciting 1-10 in 4 Languages & a Kiddy Cantonese Rhyme @ 2 1/2yo

Between my 3 kids, I would say Vern is the one who loves languages the most.

Just like to his brothers, we speak to him English as his main language. But then he is exposed to his yee-pho speaking Cantonese to him, and unlike his brothers, he picked up Cantonese fast.

At his current age, he can even hold a decent conversation with Yee-pho in Cantonese! :)

As I know he has a knack for languages, I just added on simple things for him to learn. 

Just like teaching him to count while we walk up the stairs in our house.

Of course I started off with English, and then I slowly taught him in Cantonese, then Malay and then Mandarin.

Below is a short clip of him reciting the numbers 1-10 in 4 Languages - English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin & in Cantonese.

And as I said he is quite good in Cantonese, he can even recite a simple Kiddy Cantonese Rhyme that Yee-pho taught him, although not perfectly. My pho-pho taught me this too when I was a little girl and so I am really pleased Yiu-Vern knows this now. :)

Sometimes really cannot tahan this little monster baby.
He is at an age where he can be really whiny and his crying is like a shouting match all by himself!
But then looking at these 2 videos, he is really cute and super lovable! #biasedmum

Ok, now to teach him 1-10 in hokkien, and to endure another 1 year for the Terrible Two to be over! :)

Shern Learning & Enjoying the Piano @ 8yo

Shern has been learning the piano since he was 4yo. He is 8+yo now and so it has been 4+ years.
He has come a long way. From his First Mini Piano Recital to his first ever Yamaha Junior Music Course (JMC) Exams 2 years ago.

Yes, this was Shern about 2 1/2 years ago when he was 6yo.

 

16 October 2015

One thing though, he has always loved going for classes, even now.

I'm sure friends play a very important role there, as he made many good friends in his Yamaha class. 

But the teacher's role is even more important.

I personally believe that having a great teacher plays a very important part in nurturing the child's interests in a subject(s). 

Thus, I am so blessed that both Shern and Khye have such a dedicated and great piano teacher. 

His teacher is great in teaching the syllabus, and also to throw in certain songs of their interests.

Eg: Besides the usual Yamaha syllabus, he teaches them to play Xmas songs during Xmas, CNY songs during CNY, Beauty & the Beast song when it was a hit in the cinema, etc.

This makes learning fun and not just restricted to play the syllabus only.

His teacher is also great in maintaining class order, ensuring discipline and yet is a really fun teacher. 

He often gave them class parties and the most recent one was because they just finished their JXC exams. 

And also to reward them, they each got a Shaker pencil with their names engraved in it. All out of his own pocket money!

With his teacher's influence, Shern loves Richard Clayderman's songs and so he started learning to play on his own.

I tried printing out the notes for him but then they got a bit too tough for his level. And so he tried to learn through watching Youtube videos.

He learned a little and was ecstatic he could play his favourite songs. This spurred him on..

What I'm proud of is standing by and watching how his interest in piano grew.

And to see him having the interest to want to learn how to play a song. To see him working hard learning how to play it.

And then his teacher stepped in and taught him properly on using the correct fingering and correcting his mistakes. And then with the correct guidance, he is learning faster than on his own.

And so this is Shern attempting and still learning how to play the song. 

Still lotsa hiccups and mistakes but then he is learning.

Enjoy listening to him learning how to play. I recorded him while he was practising...

This short video clip was taken about a month ago.

One day I hope he can play the whole song properly for me to enjoy.....

And I really have to thank his teacher for instilling his love for music. 

Thank you teacher. Thank you for making them love making music. 

Khye Reading Mandarin Flash Cards @ 5 Yrs 4 Mths

It has been awhile since Khye attended the Mandarin class.
And we are so glad to see how well he has progressed, considering the whole household are "bananas" - Daddy, Mummy, Ah-Kong, Ah-Ma, Pho-pho, Yee-Pho, Yee-yee all included. lol.

He has always loves  Chinese / Mandarin, and he even took home to the Best Chinese Reader award from his kindy. 

He has also always been a really good in reading Flash Cards.
He learns to read Mandarin words through Flash Cards in his Mandarin class. And that is how he learns how to read better I guess.

