It was our last day before heading home. I had cleverly booked a day tour, so that we can simply stone while people bring us around. We would be visiting a farm in Yilan.
The meeting time was at 10.45am. Nana was nursing a headache and Zaky tagged along for bfast at the same atas bfast shop. This trip, all of us fell sick and I even need to buy additional medicine. Zaky was down with a low grade fever on the way to Taipei, then his nose was running for several days. I was worried that his temperature would be picked up during screening and denied entry. The panados that he popped in the flight must have helped. Then, Daddy Lim and I had sore throat and dry cough, probably due to the dry weather. Nana was complaining of headache and then flu for the last few days.
Bfast was good. I had my 蛋抓饼 again.
We decided to head out earlier, suspecting that we would need time to walk and to find the pickup location. I am so right. I had to call up the tour agency bcos there isn't a East 1 exit when we exited the train station, as indicated in the itinerary. Then the agency sent me these photos.
It was a totally different building across the street. Luckily we were early and managed to call the agency.
The tour group was big and we filled up an entire tour bus. The tour guide went on to explain the itinerary for the day and I realised that I have signed up for much more. Lol.
The bus ride was over an hour to Yilan. The guide went on to share about Taipei, this and that. I totally ignored and was happily reading Harry Potter book 4, which Nana had just finished.
The 1st stop was some museum. I have no idea where.
The ironic part was that the Museum was closed and we were really there just to take pictures. Lol. The guide then enthusiastically encouraged us to walk to the musuem and eyed those who refused to walk with contempt. Lol.
I walked! With Zaky! All the way to the Museum and then quickly walked back bcos I needed more time than others. The guide walked super fast and I was chasing the group the whole time. Lol.
It was lunch at some recommended seafood restaurant. The guide claimed that he had visited a few in the area and this one serves the best food at a good price. Zzzzz
The food was very meh. The restaurant wasn't able to cope with the crowd and the food was served slowly. We ordered a fried rice, sweet and sour pork and a soup. The soup came long after we finished the rest of the food and then had to finish it very quickly bcos time's up and we had to rush to another stop. I bet the guide gets a commission from the restaurant. It is OK, it is like that de.
Finally, the highlight of the trip - the Ah Mah Farm.
I thought we were there to see the alpacas. What greeted us were the meh meh sheep.
They must be very hungry. We were told to hold up the grass. Daddy Lim looked like he was holding an umbrella.
The sheep were very greedy.
If we weren't not careful, they come up and steal food and we ended up like this. Hoho.
The alpacas.
They were so much tamer compared to the sheep.
What we didn't ask for were the capybaras!
They were quite cute. Hoho. Their fur was super rough, like toilet brush.
We also saw other animals.
This is a cross of a rabbit and capybara.
It is quite violet and bit Nana when she didn't feed it.
We-fie!
The farm tour got freebie somemore. Just nice for the not very satisfying lunch.
We headed back to the bus and then to another sightseeing spot. Again, I had no idea where we were. Lol.
The last stop of the tour was the Luodong Night Market.
We all remembered this night market, having visited it for consecutively several nights in our last trip to Yilan. The kids looked in amusement at little kids playing the fishing game. They did that too many years back. Lol.
We had enough of walking and eating night market food. We decided on a stall, ordered the typical 卤肉饭, oyster egg and had a decent dinner. There wasn't a lot of time and we had to head back to the gathering point shortly. The worse behaviour for group tour is to be late.
Our gains from Luodong? Zaky got to play his balloon game again.
Nana finally bought her jacket. She had been eyeing one in Ximending but it was too crowded and she doesn't do well in crowds, regardless of whether it is ice skating or shopping.
The way back to Taipei was again over an hour. The guide was rattling and recommending the list of places/ food that he had compiled over the years. I barely listened bcos we were going home. Sob.
It started drizzling and it was still drizzling when we arrived back at Ximen.
No supper, no shopping. We spent the rest of the night packing and throwing. Time to go home.
Mummy Lim