He brings home cards from his class once he knows the word/meaning. So some days he will bring home a card or two. Some days five to ten cards. It all depends.

We don't practise the cards at home.
Why? Because well, I don't have the time. #lifeofmumof3kids
And I think he needs to play more at home.
And also I may teach him wrongly later. Haha.

Last week, he brought home a stack of 51 cards. His teacher told me he knows all these cards in one class. (But then some of the cards he learned before in the earlier syllabus).

And so for fun, to test him out, I took a video of him reading the Flash Cards to me this morning!

I love how he reads it then tells me the meaning in English, with actions thrown in as well! haha. So cute! Love his expressions!

And so I am really proud of how well he has been doing!
Kudos to the teachers in his Mandarin Class! Thank you very much.
It is all their effort and Khye himself!!! :)

Hope you continue to love Mandarin as you do now.

Vern's First Few Days at Playschool

4 January 2018 - Attending Trial Class

And now is time for my littlest baby Yiu-Vern to attend playschool.

He has just turned 2 1/2 years old (30 mo).
Shern koko went to playschool at age 2 years 8 mths.
Khye koko went to playschool at age 2 years 7 mths.
And so it is about time for Vern to go.

I chose the same playschool I sent Khye last time.
He even takes the same Mickey Mouse schoolbag as Khye! #passmedowns #thankyou3kaufu3kaumou
The playschool which I like because it is one of the few playschools in Penang that really emphasize PLAY!

The head teacher there tells me often from Khye's time until now, "When the kid has enough play, it is easy and the kid will be ready to absorb everything!"

How can you not love a playschool like this, right?
And at only 2 1/2 yo, what else do you want them to do other than play?

And so this playschool has lots of playtime and no academics.
They play outdoor for 1 to 1 1/2 hours every day. There are wooden playhouse with slides and ropes and stairs, and a big garden for them to run and to play with the balls, and sand and water, etc.
It's unstructured play which I super love for little kids.

Vern loves the sand and you can find him at the sandpit most of the time. His pants are usually sent home brown and now I send him to school with cheap pants I bought from the market! Haha.
He also loves throwing balls and just running around with the other children.

And they have singing, and art and craft time too.
He comes home singing some CNY songs. I'm surprised to see him repeating songs he learned at just 2 1/2yo.
And I love their unstructured art. They give them crayons and paints and an empty drawing block. And he brings home his masterpieces from time to time. "_"

And oh ya, he still brings his Turtle to school with him. Turtle stays in his school bag during school hours.
Look at him holding his turtle while preparing to go to school! ;)

4 Jan 2018

So how did it go?
First few days of trial classes were fine. He was all happy and smiley.
After 3 days, he grew smarter (just like all my kids when they realized this is an every day thingy!).
He wanted to go to school, but then he also wanted me to stay next to him!
Clever or not!

And so he started crying when I left drop him off in the mornings.
But after 3 days of crying when I left him, he stopped crying when he realized that I will always be there to pick him up after school.
And school is only 3 1/2 hours long! (too short for mummy!)

And so after about a week, there is now no more crying when I leave him there.
Just "kiss and hug mummy at the door" and "mummy will come back very fast"
And this recent 2 days he tells me "mummy go market first and cook rice for Yiu-Vern"! haha.
Very true. I think the aunties there tells him this and so he repeats after them.

And so now happy smiley face near school grounds.
I will say that he is now more or less quite settled in his playschool now.

And it helps when the head teacher quite often send me whatsapp photos of him playing/eating and also reassuring me my son is in good hands and learning to be independent!

11 January 2018

I hope there would be no more crying from now on.
I hope he continues to enjoy school and play hard in school.
Here is Vern giving you a GOOD sign (although he knows how to do good with his thumbs now!)

12 January 2018

And with my littlest baby now away in school, I realized all my babies are growing up.
One in Primary, the other one in Kindy and now the littlest is in Playschool.

Ooooohhhh...don't grow up so fast little Vern!


p/s - The first day Vern saw me picking him up from school, the first thing he said was "I want nen-nen (erm...breastfeeding time!)" and so I needed to tell him we can't have nen-nen in school.
And so now he will tell me "school have playground and food and friends but no nen-nen!"
"_"